WPP’s Penn Schoen Berland acquires First Movies International

April 19, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

WPP’s wholly-owned global strategic communications consultancy firm Penn Schoen Berland has acquired First Movies International which has operations in London and Los Angeles.

Founded in 2000, First Movies is a research-based strategic consultancy that serves film companies on a global basis. Clients include many of the major film studios, independent distributors, production companies and industry affiliates. The business employs research consultants in the US and UK and key partners include Disney, Paramount, Sony Pictures and 20th Century Fox.

First Movies’ capabilities will complement Penn Schoen Berland’s existing media and entertainment practice by giving it a bigger footprint and an increased capability to service its clients’ global research needs.

UK, London and USA, Los Angeles, CA

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WPP Digital invests in mySupermarket

April 19, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

WPP Digital has made an investment of $7 million for a minority stake in Dolphin Software Ltd., doing business as mySupermarket, a company which operates a shopping site that allows consumers to compare prices of entire shopping baskets and buy from the major UK online grocery and health & beauty retailers. It has over 2 million monthly unique users in the UK and is growing approximately 100% year on year.

Founded in 2006 and with principal operations in the US, the company employs 70 people and has offices in London, New York, Tel Aviv and Tokyo.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

UK, London

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Groupon acquires Ditto.me.

April 17, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Groupon has acquired Ditto.me.

Ditto.me is a mobile app to help users get quick recommendations about restaurants and movies. the business is just one year old. The acquisition was announced on the Ditto.me blog. Terms of the deal were not announced.

The company said, “We can’t reveal what we’ll be working on at Groupon but we are excited to give it 100% – to enable this, we’ll be winding down Ditto. On April 30th we’ll switch off the service and remove the app from Apple’s and Nokia’s stores*. We think you’ll love what we and Groupon dream up next.”

USA, Mountain View, CA & Chicago, IL

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Decision Resources Group Acquires Pinsonault

April 17, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Decision Resources Group, a research and advisory firms focusing on healthcare insights and analysis, has acquired Pinsonault, a provider of markets-specific business and training solutions to the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. The acquisition will result in a significant expansion of Decision Resources Group’s Market Access Business Unit which currently includes Fingertip Formulary, HealthLeaders-InterStudy and PharmaStrat.

Jim Lang, who was appointed President of the Market Access Business Unit at Decision Resources Group in January of 2012, will head up the integration of the Pinsonault brand.

Regarding the purchase, Mr. Lang said, “This acquisition is another example of how Decision Resources Group is bringing together the best-in-class brands in a way that allows our clients to leverage these premier offerings to suit their unique business needs. Pinsonault’s renowned reputation for quality and customer service makes it a brand we are excited to see added to our portfolio.”

Pinsonault will remain headquartered in Mt. Olive, NJ.

USA, Burlington, MA. & Mt. Olive, NJ

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DMGT – trading update for the six-month period to the end of March 2012

April 17, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

DMGT has issued an update on the Group’s progress in the current year. It covers the six-month period to the end of March 2012.

Summary

–       Solid Group revenue performance, up 2% underlying

–       Good underlying growth from B2B operations

–       Resilient revenue performance at Associated; circulation and digital revenue growth largely offsetting print advertising weakness

–       Active portfolio management; targeted acquisitions and disposal of non-core assets

–       Outlook for the year remains unchanged.

 

Acquisition activity

Active portfolio management has seen further bolt-on acquisitions, including:

–       Intelliworks – a top provider of relationship management solutions for higher education (dmgi – Hobsons)

–       PrepMe – a leader in adaptive learning technologies and test preparation programs (dmgi – Hobsons)

–       SpringRock – a cutting-edge provider of dynamic production forecasts for the oil & gas industry (dmgi – Genscape)

–       Global Grain Geneva and Global Grain Asia – international grain trading conferences (Euromoney) (A Fusion deal – click here for details)

–       Jobrapido – one of the world’s largest job search engines (Associated -Evenbase)

This continuing portfolio management activity has also seen A&N Media selling its interests in Top Consultant, motors.co.uk and Teletext.

Yesterday, the Office of Fair Trading gave clearance for the proposed merger between the Digital Property Group and Zoopla to go ahead.

Read the full announcement here

UK, London

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Euromoney Institutional Investor – trading update – half year profits of not less than £47M

April 17, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC, the international publishing, events and electronic information group, has issued a trading update ahead of the announcement of its results for the half year to March 31, 2012.

Group revenues for the six months to March 31, 2012 are expected to show an increase of 13% to £189 million.  Underlying revenues, excluding the impact of last year’s acquisition of Ned Davis Research (NDR), increased by approximately 5%.  Headline subscription revenues are expected to have increased by 22%, and accounted for 53% (2011: 49%) of the group’s revenues for the period.  Underlying subscription revenues, excluding NDR, increased by approximately 7%, continuing the good momentum from 2011. Advertising and sponsorship revenues are down by 8%. The stronger performance of delegate revenues in the second quarter was mostly due to timing differences on events and the impact of the political unrest in the Middle East on delegate bookings last year.

The following table summarises the expected year-on-year revenue changes for the six months to March 31 at both headline rates and at constant currency:

For the half year to March 31, 2012, Euromoney expects to announce an adjusted profit before tax* of not less than £47 million (2011: £41.6 million).  The adjusted operating margin^ is expected to be unchanged at 30%.

Group net debt at March 31, 2012 is expected to be no more than £90 million, down from £119.2 million at September 30, 2011.  The reduction in net debt largely reflects the continued strong operating cash flows of the group.

Recent sales trends suggest the outlook for advertising revenues remains challenging, while the outlook for the events businesses, for which the third quarter is the most important of the year, is positive.  Overall trading remains in line with the board’s expectations.

The half year results will be announced on the morning of May 17, 2012, followed by an analyst presentation and investor meetings. Euromoney is participating in the DMGT investor day on April 18 when it will give a presentation covering the importance of emerging markets to its growth strategy.  No further comment on trading will be given at this meeting.

* Adjusted profit before tax is profit before tax, acquired intangible amortisation, exceptional items, deferred consideration adjustments and non-cash movements in acquisition option commitment values.

^ Adjusted operating profit is operating profit before acquired intangible amortisation, long-term incentive expense, exceptional items and share of results in associates.

UK, London

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ITE acquires two Ukrainian exhibitions

April 16, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

ITE International Holdings BV, a wholly owned subsidiary of exhibitions business ITE Group plc, has acquired Kiev based Limited Liability Company BeautexCo from BCI R&R Limited, a company registered in Cyprus.

Beautex runs two exhibitions each year, Intercharm and Beautyexpo. Both are trade exhibitions for the professional beauty trade and cosmetic and aesthetic medicine industry in Ukraine.

On acquisition, Beautex had gross assets of nil. The exhibitions are forecast to generate revenues of €2.4m in the year ending 30 September 2012 and are expected to be earnings enhancing in ITE’s 2012 financial year.

Commenting on the acquisition, ITE’s Chief Executive Officer, Russell Taylor, said: “The addition of these two exhibitions to ITE’s Ukrainian business is consistent with our strategy of building market leading positions in core markets and sectors and will complement ITE’s existing activities in Kiev. These events have strong market positions in Ukraine and will benefit from access to ITE’s expertise and international reach.”

UK, London and Ukraine, Kiev

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Bloomsbury Publishing acquires Fairchild Books

April 16, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Bloomsbury Publishing’s US subsidiary, Bloomsbury Publishing Inc, has acquired Fairchild Books from Fairchild Fashion Media, a unit of Conde Nast, for $6,500,000. The consideration will be paid in cash from existing cash balances in three equal annual installments, commencing at completion.

For the year-ended 31 December 2011, Fairchild Books generated net profit before tax of $706,000 and as at 31 December 2011 had gross assets of $7,567,000.

Fairchild Books, based in New York, is a market-leading publisher of textbooks and educational resources for students of fashion, merchandising, retailing and interior design. It has a strong history dating back to the nineteenth century and a world-class reputation for producing student materials for the fashion and design industries.

The Fairchild Books list is highly complementary to Bloomsbury’s existing academic list in the Visual Arts, which was bolstered by the acquisition of Berg Publishers in 2008, the launch of the award-winning Berg Fashion Library www.bergfashionlibrary.com in 2010 and the acquisition of a fashion photography archive in 2011.

Following the acquisition, the business will be managed by Kathryn Earle, Bloomsbury’s Head of Visual Arts, and will report in to Bloomsbury’s Academic & Professional division.

Bloomsbury’s successful integration of the Continuum business, purchased in July 2011, was the cornerstone acquisition of the Academic & Professional division, providing it with critical mass and excellent opportunities for organic growth and digital exploitation.

Nigel Newton, Chief Executive of Bloomsbury commented, “The acquisition of Fairchild Books is part of Bloomsbury’s long term strategy to increase its Academic Publishing turnover in the USA, the largest market for English language textbooks.  There is an excellent fit between Fairchild Book’s list and Bloomsbury’s visual arts lists.

UK, London & USA, New York, NY

 

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Games company Zattikka lists on AIM and makes three acquisitions

April 16, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Zattikka plc, a social and casual internet games development and publishing business, has listed in AIM. The Company has completed a placing with institutional and other investors, raising approximately £12.6 million, with proceeds to be used to fund the acquisition of three online games companies and ongoing working capital.

Zattikka is a newly-incorporated company, focused on developing and publishing interactive games entertainment products across internet connected platforms, through various media channels. These channels include PC web browsers, social networks, mobile devices (including smartphones and tablets), connected consoles, and other emerging platforms including IP TVs and set top boxes.

Contemporaneous with admission, Zattikka will complete the acquisitions of three online games companies:

  • Hattrick Holdings
  • Sneaky Games, Inc.
  • Concept Art House, Inc.

The acquisitions will provide Zattikka with products that can then be sold to end-customers in key European, US and Chinese markets, either directly through its own websites, or through third-party digital distribution channels or other new digital platforms.

The vision for the Company is to become a large scale, diverse games publisher with products operating across growth digital platforms, and with a targeted geographic emphasis in Europe, the US and China. The Company proposes to achieve this by developing Zattikka through strategic acquisitions and accelerating on-going organic growth.

Mark Opzoomer, Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are delighted to list on AIM to provide the capital base and incentivise the entrepreneurs joining our group. We begin with a strong group of companies with operations in key gaming centres in the USA, China and Europe, a mix of revenues across subscriptions, virtual goods and work for hire with an exceptional team of talent. We have a great opportunity before us to accelerate the growth of this initial group across multi-platforms to create a world class games entertainment group.”

UK, London

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OFT clears the merger between the Digital Property Group and Zoopla

April 16, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has today given clearance for the proposed merger between the Digital Property Group and Zoopla to go ahead. Digital Property Group is part of A&N Media, the consumer media division of DMGT. The merger will bring together Findaproperty.com, Zoopla.co.uk and Primelocation.com. The transaction is now expected to complete within the next few weeks.

Evidence received by the OFT during its investigation found that the merger would not result in reduced competition and consequently did not warrant reference to the Competition Commission for further investigation.

Mark Milner, CEO of the Digital Property Group said, “This is an important day for the industry, given the long-awaited balance in the market that this deal will deliver. It has been a long time coming and the enhanced value that the combined business will provide will make this deal a clear win for UK estate agents, letting agents and housebuilders.”

Martin Morgan, Chief Executive of DMGT said: “We are delighted that the merger has been approved. We now have the opportunity to challenge the market leader in the online property sector, to the benefit of both consumers and clients”.

See also – FindaProperty, Primelocation and Zoopla to merge to take on Rightmove posted on November 7, 2011.

UK, London

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