Trinity Mirror plc – Preliminary results for year ended 30 December 2012

March 14, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

Trinity Mirror plc has announced its preliminary esults for the year ended 30 December 2012

Highlights

  • Revenue fell by £54.2 million to £706.5 million – in part due to the launch of a new national Sunday tabloid during February 2012.
  • Operating profit up 2.5% to £107.1 million.
  • Structural cost savings of £25 million.
  • EPS growth of 10.7% from 27.0 pence to 29.9 pence – driven by increased operating profit and reduced interest costs on falling debt.
  • Further reduction in net debt of £64.2 million – net debt reduced to £157.0 million after funding £14.2 million investment in Local World.
  • Continued de-risking of the Group’s defined benefit pension schemes – 25% of gross liabilities hedged through insurance contracts.
  • A non cash impairment charge of £60 million against the carrying value of goodwill in the acquired digital recruitment and digital property businesses.

Commenting on the results, Simon Fox, Chief Executive, Trinity Mirror plc, said:

“It has become clear to me in my first six months that not only is Trinity Mirror a strong and cash generative business, as evidenced by this past year’s financial performance, but that there is significant further unrealised potential.

We will be investing £8 million during 2013 to deliver our strategic objectives whilst ensuring we repay maturing long-term debt over the next 15 months. Over this period our financial flexibility will improve such that we can both meet our pension funding obligations and consider the potential for returning capital to shareholders.

Although the trading environment is expected to remain difficult, the strategic initiatives I have implemented will bring significant benefits with the ambition of delivering sustainable profit growth over the medium term.”

More information here.

UK, London

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ePublishing acquires B2B Audience Network

March 14, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

ePublishing has acquired B2B Audience Network. A business-to–business advertising network, B2B Audience reaches more than 300 online publications for clients including UBM, Cygnus, and GIE.

Andy Kowl, founder of B2B Audience Network, will be joining ePublishing as Senior Vice President of Publishing Strategy.

“We have always focused on maximizing publishers’ revenue by increasing reader engagement and enabling them to monetize it at every level,” said Thomas Chaffee , CEO of ePublishing. “Adding another contextual revenue opportunity for the hundreds of B2B titles powered by our EPS benefits both our clients and their customers.” In 2012, ePublishing acquired Ellington CMS and Marketplace software and 330 news websites from The World Company.

USA, Chicago, IL

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Complex Media acquires Sole Collector

March 14, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

Complex Media has acquired Sole Collector expanding the company’s network of owned and operated sites. Sole Collector’s GM Steve Mullholand , along with his 10-person team, will join Complex Media. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Sole Collector was founded 10 years ago by Steve Mullholand, and is based in Portland, Oregon. The site has 4.4 million unique monthly visitors and an online sneaker forum, with over 385,000 members. Sole Collector offers a sneaker database with over 15,000 listings, each quarter publishes Sole Collector print magazine and each month publishes Sole magazine on iPad.

“We’re thrilled to acquire Sole Collector and to bring on its talented team. They’ve created a uniquely successful destination for sneaker-obsessed males – some of the most discerning lifestyle consumers anywhere,” said Rich Antoniello , CEO of Complex Media. “With its authentic voice, enormous and constantly updated database, and loyal and engaged users, Sole Collector is exactly the kind of property we’re looking to add to our expanding collective of sites that define and influence youth culture. This is just the beginning of our aggressive and strategic expansion plan for 2013.”

USA, New York, NY & Portland, Oregon

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RetailMeNot acquires Dutch online coupon site Actiepagina.nl

March 13, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

RetailMeNot, Inc., a marketplace for online coupons and deals, has acquired Actiepagina.nl, a publisher of online coupons in the Netherlands. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

RetailMeNot, Inc.’s existing portfolio of European websites also includes VoucherCodes.co.uk (www.vouchercodes.co.uk) in the U.K.; Bons-de-Reduction (web.bons-de-reduction.com) and cash-back website Poulpeo (poulpeo.com) in France; and Deals.com (www.deals.com) in Germany. In North America, RetailMeNot, Inc. also operates Deals2Buy (www.deals2buy.com) and RetailMeNot (www.retailmenot.com), the most widely used online coupon site in the United States.

Maurice Buijs , who founded of Actiepagina in 2005, will continue to serve as general manager of RetailMeNot, Inc.’s Dutch operations. The transaction includes transitioning all existing full-time staff to RetailMeNot, Inc. employees, bringing RetailMeNot, Inc.’s total global headcount to approximately 330 employees.

“In addition to our two websites in North America, the acquisition of Actiepagina.nl puts us in our fourth country in Europe,” said Cotter Cunningham, Founder & CEO, RetailMeNot, Inc. “I look forward to working with Maurice and our new team in the Netherlands so we can show more Dutch consumers how easy it is to save money while shopping online, and help our merchant partners grow their business.”

USA, Austin, TX & The Netherlands

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Expedia Completes Acquisition Of Majority Interest In trivago

March 12, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

expediaExpedia has completed its acquisition of 61.6% of the fully-diluted equity of trivago, a German hotel metasearch company, paying approximately €434 million in cash (approximately US$564 million based on March 8, 2013 exchange rates) and agreeing to issue a total of 875,200 shares of Expedia, Inc. common stock over five years. trivago will continue to operate independently from its headquarters in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Previous DigiNet reporting

“Metasearch is an incredibly popular product because it enables consumers to find their ideal hotel at the lowest possible rate. The trivago team built one of the best hotel search user experiences and gained tremendous brand recognition in Europe. We are thrilled to officially welcome them to the Expedia, Inc. family,” said Dara Khosrowshahi , Expedia, Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer.

“Our focus remains on rapidly growing revenue as we expand globally,” said Rolf Schromgens, trivago co-founder and Managing Director. “The ability to leverage Expedia’s knowledge of and experience with global scale operations will be invaluable to profitably achieve this goal,” added Schromgens.

USA, Bellevue, WA & Germany, Dusseldorf

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Middle Eastern daily deal site Cobone.com acquired by Tiger Global Management

March 12, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

Cobone LogoCobone.com, a daily deal company in the Middle East, has been acquired by investment firm Tiger Global Management. Irish entrepreneur Paul Kenny , founder and current CEO of Cobone.com, along other members of Cobone’s management team including Warrick Godfrey , Pieter Sleeboom, Tahira Khan and Loai Ayoub will remain with Cobone. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Dubai based Cobone was founded in August 2010 by Kenny with backing from the Jabbar Internet Group. Cobone.com is the largest deal site in the Middle East region, and has grown its registered user base to more than 2 million customers.

“This deal represents a very exciting future for Cobone as it reaffirms its commitment to the Middle Eastern market and e-commerce industry,” said Paul Kenny . “Tiger Global gives us the international clout and the financial resources to expand regionally and surpass already high customer expectations. Loyal Cobone users can look forward to many exciting developments and innovative offerings in the very near future.”

USA, New York & UAE, Dubai

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Middle Eastern daily deal site Cobone.com acquired by Tiger Global Management

March 11, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

Cobone.com, a daily deal company in the Middle East, has been acquired by investment firm Tiger Global Management.

Irish entrepreneur Paul Kenny , founder and current CEO of Cobone.com, will remain in his position along other members of Cobone’s leadership team including Warrick Godfrey , Pieter Sleeboom, Tahira Khan and Loai Ayoub.

Cobone.com was founded in August 2010 by Kenny with backing from the Jabbar Internet Group. It is the largest deal site in the Middle East region, and has grown its registered user base to more than 2 million customers.

“This deal represents a very exciting future for Cobone as it reaffirms its commitment to the Middle Eastern market and e-commerce industry,” said Paul Kenny . “Tiger Global gives us the international clout and the financial resources to expand regionally and surpass already high customer expectations. Loyal Cobone users can look forward to many exciting developments and innovative offerings in the very near future.”

Samih Toukan , Chairman of Jabbar Internet Group, commented on the deal, saying, “This deal represents the international recognition of a highly successful local business. With Paul Kenny , we created a company that led the way in regional group buying, and took on global players on our own turf. While this deal represents a successful exit for the Jabbar Group, we have little doubt in Cobone’s commitment to the region and in Paul’s determination to continue excelling and leading his brainchild to new successes.”

UAE, Dubai

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Perform acquires Dutch football site Voetbalzone.nl

March 7, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

performDigital sports rights business, Perform Group plc,  has acquired Voetbalzone.nl.

Voetbalzone is an independent sports site in the Netherlands. The acquisition will be for an initial voetbalzoneconsideration of €2.0m with an additional contingent consideration of up to €10.5m payable based on the EBITDA of Voetbalzone for the years to 31 December 2013, 2014 and 2015.

Voetbalzone covers all the news from the world of football and is the number one independent sports site in the Netherlands attracting an average of 2m unique users per month, and ranked as the 6th largest sport site on comScore.

Oliver Slipper, joint CEO of Perform commented: “We are delighted to have announced the acquisition of Voetbalzone. The Dutch market is extremely exciting and one of the leading media markets in Europe and this acquisition really positions us a strong player here. We have set out a growth strategy focused on augmenting Perform’s strong organic growth with selective acquisitions including ‘local champions’ and today’s announcement is an excellent example of us executing this strategy.”

Perform Group also announced full year results today with revenue growth of 47% and adjusted EBITDA growth of 103% – full details.

Perform Group recent acquisitions:

  • Acquisition of RunningBall, a leading real-time data provider in May for total cash and equity consideration of €120 million.  Post acquisition integration complete and new product development progressing well.
  • Acquisition of 51% of Mackolik in June, Turkey’s leading digital sports business for £14.5 million (with a further £1.0 million payable in 2013 due to the above expected performance of the business in 2012).  Remaining 49% to be acquired in 2016.

UK, Feltham & The Netherlands

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Strong financial results for Moneysupermarket.com

March 7, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

ms-logoMoneysupermarket.com has produced a strong set of financial results for the year ended 31 December 2012. Adjusted revenue for the year increased by 15% to £204.8m (2011: £178.5m), generating adjusted EBITDA which was 26% higher at £66.5m (2011: £52.5m). This included external revenues of £1.8m and EBITDA of £2.8m respectively, resulting from the acquisition of MoneySavingExpert.com which was acquired on 21 September 2012.

During 2012 the Group has continued to see good growth. Trading during the second half of the year improved relative to the comparable first half performance in the Insurance, Home Services and Travel verticals. Revenues in the Money vertical however were broadly flat in the second half of the year as savings revenues declined as a result of the introduction of the Bank of England’s ‘Funding for Lending’ scheme, which enables financial institutions to seek low cost funding centrally rather than through retail deposits from the consumer markets.

The Group acquired MoneySavingExpert.com on 21 September 2012 for a total consideration of up to £92.5m including deferred consideration of up to £27.0m. Trading since acquisition has been strong.

Financial highlights

  • Adjusted revenue increased by 15% to £204.8m (2011: £178.5m);
  • Adjusted EBITDA increased by 26% to £66.5m (2011: £52.5m);
  • Adjusted EBITDA margins increased by 3% to 32%;
  • Adjusted gross margin increased to 74.1% (2011: 71.9%);
  • 97% of EBITDA converted to cash;
  • Cash balance of £18.7m (2011: £35.0m) at the year-end reflecting the acquisition of MoneySavingExpert.com; the Group is debt free;
  • Dividend increased by 27% to 5.74p;
    • Final dividend increased 30% to 3.94p per share (2011: 3.03p);
  • £10.6m (2011: £nil) net credit in statutory profit following agreement of new VAT recovery method with HMRC;
    • Credits of £4.5m and £1.9m recognised for 2012 and 2011 respectively, in lower irrecoverable VAT charge.

Full details of year end results

UK, Wales, Ewloe

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Wilmington Group acquires Spanish information and events Inese

March 7, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

wilmington-logoWilmington Group plc has acquired the trading assets of Inese, the provider of information and events to the insurance industry in Spain, from Reed Business Information for a net consideration of €1.4m in cash. The consideration will be financed out of the Group’s existing £65m multicurrency debt facility.

Inese was established in 1892 and was acquired by RBI in 2000. Inese is a leading provider of Spanish language subscription based inesepublications, online services for the Spanish Insurance Industry along with a number of annual events including the leading industry congress; “Insurance Week”. Inese also operates a digital news service in Latin America.

Approximately 40% of Inese’s revenue is derived from subscriptions, and a further 30% from annual awards and events. Throughout the last 3 years revenue has been stable and the business has enjoyed overall renewal rates on its subscription base of around 90%. Approximately 30% of total revenue is delivered digitally. In the year to 31stDecember 2012 Inese made a profit before taxation of €0.7m*1 and had gross assets of €0.8m.

The Business will form part of the Wilmington Pensions and Insurance Division and will work closely with the Axco insurance information business, providing Axco with access to Spanish language insurance markets.

UK, London & Spain, Madrid

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1. Wilmington

2. RBI

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