Aegis Media acquires mvi in Canada

May 3, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

Aegis

 Aegis Media, the media and digital communications group, has acquired nvi.

nvi, with offices in Montreal and Toronto, is a specialist performance marketing agency whose focus is on search marketing and digitalnvi performance media. Established in 2005, nvi has built a fast-growing business, with a diverse client base including, Allstream, RONA, Club Med, Michael’s and Chapters/Indigo.

Aegis Media Canada currently comprises Carat, Vizeum and Isobar. nvi will join Aegis Media’s iProspect network, expanding the brand throughout Canada. nvi co-founder Guillaume Bouchard ,  will become CEO of iProspect Canada. The  acquisition will increase Aegis Media’s Canadian digital revenue by 15% and by as much as 33% in the Quebecmarket.

“nvi is a market leader in search and digital in Canada,” said Nigel Morris , CEO Aegis Media Americas & EMEA. “The Canadian performance market is evolving at a rapid pace and this acquisition will make us very well positioned to harness this growth.”

UK, London & Canada, Montreal

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Morningstar Acquires Remaining Ownership Interest in Morningstar Sweden

May 3, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

morningstarMorningstar has acquired its remaining ownership interest in Morningstar Sweden AB from Stadsporten Citygate AB and two private investors.

Morningstar, through one of its subsidiaries, acquired its remaining 76 percent ownership stake for approximately U.S. $13 million, or approximately SEK 87 million, subject to post-closing adjustments.

Fondstar AB, a subsidiary of Citygate, licensed Morningstar’s methodology and began providing ratings for funds in 1998.Morningstar Europe B.V . and Citygate established a joint venture in 2001, formally incorporating Morningstar Sweden AB. Morningstar’s main offerings in Sweden include Morningstar Direct, Morningstar Data, Integrated Web Tools, and Morningstar.se, an investment information website for individual investors that provides fund and ETF data, portfolio tools, and market analysis.

“Together with Citygate and the local management team, we’ve been supplying investment data and other research tools to Swedish investors for more than a decade,” said Bevin Desmond, president of international operations for Morningstar. “We’re pleased to fully integrate Morningstar Sweden into our Nordic operations, providing seamless access to our offerings and better serving clients across the region.”

Morningstar has 25 employees based in Stockholm. George Sallfeldt, chief executive officer, will continue to lead the company. Morningstar serves more than 200 clients in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Iceland and provides complete data on more than 2,000 domiciled mutual funds and 20,000 funds registered for sale in the local markets. Morningstar also has data coverage on all listed stocks and several other investment offerings in the Nordic region.

USA, Chicago, IL & Sweden, Stockholm

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TripAdvisor acquires CruiseWise

May 3, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

tripadvisorTripAdvisor has acquired key technology and staff from CruiseWise, Inc. the former online cruise booking agency.  The team and non-transactional functionality will be integrated into Cruise Critic, a TripAdvisor brand. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“The cruise industry continues to grow in popularity and we are delighted to be able to further strengthen our Cruise Critic business with this move,” said Steve Kaufer , co-founder and CEO TripAdvisor, Inc.  “By integrating key elements of CruiseWise and the in-depth knowledge behind it, we will enhance our ability to help travelers find their perfect cruise at a price that suits them with seamless links to our booking partners.”

Cruise Critic is published by The Independent Traveler, Inc., which was acquired as a subsidiary of TripAdvisor, Inc. in 2007.

Newton, MA

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Shutterfly acquires MyPublisher

May 3, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

shutterflyShutterfly has acquired online photo book business MyPublisher. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Jeffrey Housenbold, president and CEO of Shutterfly said, “By combining MyPublisher’s best in class software mypublisherclient with Shutterfly’s industry leading cloud based platform, we will continue to drive growth and set the standard for design, choice and quality in the personal publishing and social expression category.”

USA, Redwood City, CA

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IHRDC acquires petroleum training company Invincible Energy

May 3, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

ihrdcIHRDC, an oil and gas industry training business, has acquired Invincible Energy, a U.K.-based petroleum training and consultancy company. Invincible offers a variety of petroleum trading, marketing and risk management programs on a public basis each year at Cambridge University, Geneva and Singapore. They alsoinvincible teach these programs on a private, in-house basis for companies worldwide. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“We really value the design of Invincible’s programs and the quality of its instructors, which is why we decided to make this acquisition.” said Dr. David Donohue, President of IHRDC. “They have an excellent reputation for teaching the fundamentals of the oil markets with practical exercises and real time access to market data. Their unique program design is very similar to our time-tested petroleum workshops that offer the best way to internalize learning. It is a win-win for us and our many common clients!”

USA, Boston, MA & UK, Farnham, Surrey

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SKU Logistics acquires Dawson Marketing Services for £200K

May 3, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

smithnewsSmiths News PLC, the has sold Dawson Marketing Services Limited and its trading subsidiary, Marketlink Marketing Communications Limited to SKU Logistics in Swindon for £200,000.  SKU Logistics was previously part of Smiths News.

In an announcement Smiths News said, “The Group has chosen to divest MMC as it is not core to our stated strategy of being a leading player in chosen specialist distribution markets.”

In the year ended 31 August 2012, MMC generated revenues of £6.0m and operating profit of £0.1m.

UK, Swindon, Wiltshire

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RWS Holdings acquires PharmaQuest for £2.3M

May 3, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

RWS1RWS Holdings plc, a provider of intellectual property support services and commercial translations, has acquired PharmaQuest Limited for £2.3 million in cash.

PharmaQuest specialises in providing translation and linguistic validation of patient reported outcome measures resulting from clinical pharmaquest-logotrials conducted globally.  The company was founded in 2005 and is based in Oxfordshire, employing seven people.  Customers include pharmaceutical companies, clinical research organisations and academia.

PharmaQuest’s latest financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2013 show turnover of £1.4 million and adjusted profit before tax of £600,000.  Net assets acquired were less than £100,000.

Andrew Brode, Executive Chairman of RWS said, “We are pleased to have acquired PharmaQuest, whose progress we have monitored for several years.  It is an attractive business with excellent margins and good growth prospects in a rapidly expanding, specialist sector.”

UK, Chalfont St Peter, Buckinghamshire & Banbury, Oxfordshire

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WPP announces results for the year ended 31 December 2012

May 2, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

wppWPP has today posted its annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2012.

A copy is available to view on WPP’s website www.wpp.com.

  • Read the letter to shareholders here
  • Full financial statements are available here

Highlights

  • Reported billings were down slightly at £44.4 billion, but up 1% in constant currencies.
  • Revenues were up 3.5% to £10.4 billion and up almost 6% in constant currencies. Including 100% of associates, revenue is estimated to total 2.6 billion ($20.0 billion).
  • Headline PBIT was up over 7% to £1.531 billion against £1.429 billion in 2011 and up over 11% in constant currencies.
  • Headline PBIT margin was 14.8% in 2012 against 14.3% in 2011 (surpassing the historical pro forma high of 14.3% in 2008) On gross margin, the headline PBIT margin was 16.1%, up 0.6 margin points on 2011.
  • Reported profit before interest and tax rose over 4% to £1.311 billion from £1.258 billion. Headline EBITDA increased by 7% to £1.756 billion.
  • Headline profit before tax was up over 7% to £1.317 billion and reported profit before tax was up over 8% to £1.092 billion.
  • The share price is up by 31% in 2012 to 888.0p at year end. (2013, 16% since 1st January).
  • Dividends increased by almost 16% to 28.51p (a record level).
  • Diluted headline earnings per share were up over 8% to 73.4p (an all-time high) and diluted reported earnings per share decreased by over 2% to 62.8p, reflecting the release of prior year tax provisions in 2011.
  • Free cash flow strengthened to £1.094 billion in the year, over £1 billion for the second consecutive year.
  • Net debt averaged £3.2 billion in 2012, up £0.4 billion at 2012 exchange rates, and net debt at 31 December 2012 was £2.8 billion, £0.3 billion higher than 2011, reflecting increased spending on acquisitions (chiefly AKQA) and higher dividends.
  • Average net debt, was around 1.8 times headline EBITDA in 2012 compared with 1.7 times in 2011, and well within the Group’s current target range of 1.5-2.0 times.
  • In September 2012, the Group successfully issued $500 million of 10-year bonds at a coupon of 3.625%, together with $300 million of 30-year bonds at 5.125%.
  • So far, in the first three months of 2013, average net debt was up approximately £0.3 billion at £3.0 billion against £2.7 billion for the same period in 2012, at 2013 exchange rates.
  • With a current equity market capitalisation of approximately £13.0 billion, the total enterprise value of WPP is approximately £16.3 billion, a multiple of 9.1 times 2012 headline EBITDA.

UK London

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Endemol acquires a majority stake in Kuperman, the Israeli TV production company

April 29, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

endemol-logoEndemol has acquired a majority stake in Kuperman, Israel’s leading independent TV production company. The business will be renamed Endemol Israel.

Through the newly launched operation Endemol plans to invest in creativity and format development across all genres in Israel for both the local and international markets.

Endemol Israel will also produce Endemol’s international formats for the Israeli market.

Elad Kuperman, co-owner of Kuperman and one of Israel’s leading TV producers with more than 20 years’ experience of creating, kupermanproducing and commissioning entertainment shows, will lead Endemol Israel as CEO.

Media investor and entrepreneur Ynon Kreiz, has sold his 50% stake in Kuperman, which he acquired in 2009. He will exit the company as part of the deal.

Just Spee, CEO of Endemol Group comments: “With the launch of Endemol Israel we establish a presence in one of the world’s most creative markets. The high volume of innovative formats coming out of the region continues to grow and our ability to deliver this content to our clients around the world makes this an exciting opportunity.  Kuperman is already Israel’s number one TV producer and our partnership underlines Endemol’s commitment to investing in the very best creativity and talent around the world.”

Established in 2005, Kuperman is a multi-award winning company with a track record of delivering hit programming across a range of genres including reality, entertainment, drama, comedy, game shows and kids programming.

Among the company’s international successes are Israel’s most popular sitcom Traffic Light, which sold to Fox in the US and CTC in Russia and entertainment show Honey Please, which was picked up by GSN in the USA.  Reality series The Successor has been sold to ProSieben in Germany, SBS6 in The Netherlands and TV2 in Hungary as well as generating the US version Phenomenon, which aired on NBC and sold to CTV in Canada and Nine Network in Australia.

Kuperman also produces Endemol’s reality blockbuster Big Brother for Keshet, which first launched in 2008 and went on to become Israel’s most successful TV show.  Most recently series 4 averaged a rating of 41.5%, outperforming the slot average by 70%; and season 5 is due to launch soon.

The Netherlands, Amsterdam & Israel, Tel Aviv

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betaworks acquires a majority stake in Instapaper

April 26, 2013 — Fusion DigiNet

betaworksbetaworks has acquired a majority stake in Instapaper. The acquisition was announced by Instapaper founder and developer Marco Arment. Marco posted details of the acquisition on his blog. Instapaper is a simple tool to save web pages for reading later. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.instapaper

“I’m happy to announce that I’ve sold a majority stake in Instapaper to Betaworks. We’ve structured the deal with Instapaper’s health and longevity as the top priority, with incentives to keep it going well into the future. I will continue advising the project indefinitely, while Betaworks will take over its operations, expand its staff, and develop it further.”

Other Betaworks products include digg, bit.ly, Chartbeat, Giphy and tapestry.  Wall Street Journal reported that Digg was acquired for around $500,000 last year.

USA, New York, NY

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