Salmat agrees to sell its call centres for $53m; shares gain 30pc

Marketing services business Salmat (ASX:SLM) has agreed to sell its call centre business for $53 million to fund manager Five V Capital.

The shares jumped from 46c as high as 62c following the announcement. They closed Monday at 60c.

Salmat, which started as a letterbox distribution business almost 40 years ago, has been undertaking a strategic review amid a 4 per cent fall in revenue last half.

Salmat last month blamed “lost clients and the impact of catalogue volume decline” and told investors it was continuing “to face new business challenges”.

The decision to sell the contact centre business followed “comprehensive analysis of the entire Salmat group through the strategic review process,” Salmat CEO Rebecca Lowde said today.

The sale follows the offloading of Salmat’s MessageNet and Interactive businesses in the first half of FY18.

“Selling our contact centre business will free up capital and group resources to invest in our marketing solutions and microourcing businesses,” Ms Lowde said.