Pinewood Technologies To Buy 51% Of Lithia's North American JV For $76.5 Mln; Stock Up 12% On LSE

(RTTNews) - Pinewood Technologies Group Plc (PINE.L), a cloud-based software provider for the automotive retail industry, and Lithia UK Holdings Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lithia & Driveway (LAD), on Friday announced a deal in which Pinewood.AI will buy Lithia's 51% interest in their North American joint venture for $76.5 million. The JV is valued at $150 million.

The acquisition will be completed through the issuance of 14.560 million new shares of Pinewood.AI.

"Full ownership of the joint venture gives Pinewood.AI complete control of its North American platform, removing potential barriers to its broader adoption and supporting its expansion across the region's $6.5 billion automotive retail software sector," Pinewood.AI said.

In addition, the two companies have signed a five-year contract to the rollout the Pinewood Automotive Intelligence platform across all Lithia's current and future dealerships in the U.S. and Canada by the end of 2028.

Pinewood.AI expects to generate around $40 million in annual recurring revenue, once the current rollout is complete. With additional North America-specific features planned for release by the end of 2028, projected annual revenue from Lithia is expected to reach around $60 million.

PINE was up by 12.77% at 450.50 pence on the London Stock Exchange.