Yell’s half year interim results

November 9, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Revenue in line with expectations

  • Print directories – deteriorating trend continues – down 20.1%
  • Digital directories – deteriorating trend continues – down 12.3%
  • Strong growth in digital services – up by 136.5%
  • Underlying growth – down 13.3%
  • A £100m debt buy-back is being considered.
  • The company built up a debt pile after a series of acquisitions which included its Spanish directories business. The company has no plans to sell existing businesses.

FY12 Outlook

  • EBITDA within current market expectations
  • Full year exceptional – reorganisation costs of circa £25m
  • Not expecting covenant breach within FY12
See the full presentation here
UK, Berkshire

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Adconion Media Group acquires smartclip

November 9, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Adconion Media Group has acquired digital video advertising business smartclip. terms of the deal were not disclosed. Adconion will gain 118 employees in Europe and expand to 27 offices servicing clients throughout the UK, Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Portugal in Western Europe; Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland in Northern Europe; and Russia.

The acquisition will strengthen Adconion’s position in online video in its existing markets and accelerate the deployment of its digital distribution platform into the emerging markets of Eastern and Central Europe and into the segment of Connected TV. The smartclip business with its expertise in digital video advertising will complement Adconion’s existing product range. The proprietary in-stream video and Connected TV technology of smartclip will be integrated with the Adconion platform, which is already delivering targeted ads and content across display, email, social and both in-banner and in-stream video

Prior to this acquisition Adconion had a potential reach of 687m unique users monthly across its global platform or just over half the global online population. Now, with the inclusion of over 500 new publisher sites from the smartclip portfolio, this number will grow significantly as well as increase the Adconion global footprint to 17 countries worldwide.

Tyler Moebius, Adconion’s  founder and CEO commented, “The addition of smartclip’s exclusive in-stream reach and Connected TV apps to our platform is an important development in growing the online video industry globally. We will now be providing advertisers an exclusive audience which they can reach in scale across in-banner, in-stream and Connected TV,” said

Matthias Quadflieg, Adconion’s chief operating officer international commented “We believe advertising will be the main monetisation vehicle for Connected TV programs and apps. The heritage of Adconion Media Group lies in maximising revenue for commercial partners through delivering the right audience, on the right platform, to the right brand, at the right time, at unprecedented scale.”

UK, London

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Adconion Media Group raises £21M to support acquisition plans and general operations Posted on May 12, 2011

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Endemol to reject bidders

November 9, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

According to the FT, Endemol and its lenders are set to rebuff recent approaches for the indebted television production group behind Big Brother and Deal or no Deal, and pursue a debt for equity swap. Time Warner recently tabled an offer of about €1bn ($1.4bn).

Read the full story here

Netherlands, Amsterdam

 

 

 

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FindaProperty, Primelocation and Zoopla to merge to take on Rightmove

November 7, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

A&N Media, the consumer media division of DMGT plans to merge the online property business of its Digital Property Group, which includes FindaProperty.com and Primelocation.com, with those of Zoopla Limited operator of Zoopla.co.uk. Zoopla is a privately-owned company which has venture capital interests as its largest shareholders.  Under the proposed merger, A&N Media will retain a 55% interest in the newly merged entity. The merger has been referred to the Office of Fair Trading.

The companies hope that the merged businesses will be able to compete better with Rightmove, the dominant player in the market. Martin Morgan, Chief Executive of DMGT said: “This merger will create a genuine opportunity to challenge the dominant market leader in the online property sector. We believe that the combination of our respective digital property assets will benefit both consumers and clients.”

UK, London

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mergermarket Q3 Monthly M&A Insider report

November 2, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

According to the mergermarket Q3 Monthly M&A Insider report (October 2011), global m&a in the first three quarters of 2011 totalled us$1,718bn – a 21.5% increase from the us$1,414.4bn worth of deals registered in the first three quarters of 2010 – and the financial services sector saw an even steeper 37.4% increase during this nine-month window. The first three quarters of 2011 brought us$208.5bn in financial services deals to market, up from us$151.7bn in the same period last year,

Sectors covered by Fusion DigiNet

The largest sector by market share was Energy, Mining and Utilities at 23.1% (835 deals) down 10% (-125 by volume), in 7th place is Business Services at 4.4% (1,159 deals) -17% (+62 by volume), media is in 8th place at 1.9% (279 deals) +23% (no change by volume).

See the full report at mergermarket

Posted in B2B Services, Broadcasting, Conference/Exhibitions/Events, Consultancy, Content Media, e-Commerce, Energy & Environmental Services, Games, Internet Media, Market Data & Information, Marketing/Advertising, Mobile Apps, Research Reports, ~Asia, ~Europe, ~Latin America and Caribbean, ~Middle East & Africa, ~North America, ~Oceana. Leave a Comment »

Future PLC’s CEO & FD resign

October 27, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Future plc has announced today that Stevie Spring, CEO, and John Bowman, FD, have resigned with immediate effect.

The Board has appointed Mark Wood, the head of Future UK, and Graham Harding, the UK’s Finance Director, to replace them.

According to The Guardian, “The pair have fallen on their swords in order to help Future cut costs”. Spring, the highest-paid executive at Future, received £652,000 in total remuneration for the year to the end of September 2010. This included a £160,000 bonus. Spring’s pay packet was a 72% increase on 2009’s total remuneration of £378,000 when she did not receive a bonus. Bowman, the second-highest paid executive, received a total remuneration of £325,000 in the year to the end of September 2010. Bowman received a bonus of £39,000. This was a 14% rise over 2009’s pay packet, when Bowman also did not receive a bonus.

Peter Allen, Future’s recently appointed Chairman, said: “The Board would like to thank Stevie and John for their considerable contribution in leading Future through a period of unprecedented change. The recent restructuring which positions the company for its digital future has allowed the Board this opportunity to achieve substantial savings by eliminating an entire tier of corporate overhead.

The Board is confident that the market-leading progress in generating digital revenues will continue under Mark’s stewardship. He and Graham can now manage a more profitable business to the benefit of both shareholders and staff.”

Mark Wood said: “I’m delighted to be taking over from Stevie at such an exciting time in our development. We are making amazing progress on line and on mobile, demonstrated just this month by our success on the Apple newsstand.We have the pieces in place to achieve sustainable growth in all our core verticals.”

Group results for the year to 30 September 2011 will be announced on Thursday 24 November 2011.

Bios

Stevie Spring became CEO of Future in 2006 after six years as Chief Executive of Clear Channel, and 16 years in communications management. She chairs BBC Children in Need.

Mark Wood was appointed Chief Executive of Future’s UK business in September 2010. He was previously Chief Executive of ITN and before that Editor-in-Chief of Reuters and a member of Reuters PLC Board. He was a non-executive director of the Company (from 1 April 2009 until 23 August 2010 when he stepped down to lead the UK business).

John Bowman joined Future in November 2001 as Group Finance Director from Scottish Radio Holdings plc, where he was also Group Finance Director, having commenced his career at KPMG.

Graham Harding has been Finance Director of Future’s UK business for seven years and also Group Financial Controller since 2000. He started out his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

UK, London, UK

Future Publishing emerges as a contender for BBC Worldwide’s magazine division Posted on February 24, 2011

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Ogilvy & Mather Russia to acquire digital agency Promo Interactive

October 26, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Ogilvy & Mather Russia is to acquire Promo Digital LLC, trading as Promo Interactive, formerly a part of the Next Media Group, subject to regulatory approvals.

The proposed acquisition will significantly strengthen Ogilvy’s digital offering to its clients. Promo Interactive is one of Russia’s leading digital agencies with a team of 53 employees and prestigious clients such as MTS, LG and Gazprom. The agency has a history of heavily investing in R&D, placing it in a position to offer clients state-of-the-art digital solutions in multi-media, mobile and infotainment.

Following completion, Promo Interactive and OgilvyInteractive will have a combined 71 employees, offering a broad scope of digital services.

Tatiana Azarova, OgilvyInteractive/OgilvyOne’s Managing Director said: “The addition of Promo Interactive will greatly enhance our digital offer. Evgeny and I have already discovered many opportunities to offer our clients solutions that will enhance the efficiency of digital channels. Together we will have the team to make digital work much more productively to deliver the results that clients now need.”

In commenting on the proposed acquisition, Miles Young, Global CEO of Ogilvy & Mather said, “We very much see Russia as a priority market in the context of our BRIC strategy. In this respect, digital is particularly important for our clients who are seeking to grow in Russia. Promo Interactive is quite simply the best independent company in the market, it’s one that we’ve been following for a long time and it will significantly enhance our ability to create end-to-end programs in the Russian Federation.”

Russia, Moscow

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Mattel acquires HIT Entertainment

October 26, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Mattel has entered into an agreement to acquire HIT Entertainment for $680 million in cash from a consortium led by Apax Partners funds. HIT Entertainment owns a global portfolio of popular preschool brands, including Thomas & Friends®, Barney®, Bob the Builder®, Fireman Sam® and Angelina Ballerina®. With more than $180 million of revenues, HIT Entertainment represents one of the largest independent owners of preschool intellectual property. The purchase price equates to a multiple of about 9 ½ times trailing earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

“Mattel is the right home for Thomas & Friends®. This powerhouse brand is joining the ranks of such iconic brands as Barbie®, Hot Wheels®, Fisher-Price® and American Girl®,” said Robert A. Eckert, chairman and chief executive officer of Mattel. “Thomas & Friends® routinely ranks among the world’s leading preschool toys. Additionally, with more than half of the Thomas & Friends® revenue generated from non-toy products, this transaction will marry Mattel’s global marketing, distribution and brand management capabilities with HIT Entertainment’s global programming and licensing expertise to accelerate growth of the combined portfolio.”

Thomas & Friends® is the premier brand in the HIT Entertainment portfolio. Created more than 65 years ago, the brand has grown into the number 1 licensed preschool property in the world, with television programming, home entertainment products, toys and other consumer products available throughout the globe.

Mattel currently markets many Thomas & Friends® toy products under a license from HIT Entertainment which extends through 2014. Mattel’s global sales of Thomas & Friends® die-cast and plastic toys are more than $150 million, and Mattel believes that this transaction will allow the company to continue to expand and grow these product lines into the foreseeable future. Another key advantage to the acquisition is that Mattel will be able to reunite two key pieces of the Thomas & Friends® toy business: plastic and die-cast toys with the wood-based business. The current wood license expires at the end of 2012, at which time Mattel expects to add that line of business to its portfolio. Historically, the sales of wood-based toys have been around half the size of the plastic and die-cast business.

The HIT Entertainment portfolio also includes a number of other highly popular preschool brands with established television broadcast and licensing relationships around the world. The acquisition does not include HIT Entertainment’s interest in the cable network station, Sprout.

RBC Capital Markets, LLC acted as financial advisor and Latham & Watkins LLP served as legal advisor to Mattel in connection with the transaction. BofA Merrill Lynch acted as financial advisor and Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP served as legal advisor to HIT Entertainment in connection with the transaction.

USA, El Segundo, CA & UK, London

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Sainsbury’s acquires Global Media Vault

October 25, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Sainsbury’s has acquired online entertainment company Global Media Vault Ltd from MBL PLC for £1 million. The acquisition will support the retailer’s drive into the growing online and digital entertainment market following the launch of the Sainsbury’s Entertainment website in November 2010.

Global Media Vault Ltd is a white label online digital entertainment business operating with Sainsbury’s as its main client. It began trading in January 2009 and has developed a unique entertainment ecommerce and digital media platform. GMV’s digital database already includes over three million music, film and game assets for the UK market, all of which can be browsed, purchased and distributed via web, mobile, TV and kiosk applications.

Luke Jensen, Sainsbury’s Group Development Director, said, “Online retailing and the delivery of digital content will play a key role in the future of entertainment so this is an important acquisition for Sainsbury’s. Taking full control of GMV Ltd will enable us to develop our existing Sainsbury’s Entertainment website even further enhancing the functionality and customer experience, meaning customers will soon be able to buy, rent or stream content from Sainsbury’s.”

UK, London

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Sanoma acquires Tammi Learning and Bonnier Utbildning AB from Bonnier / Bonnier acquires Werner Söderström from Sanoma

October 6, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Sanoma has acquired the assets of the Finnish educational publisher Tammi Learning and all the shares of the Swedish educational publisher Bonnier Utbildning AB from the Swedish media group Bonnier AB.

At the same time, Sanoma has sold the shares of its Finnish general literature publisher Werner Söderström Ltd. (WSOY) to Bonnier. The transaction of WSOY is subject to the approval of the Finnish competition authorities. The closing of the transaction is expected during the autumn.

Currently Sanoma has learning operations in Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Hungary, Poland and Russia. The total net sales of Sanoma’s learning business were EUR 249 million in 2010. This transaction is in line with Sanoma’s strategy to focus its operations and to concentrate on consumer media and learning solutions.

“Learning solutions are one of Sanoma’s key focus areas. These transactions are logical steps for us as they support our ambition to grow this business and focus our operations” says Harri-Pekka Kaukonen, President and CEO of Sanoma.

“We are delighted with this transaction which brings us to the Swedish learning market and strengthens our Finnish learning business. Both Bonnier Utbildning and Tammi Learning are excellently performing learning companies, which extend well our portfolio” says Jacques Eijkens, CEO of Sanoma Learning & Literature.

On the acquisition of WSOY Maria Curman, CEO of Bonnier Books, said.”Our ambition is to provide WSOY, its authors and employees, the means needed to reach their full potential. WSOY together with Tammi forms a perfect match within the Bonnier publishing family. I see this as an important step in successfully developing our offering of general literature to the Finnish market.”

In 2010, net sales of Tammi Learning, Bonnier Utbildning and WSOY General literature were EUR 10.2 million, EUR 17.6 million and EUR 32.5 million, respectively. Tammi Learning and Bonnier Utbildning employed some 80 people (FTE) and WSOY General Literature some 100 people. The transaction is estimated to improve Sanoma’s profitability from 2012 onwards.

Following the transaction with Bonnier, the net sales of Sanoma Learning & Literature in 2011 are estimated to be at the previous year’s level and operating profit excluding non-recurring items is expected to decrease somewhat. Previously, the net sales of Sanoma Learning & Literature were estimated to increase slightly and operating profit excluding non-recurring items was expected to be at the previous year’s level. Learning business has a strong seasonality within the year, the first and fourth quarter being typically loss-making. For general literature, on the other hand, the fourth quarter is typically the strongest one. Due to this seasonality, this transaction will lower Sanoma Learning & Literature’s fourth quarter result in 2011.

Finland, Helsinki & Sweden, Stockholm

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