LEWIS GROUP LIMITED - VOLUNTARY ANNOUNCEMENT PURCHASE OF BEARES BUSINESS AS A GOING CONCERN (BEARES)

VOLUNTARY ANNOUNCEMENT – PURCHASE OF BEARES BUSINESS AS A GOING CONCERN (“BEARES”)

Lewis Group Limited
Reg No. 2004/009817/06
JSE Share Codes:
LEW ISIN: ZAE000058236
LEW01 ISIN: ZAG000110222


VOLUNTARY ANNOUNCEMENT – PURCHASE OF BEARES BUSINESS AS A GOING CONCERN
(“BEARES”)
Shareholders are advised that Lewis Group, through its wholly-owned
subsidiary, Lewis Stores Proprietary Limited, has pursuant to a competitive
bid process, submitted an offer to acquire the “Beares” brand and some
selected stores, from Ellerine Furnishers Proprietary Limited (in Business
Rescue) (“Ellerines”).

The Business Rescue practitioners acting on behalf of Ellerines have
accepted the offer, and agreed to negotiate with Lewis on an exclusive
basis with a view to concluding a binding sale agreement. The binding sale
agreement will be subject to various suspensive conditions, including the
approval of the South African competition authorities.

The purchase consideration has been determined with reference to the value
of intellectual property, fixed assets and stock.

Johan Enslin, Chief Executive Officer of Lewis Group, said: “Beares is a
strong and well established brand across South Africa, with a history
dating back over 80 years. The acquisition of Beares aligns with our
strategy of gaining access to higher LSM customer groups and will also
enable existing Lewis customers to migrate upwards to the Beares brand.
Beares has a loyal customer base and we believe offers exciting growth
prospects in the medium-term. On approval of the transaction we plan to
integrate the business into Lewis Group’s store, merchandise, supply chain
and credit operations.”

An update on the transaction will be provided with the announcement of
Lewis Group’s interim results on 10 November 2014. Management undertakes to
keep investors updated until the transaction has been finalised.

Cape Town
30 October 2014

Sponsor:
UBS South Africa (Pty) Ltd

Attorneys:
Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs Inc.

Date: 31/10/2014 07:05:00 Produced by the JSE SENS Department. The SENS service is an information dissemination service administered by the JSE Limited ('JSE'). 
The JSE does not, whether expressly, tacitly or implicitly, represent, warrant or in any way guarantee the truth, accuracy or completeness of
 the information published on SENS. The JSE, their officers, employees and agents accept no liability for (or in respect of) any direct, 
indirect, incidental or consequential loss or damage of any kind or nature, howsoever arising, from the use of SENS or the use of, or reliance on,
 information disseminated through SENS.