WPP’s XM acquires majority stake in Thomas Idea in Thailand

March 14, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

wppXM Asia, a division of WPP’s wholly-owned operating company JWT, has acquired a majority stake in Thomas Idea, a digital marketing agency in Thailand.

Founded in 1995 in Bangkok, Thomas Idea employs 45 people and had total assets of around THB 50 million at 31 December 2012. Thomas Idea services include online strategy consulting, website design and development, digital marketing and applications design. Clients include Beiersdorf, Reckitt Benckiser, TIPCO, Abbott Laboratories and Pruska.

UK, London & Thailand

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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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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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Publicis Groupe acquires Convonix

March 11, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

PublicisPublicis Groupe has acquired Convonix, one of India’s leading Digital Marketing Consulting firms based in Mumbai. The company will align with Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) in India to provide Search Engine Optimization, Paid Search Marketing, Social Media Marketing and Online Reputation Management to an extensive roster of clients.

Founded in 2003, Convonix was the first Search Engine Optimization organization in India, and currently employs over 200 digital advertising specialists serving clients such as Taj Hotels, Reliance Industries, Kotak Mahindra Group, Club Mahindra, Kodak, Aditya Birla Group, among others. Convonix has a strong international footprint with over 60% of its business coming from overseas. Convonix has also recently developed a proprietary in-house brand monitoring and social listening platform called IrisTrack which enables clients to gather market insight on their products and competitors and also engage customers online to improve their customer service.
The three founding members, Vishal Sampat , CEO, Sarfaraz Khimani , co-COO and Pallav Jain , co-COO, will continue to lead the agency. Convonix will sit within SMG and will operate as SMG Convonix, with two market-facing brands: SMG Digital, and Convonix.
“As the first SEO organisation in India, Convonix has continued to innovate and build the very best digital capability whilst being highly respected for its ability to recruit the best talent from universities each year, and transform them into digital advertising experts through a rigorous training program,” said Laura Desmond , Global Chief Executive Officer for Starcom MediaVest Group. She continues: “Combined with our existing talent in the market, this deal strengthens our offering to ensure we are the market leaders in digital.”
Year on year, Convonix has increased revenues on average 66 percent since 2008.

Srikant Sastri , VivaKi Country Chair for India who is presiding over the acquisition and transition of Convonix, adds: “First Resultrix, and now Convonix. We are now clearly the digital marketing leaders in India, ahead of any other global network. We are positive that this acquisition will set the tone for our next phase of digital pre-eminence both in terms of expertise and revenue and we are continuing to explore other agencies that can help us capitalize on the outstanding potential of the digital marketplace in India.”

France, Paris & India, Mumbai

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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

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Condé Nast invests $20m in farfetch

March 7, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

cni-logoCondé Nast International, a division of Advance Publications, has led a $20m investment in farfetch, the e-commerce marketplace for independent fashion boutiques. Existing investors Advent Venture Partners, Index Ventures and e.ventures also participated in the fundraising.

“This investment will fuel our entry to new markets while assisting our growth in existing ones. Our goal to build a unique curated farfetchglobal franchise in online designer fashion is brought several steps closer through the exciting involvement of Condé Nast,” commented Jonathan Newhouse, Chairman and Chief Executive of Condé Nast International.

James Bilefield, President of Condé Nast International Digital, adds “As the leading multimedia publisher connecting people to the fashion brands they love, this investment underlines our commitment to extend the scope of our activities and back great entrepreneurs. It follows the recent news of our involvement with the e-commerce businesses Monoqi and Renesim in Germany, plus the investment activity of our parent company Advance Publications in the USA.” As part of the investment, James Bilefield will join the farfetch board.

farfetch launched in 2008 and brings together luxury brands from over 250 of the world’s most respected independent fashion boutiques for men and women. With 82,000 highly curated products from over 2,000 of the world’s best brands, farfetch currently has 150,000 customers in over 140 countries. farfetch is backed by Advent Venture Partners, Index Ventures, e.ventures and Condé Nast International.

UK, London &

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UBM Asia to acquire NOVOMANIA in China

March 7, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

novomania2UBM Asia has signed a binding agreement with NOVO Mania Limited, the organiser of NOVOMANIA, to acquire the annual urban fashion event in Shanghai. Upon completion, UBM will own 60% of a joint venture company, with NOVO Mania Limited, called UBM Novomania, to organise NOVOMANIA from 2013 onwards.

NOVOMANIA was launched in 2010 as an annual urban fashion event by the NOVO group of companies, a retailing and fashion conglomerate based in Hong Kong that operates and distributes over 50 international brands and has stores across 45 cities in China, and one of its partners, Focus Workshop, an innovative full service agency in China with expertise in luxury brands in beauty and wellness, fashion, real estate and FMCG. By bringing together designers, brands, buyers, distributors, retailers, franchisees, department stores, mall operators, real estate developers and the media, it creates a platform for introducing retail concepts to international brands which are seeking to enter the China market and for providing new business opportunities for domestic brands.

Showcasing the latest trends in major areas of urban fashion such as Denim&Urban, Sports&Street, Shoes&Accessories, Fashion&Chic and Contemporary&Premium, NOVOMANIA held at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Centre inMarch 2012 occupied 25,000 gross sqm of exhibition space and welcomed 117 exhibitors from 13 countries and over 13,000 visitors. This year, Novomania will be held from 17 – 19 July at Shanghai Mart.

Jime Essink , President & Chief Executive Officer of UBM Asia said, “China is already the second-largest apparel market in the world and is set to surpass the US to become the world’s largest market in a few years. We are very pleased to partner with NOVO Mania Limited in the development and growth of this cutting edge fashion event targeted at the very rapidly-growing urban youth segment of the market. This joint venture continues our strategy of focusing on sectors and markets with the most exciting growth potential.”

Mr Guilherme Faria , General Manager of NOVOMANIA, together with his team, will be incorporated into the UBM China (Shanghai) office, reporting to the board of UBM Novomania.

Hong Kong & China, Shanghai & UK, London

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