Westchester Advises Netstore in Acquisition of System Software Solutions

LONDON - August 15, 2005: Westchester Associates Limited (www.westchester.co.uk) today announced that it advised Netstore plc ("Netstore") and its wholly owned subsidiary, Netstore Security, in the acquisition of System Software Solutions ("System Software Solutions"). The agreement in which Netstore will acquire all of the issued share capital of System Software Solutions for a cash payment of approximately £3.0 million was announced by Netstore today as well.

System Software Solutions is a UK-based security company that offers consultancy and design services; maintenance, support and managed services and system integration services in IT security and data management. Approximately half of System Software Solutions business comes from Local Authorities, Police and NHS Trusts; core growth markets for the Netstore group. For the financial year ended 31 December 2004, System Software Solutions reported turnover of £6.7 million and an operating profit of £0.1 million.

Netstore believes the acquisition will make its Netstore Security subsidiary one of the leaders in the fragmented UK IT Security market, bringing both commercial and market presence; it will also help to establish further the Netstore brand in one of its key markets, the Public Sector, so facilitating the sales of its core managed services.

Neil Lloyd, Netstore Chief Executive, stated "in line with our stated acquisition strategy, Westchester continues to identify and assist us with relevant acquisition candidates including both System Software Systems which we announced our acquisition of today, and Cassium which we acquired in May of this year. In this second transaction completed with Westchester's assistance, they once again identified the right type of business, in the right market sector and for right value for Netstore. Their M&A expertise and ability to find, qualify and deliver relevant candidates have made a valuable contribution to our acquisition strategy."

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