Vianet Group plc

("Vianet" or the "Group")

Contract win

Vianet's Smart Machines Division wins a strategic new contract with global pure play coffee company

Vianet Group plc (AIM: VNET), the international provider of actionable data and business insight through devices connected to its Internet of Things ("IOT") platform, is pleased to announce a significant new contract win for its Smart Machines division (the "Contract").

The global contract, with a multi-national company (the "Customer"), will be for an initial three year period across ten different markets covering Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand.  The Contract is expected to result in the connection of c. 7,000 new machines to Vianet's platform in calendar year 2018 with further acceleration in 2019 and 2020.

The Smart Machines division will supply multi-network IOT devices, supported by an asset management suite and cloud based data insight on the performance of the Customer's service and equipment across its coffee and foodservice division.

Stewart Darling, CEO of Vianet Group plc, commented:  

"We are delighted to announce this significant win with a highly valued customer.  They are a prestigious world class blue chip business delivering high end quality coffee and hot drinks and this contract is a strong endorsement of our capability, vision and strategy for the Smart Machines division.  We will continue to extend our capability, delivering increased value for this customer and look forward to supporting their growth plans over the coming years."

James Dickson, Chairman of Vianet Group plc commented:

"This is a win of great strategic importance for the team and demonstrates that our focus on the vending sector and premium coffee, in particular, is being well rewarded.   The new contract will have limited impact on our financial year ending 30 March 2018 but is anticipated to have a material positive impact on performance in subsequent years when roll out plans are confirmed.   

Together with the recent acquisition of Vendman, the UK's leading unattended retail management software company, Vianet is building and developing real scale and momentum in its newer and faster growing Smart Machines division.

Also, as businesses increasingly seek and rely on actionable data, business intelligence and insights, Vianet's proven IOT capability means we are well placed to deliver compelling results for our customers and accelerate our own growth in what are rapidly evolving markets".

This announcement contains inside information for the purpose of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation EU 596/2014 ("MAR").

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About Vianet

Vianet Group is a leading provider of actionable management information and business insight created through combining data from our smart Internet of Things ('IOT') solutions and external information sources.  

Since Admission to AIM in 2006, the Group has grown from its core beer monitoring business both organically and through strategic acquisitions to widen its offering and also develop new businesses, especially in vending telemetry and contactless payment solutions particularly for the premium coffee sector.

Servicing over 300 customers across the world and rendering live data to our IOT platform from over 250,000 connected machines daily, Vianet is one of the largest business to business (b2b) connected solutions providers in Europe with established long term relationships with blue chip customers and growing recurring revenues which are over 85% of our total revenues.

In our Smart Machines Division we connect a single data gathering device with its own on-board communication capability to a customer's asset or system.  The device then sends data back via our IOT platform to cloud based servers.  The technology was originally developed for automated retailing machines, however the flexibility and functionality of the device means the technology can be applied to practically any machine which has the capability to output data.  The device is also used to connect our contactless payment solution and communicate payment terms to our cloud based payment services providers where that application is also required.

The Smart Zones Division is where we connect multiple data gathering devices into one or more systems or assets with the data from those devices being communicated back to our IOT platform and cloud based servers via a single 3G communications hub.  The technology was originally developed for flow monitoring devices, temperature sensors, and asset management in drinks retailing but practically any data gathering device with a digital output could be connected to the communications hub where required such as gaming machines, utilities management and EPOS.

For further information, please visit www.vianetplc.com