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RNS Number:3498I
Cedar Group PLC
31 March 2000



                                       
              Cedar Announces Acquisitions & Service Initiatives

Cedar Group Plc ("Cedar" or the "Company") announced today the acquisition  of
a  significant majority shareholding in Sword Business Services Ltd ("Sword"),
the  delivery  arm  of  the  Sword Consortia, for #4.4  million.   Cedar  also
announced  that  it  has acquired the entire issued share capital  of  SBA  UK
Limited  and Ansaback Limited ("Ansaback"), the call centre service  provider,
for  a  maximum consideration of up to #17.0 million.  These two  acquisitions
will  strengthen Cedar's position as a Total Solution Provider  (TSP)  to  the
Enterprise Marketplace.

The investment in Sword is represented by the capitalisation of the investment
already made in Sword by Cedar during the past two years.  This investment has
taken  the  form of the provision of software, Cedar staff and other  services
for the development of the Sword business.  No cash or other consideration  is
due in respect of this acquisition.

Ansaback  has  been  acquired for a maximum aggregate consideration  of  #17.0
million.  Cedar will pay an initial consideration of #7.04 million by  way  of
cash  and loan notes.  A deferred consideration payment of #4.96 million  will
be due after one year, upon achievement of an agreed level of operating profit
by  Ansaback.   This deferred consideration will be satisfied by  way  of  the
issue  of  a loan note.  A final deferred payment of up to a maximum  of  #5.0
million  will  be  paid dependent upon Ansaback attaining certain  performance
criteria over the three years following completion.  This will be satisfied by
way  of the issue of a convertible loan note which will convert into a maximum
of  108,108  Cedar ordinary shares or will be repaid in cash.  The loan  notes
and  convertible  loan  notes will be backed by cash from  the  Company's  own
resources.

The  acquisitions  of  Sword and Ansaback represent an  extension  of  Cedar's
infrastructure  to  include call centre services to Cedar customers  which  in
turn  further  differentiates  Cedar from traditional  software  and  services
providers  in  the UK by offering an attractive 'one stop shop'  for  Customer
Relationship Management.

In  addition, the board anticipates that Cedar will benefit from  an  improved
revenue  model through shifting some elements of the Company's present service
business to a recurring revenue stream.

Ownership  of  the  technology 'proving ground'  of  the  portfolio  of  Cedar
products minimises customer risks.

Sword

The business of Sword comprises:

* A  consortium  of  companies who provide products  (primarily  financial
  services)
* A number of affinity groups (i.e. collectives of people where there is at
  least  one  common interest, e.g. sports clubs, charities and  employees  of
  companies; total membership exceeds 7 million individuals)
* A technology structure that enables major consumer marketing and response
  campaigns
* The  in-depth expertise in Quantative Analysis, design and marketing  of
  new products to affinity groups

The  consortium consists of Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, Allianz Cornhill, BUPA,
Scottish Life, First Active, Hanover Life Re and Cedar Group Plc.

A  number  of diverse Affinity Groups are currently using Sword as a marketing
channel  and  include  groups as diverse as the Clubs and  Institutions  Union
(CIU) the holding organisation for over 3,000 working mens clubs in the UK, to
the  Royal  Ocean  Racing Club.  Each of the member databases are  implemented
into  the Sword business model where analysis of the member information allows
for specific products to be built.  These members are then approached directly
by  Sword  on  behalf of the product provider and a sale is  completed.   This
provides  enormous benefits including 'built to fit' products to  the  members
and a low cost distribution model to the product providers.

Sword  is  split  into two operating companies, Sword Management  Limited  and
Sword Business Services.  The former is the management and administration  arm
of  the  consortia.  Sword Business Services designs and implements the  Sword
proposition. Today Cedar announced its acquisition of Sword Business  Services
after  managing the successful implementation of a number of pilot  campaigns.
This  secures  Cedar as the sole provider of technology and infrastructure  to
all Sword initiatives.

The pilot campaigns have included the successful marketing of two products:

  * Energy Choice 2000 - An energy broking service providing 'best value' for
    domestic users
  * Dial 4 - a domestic discount phone call product

Sword was originally developed in Dresdner Kleinwort Benson ("DKB") as a means
to  provide  a  more  attractive and lower cost path  to  market  for  selling
financial  services  products.  DKB expanded the project  to  encompass  other
product  providers in this field and have been working with  Cedar  Group  for
over  two  years to establish the technology and marketing infrastructure  (in
particular  with Call Centre, Data Warehousing and Data Migration activities).
Now  that  this  integrated  solution is in  place  and  proven,  considerable
opportunities exist to sell this to the existing members of the consortia  for
their own use.

Keith Bayliss, CEO of Sword Management Limited commented

"I  am delighted with the consistent and high quality work Cedar have put into
this  project for the last two years.  We believe today that we have completed
both  the  business  process and systems architecture  to  deliver  the  Sword
proposition effectively."

Ansaback

Ansaback  Limited  is a second generation call centre services  provider  with
offices in the UK and Ireland.  The organisation provides inbound and outbound
call centre services, and has a 300 agent capacity available for 24x7 service.
Ansaback's  unique  proposition is that its pricing  model  is  based  on  the
business  improvement  it delivers to its customers;  and  therefore  tied  to
quality as well as output; whereas traditional providers tend to focus on just
output.

Ansaback  has been the call centre service provider for Sword since its  first
pilot  campaign,  and  operates  from  Castlebar,  County  Mayo,  Ireland  and
Martlesham,  Suffolk.   Since  implementing  Cedars  end  to  end  CRM   model
(including  Data  Management, Data Migration Call Centre Management,  Document
Management,  Workflow Management and Reporting components) Ansaback  has  been
able  to  deliver the world class service to blue chip clients in the  Travel,
Automative, Financial Services and Mail Order Industries.


Mike Harrison, CEO of Cedar Group Plc commented

"The combination of these two important acquisitions not only strengthens  our
service capability but marks a significant step in the growth of our business,
and  the natural extension of our service business to meet customer demand for
a  'Total  Solution Provider'. A Total Solutions Provider is able  to  deliver
everything  an Applications Service Provider can, plus business  services  and
ancillary  software  applications, we are witnessing a growth  in  demand  for
these services, particularly from the medium to larger organisations.

The  successful  delivery  of  the Sword model  is  evidence  that  the  Cedar
proposition  is  both  technically and commercially effective.   We  have  now
delivered  the  systems  infrastructure  for  a  major  Customer  Relationship
Management  (CRM)  initiative at the Enterprise level  of  the  market.   This
includes integrated data management, customer management, call centre, process
management and financial management, and all based on a tight ROI model  -  an
attractive proposition to a number of global organisations who are faced  with
improving  their  competitiveness and profitability whilst reducing  operating
costs."

For further information contact

Mike Harrison, Managing Director
Mike Hosie, Finance Director
Cedar Group Plc                              +44 (0) 1932 584000

Russell Cook
Teather & Greenwood Limited                  + 44 (0) 207 426 9000


Shane Dolan                                  +44 (0) 207 377 6677
Biddick Associates


END

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