Universe : Major new customer win



AIM: UNG

Universe Group plc

("Universe" or "the Group")

Major new customer win

Universe (AIM: UNG.L), a leading developer and supplier of point of sale, payment and on-line loyalty systems, is pleased to announce a major new customer win with MRH (GB) Limited ("MRH"), the largest independent petrol retailer in the UK.  MRH has selected HTEC Ltd ("HTEC"), a subsidiary of Universe, to provide a new card acceptance platform across all of its petrol forecourts in the UK. The contract, which commences immediately, is for a multi-year term, with HTEC providing ongoing maintenance and support.

MRH currently owns nearly 400 filling stations, accounting for some 5% of the UK market, the majority of which are branded Esso, BP, Jet and Texaco. HTEC is supplying a solution based on its GemPAY card acceptance platform ("GemPAY"), which has been significantly enhanced over the last two years as part of a wider product upgrade programme aimed at broadening the Group's product set.  This is the second major customer deployment of GemPAY this year.

GemPAY is specifically configured to meet MRH's future requirements and handles fund transfer across all major credit and debit cards as well as the latest derivatives of all major UK and international loyalty and fuel cards across the brands they operate.  This also includes loyalty acceptance such as Texaco Star Rewards and Tesco Clubcard.

The solution is supported by HTEC's Terminal Management System ("TMS") which has been redesigned in partnership with leading fuel card suppliers and oil companies.   TMS provides remote diagnostics, terminal configuration (uploads and downloads of adjustable parameters, libraries and applications), enabling maximum 'up time' for the terminal. All HTEC's products meet Payment Card Industry ("PCI") Data Security Standards.

John Lynn, Managing Director of MRH, said:

"We are delighted to be working with the Universe Group to deploy our new card acceptance platform in the UK. It is proving to be a fast, robust and reliable solution. In addition, Universe meets our high customer care and field support requirements and so gives us the certainty we have the market leading solution."

Jeremy Lewis, CEO of Universe Group, commented:

"We are very pleased that MRH has chosen us as their technology and service partner. Building on earlier roll-outs, our highly capable GemPAY card platform continues to go from strength-to-strength in the competitive payment terminal market."  

For further information:

Universe Group plc Jeremy Lewis, CEO	T: [phone]
finnCap Stuart Andrews / Henrik Persson (corporate finance) Tony Quirke (corporate broking)	T: [phone]
KTZ Communications Katie Tzouliadis / Deborah Walter	T: [phone]

About Universe Group plc:

Universe provides some of the world's leading retailers, particularly in the petrol forecourt and convenience store markets, with point of sale, payment and loyalty solutions.  The Group's solutions are based on its own proprietary software and are offered out of the Cloud on a software as a service model with its data centres processing in excess of 1.5 billion transactions every year. For further information, see www.universeplc.com.

About MRH (GB) Limited:

Established as Malthurst in 1997, MRH has become the UK's leading independent service station owner and operator.  In 2004, it acquired the operations of Kuwait Petroleum GB followed by large acquisitions from Texaco, BP and Esso.  MRH now has nearly 400 company-owned stations in its extensive portfolio, the majority of which are branded Esso, BP, Texaco and Jet.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

ENDNRABZLFLZFFBFBZ