LexisNexis acquires Law360

March 21, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

LexisNexis has acquired Portfolio Media, the parent company of Law360, an online provider of legal news and analysis for business lawyers, primarily in the United States.

“Breaking legal news and analysis are critical for legal professionals as they drive success for their businesses and clients,” said Bob Romeo, CEO of Research and Litigation Solutions at LexisNexis. “Law360 is a key element of our growth strategy because it adds legal news and analysis, a crucial part of an attorney’s workflow and a key entry point to legal research.”

Law360 publishes breaking news and analysis with a particular focus on high-stakes litigation across more than 30 practice areas. This content is distributed through online daily newsletters that are read by over 100,000 law firm and business professionals ranging from litigators, corporate counsel and transactional attorneys to law librarians and legal administrators.

“We are excited to have our premier legal news and analysis offering join the LexisNexis family. We see it as a great opportunity to extend our reach, expand our portfolio of content, and create new and innovative ways to deliver it to customers,” said Marius Meland, co-CEO and co-founder of Law360. Headquartered in New York City, Law360 was founded in 2004 by Meland and co-CEO Magnus Hoglund. They will continue to run the company as a stand-alone business, while leveraging the content and analytical resources and distribution of LexisNexis.

Law360 distinguishes itself through the unique combination of speedy delivery of more than 130 original legal news stories daily, the journalistic standards of its experienced editorial team, and its content generation platform that tracks in real-time dockets and regulatory filings – enabling reporters to break major developments in litigation, deal making and legislation before anyone else.

USA, New York, NY

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UTV Media plc preliminary results for the year ended December 2011

March 20, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Radio, Television, New Media and Publishing company UTV Media plc has announced preliminary results for the year ended December 31, 2011.

Highlights

  • Record pre-tax profits –  up by 10% to £23.3m (2010: £21.3m)
  • Group revenue up by 2% to £121.6m (2010: £118.9m)
  • Revenue growth of 6% in Radio GB
  • Irish Radio Revenues down by 4%
  • Television revenue up by 1% with net advertising revenue in line with the ITV Network
  • Group operating profit up by 3% to £26.8m (2010: £26.1m)
  • 23% or £16.8m reduction in net debt over 12 months to £54.7m (2010: £71.5m)
  • Net debt reduced by 49% over the last 3 years, a reduction of £52.9m
  • Net finance costs down by 26% to £3.5m (2010: £4.7m)
  • Impairment charge of £45.0m recognised on Republic of Ireland intangible assets with £19.0m due to higher Republic of Ireland sovereign debt risk
  • Pension deficit of £8.6m (2010: £6.8m) despite significant movement in discount rate (2011: 4.80% versus 2010: 5.40%)
  • Diluted adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations up by 12% to 18.96p (2010: 16.93p)
  • Proposed final dividend of 4.50p (2010: 3.00p) resulting in a full year dividend up by 50% to 6.00p (2010: 4.00p)

John McCann, Group Chief Executive, UTV Media plc, said, “I’m very pleased with the company’s performance against what has remained a testing economic background. The strength of these numbers firmly reflects UTV’s commitment to deliver innovative programming across platforms, driving audience share while at the same time effectively managing costs within the business and paying down our debt facilities. We remain committed to our strategy of delivering value through the development of a diversified portfolio of leading media assets. I am confident this foundation will see the business continue to perform into 2012.”

For full details click here

UK, Belfast

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JWT to acquires stake in digital agency, Converge Technologies in Pakistan

March 20, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

JWT (part of the WPP group)is to acquire, by subscription for new shares, a minority stake in Converge Technologies Pvt Limited, a leading provider of technology-based marketing solutions and digital marketing services agency in Pakistan.

Converge’s offer includes 360 degree activation, digital content marketing, customized applications for SMS, interactive voice response, web, WAP, kiosk and platforms, digital viral marketing, data and research management and content services including music, interactive voice response, script writing, production and post production, interactive web portals, entertainment content, news and broadband gaming, and building mobile websites.

Founded in 2007, Converge is based in Karachi and employs 90 people. Clients include Nokia, Pakistan State Oil, PTCL and Unilever.  Converge’s revenues for the year ended 30 June 2011 were PKR 187 million, with gross assets at the same date of PKR 76 million.

Pakistan, Karachi

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Aegis Group plc announces preliminary results for 2011

March 15, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Aegis Group plc has announced preliminary results for 2011.

Highlights:

  • Group organic revenue growth of 9.9% (2010: 5.3%), including 12.0% in fourth quarter
  • Group underlying operating margin of 17.4% (2010: 16.1%)
  • Strong performances from digital, faster-growing regions and North America
  • Record-equalling year in net new business, with $2.7 billion in billings (2010: $2.0 billion)
  • Aegis now a unique, scaled media and digital communications specialist, following sale of Synovate for enterprise value of £525m
  • Continued focus on acquisitions, with around £75m spent in initial consideration on 18 bolt-on acquisitions and investments in 2011
  • Appointment as global strategic media partner by General Motors Co. (“GM”) in January 2012, with anticipated annual global media spend of $3 billion
  • Proposed total dividend (excluding special dividend) increased to 3.20p, from 2.75p in 2010, including proposed final dividend of 2.01p
  • Expect to deliver continued sector-leading organic revenue growth and further improvement in underlying operating profit in 2012

 

Full details and notes on accounts are available here

Jerry Buhlmann, Chief Executive Officer of Aegis Group plc, said, “Aegis Group delivered a very strong performance in 2011, reporting sector-leading organic growth, positive margin progression and a record-equaling year in net new business wins of $2.7 billion.

“The successful sale of Synovate represented the largest structural change in our history and gives the Group increased flexibility to move ahead with our programme of targeted acquisitions and investments. We completed 18 acquisitions and investments in 2011, and they have improved our core capabilities and positioning in a number of key geographies. This is in line with our strategy to increase revenue contribution from digital, faster-growing regions and North America.

“All these achievements, coupled with recent successes, including our appointment as GM’s global strategic media partner, leave us well placed as the world’s leading specialist media and digital communications group. We are better positioned than ever before to support our clients in re-inventing the way their brands are built.

“We are optimistic about the outlook for the advertising sector in 2012, supported by key sporting events and the US Presidential Elections, and we anticipate further success for the Group in the year ahead and beyond. We expect to continue delivering sector-leading organic revenue growth which we expect to convert into further margin progression and earnings enhancement for our shareholders over time.”

UK, London

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Trinity Mirror – preliminary results for 2011.

March 15, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Trinity Mirror PLC has announced preliminary results for 2011.

Highlights

  • Total revenues fell to £746.6m during the year
  • Operating profit declined to £104.5m
  • Profits impacted by input cost increases
  • Newsprint prices increased by £22m; without newsprint increase operating profit would have seen a year-on-year increase
  • Increase in costs partially off-set by structural savings of £25m during the year and further cost reductions
  • Secured new financing to support business for the foreseeable future (see DigiNet article)
  • Reduced pension funding obligations
  • Resilient cash flows, improving financial position and secure longer term financing will underpin value proposition of business

 

Full details are available here

UK, London

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Trinity Mirror secures new financing facilities to August 2015

March 15, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Trinity Mirror PLC has secured new bank facilities to August 2015 ahead of the expiry of the Group’s bank facility in June 2013. The committed bank facilities are as follows:-

  • a new £110 million bank facility expiring in August 2015. The new facility is available from June 2013 or earlier if the current facility is cancelled. The new facility reduces to £102 million in March 2014 and to £94 million in March 2015.
  • the current £178.5 million bank facility expiring in June 2013 remains undrawn and has been reduced to £135 million with immediate effect.
  • financial covenants attached to the new  facility are a minimum interest cover of 4 times increasing in steps to 5 times from July 2013 and a maximum net debt to EBTIDA ratio of 2.75 times falling in steps to 2.25 times in January 2015. In addition, there is a cash flow covenant requiring a minimum cash flow, before interest, acquisitions and dividends of £40 million.

As part of the refinancing process, the Group reached agreement with the Trustees of the Group’s Pension Schemes to reduce deficit funding payments for 2012, 2013 and 2014 to £10 million per annum, before reverting to normalised funding payments of some £33 million per annum from 2015.

UK, London

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The new bank facility and reduced pension contributions ensure that the Group has sufficient financial flexibility for the foreseeable future.  The cash flow of the Group coupled with the flexibility of the new bank facility ensures the Group can repay £168 million of maturing US$ private placement loan notes which are due as follows:

 

·          June 2012:         £69.7 million

·          October 2013:    £54.5 million

·          June 2014:         £44.2 million

 

As part of the agreement with the Trustees of the Group’s Pension Schemes, additional discretionary payments can be made by the Group during 2012 to 2014 with mandatory additional contributions required over this period in the event:

 

·          EBITDA were to be greater than £145 million for 2012 and 2013 and EBITDA were to be greater than £130 million in 2014. In this instance contribution equal to 50% of the excess would be required to the Pension Schemes;and

·          Dividends were declared and paid by the Group. In this instance contributions equal to the dividend payment would be required to be paid the Pension Schemes.

 

The new bank facility was co-ordinated by The Royal Bank of Scotland plc and Lloyds TSB Bank plc.

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Twitter acquires Posterous

March 14, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Blogging platform Posterous has been acquired by Twitter. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Twitter released a statement saying that it will be bringing the Posterous team on board and continue to keep Posterous Spaces alive. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Posterous is backed by Y Combinator, Redpoint Ventures and Trinity Ventures, plus a group of angel investors. The business was founded by Sachin Agarwal  in 2005.

Posterous announcement:

The opportunities in front of Twitter are exciting, and we couldn’t be happier about bringing our team’s expertise to a product that reaches hundreds of millions of users around the globe. Plus, the people at Twitter are genuinely nice folks who share our vision for making sharing simpler.

Posterous Spaces will remain up and running without disruption. We’ll give users ample notice if we make any changes to the service. For users who would like to back up their content or move to another service, we’ll share clear instructions for doing so in the coming weeks.

You can find more information answers to other questions you may have here.

Finally, we’d like to offer thanks to all of our users, especially those who have been with Posterous since day one. The last four years have been an amazing journey. Your encouragement, praise and criticism have made us better.  Thanks for that. We look forward to building great things for you over at Twitter.

USA, San Francisco

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SCIenergy acquires energy saving retrofit business Transcend Equity

March 14, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

SCIenergy, Inc., a provider of cloud-based energy management solutions for building owners and operators, today announced it has successfully completed the acquisition of Transcend Equity, a business delivering energy saving retrofits for commercial buildings. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

As part of the deal, SCIenergy will maintain a joint venture agreement with Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.), Inc., a leading trade and investment company and committed capital partner of Transcend Equity.

Transcend’s proprietary solution—Managed Energy Services Agreement (MESA™)—pays for a landlord’s energy bill along with major capital investments needed to make buildings more energy-efficient.  In return, building owners pay a fee for a fixed period of time, preserving capital resources for their core business activities.

“We are excited to welcome the dedicated and experienced Transcend Equity employees to the SCIenergy team.  Transcend is the clear leader in providing sustained energy reductions for portfolio owners and we can’t wait to extend MESA to our key customers and partners,” said Russ McMeekin, president and chief executive officer, SCIenergy. “MESA will leverage applications in the SCIenergy cloud™ to make commercial buildings more digitally aware and to further outperform traditional energy management offerings”.

USA, San Francisco, CA


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Are CNN about to buy Mashable?

March 14, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

It is being reported that CNN are in advanced talks to buy Mashable for up to $200M.

Mashable describes itself as the largest independent news source dedicated to covering digital culture, social media and technology. It stories are syndicated to publications including ABC News, CNN, Metro, USA Today and Yahoo! News.

Mashable was founded by Pete Cashmore in 2005 in Banchory, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, supposedly from his bedroom as “something to do without getting out of bed”. Mashable is now headquartered in New York City, with an office in San Francisco and has more than 40 staff across the United States, United Kingdom and in Eastern Europe.

Last August CNN bought Zite, a news app for the iPad that gives users a personalised magazine-like experience, for up to £16million.

Other reporting

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CNN acquires Zite Posted on September 5, 2011

USA, New York, NY & Scotland, Aberdeenshire

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Mecom acquires additional shareholding in Wegener

March 14, 2012 — Fusion DigiNet

Mecom Group PLC is to acquire a 13.3 per cent. interest in Koninklijke Wegener N.V. from funds managed by Governance for Owners (“GfO”) for a consideration of 8,659,201 ordinary shares in Mecom (which, based on the closing share price on 13th March 2012, implies a transaction value of €16.9m). On Completion, Mecom will hold 99.7 per cent. of the ordinary share capital of Wegener. GfO’s shareholding in Mecom post Completion will be 7.1 per cent.

Wegener is the largest publisher of regional daily newspapers and free door-to-door newspapers in the Netherlands. Wegener’s seven regional daily titles account for 23 per cent. of the country’s total paid-for daily newspaper circulation by volume, and its more than 200 door-to-door weekly freesheets have a daily readership of around 5.5 million.   In addition to its core print business, Wegener owns and operates a portfolio of more than 200 websites, comprising the online editions of its seven paid daily newspapers and most of its weekly freesheets, and several standalone special interest websites.

Wegener’s total revenue from the audited accounts for the year ending 31st December 2011 was €513 million, of which 46 per cent. came from advertising and 40 per cent. from newspaper circulation. Wegener’s profit before tax for the year ended 31st December 2011 was €37 million. The consolidated gross assets of Wegener as at 31st December 2011 amounted to €639 million.

The transaction allows for simplification of Mecom’s group structure, provides operational and commercial efficiencies and will enhance earnings per share for the Group going forward. The acquisition is classified as a Related Party Transaction under the UK Listing Rules and therefore requires the approval of Mecom shareholders at a general meeting, to be held on 2nd April 2012

Tom Toumazis, Chief Executive of Mecom, said, “The acquisition of this substantial minority shareholding in Wegener will simplify the Group’s ownership structure and allow us to integrate our Dutch operations fully within one legal structure and management team.  We look forward to continuing our dialogue with Governance for Owners in their new position as shareholders in Mecom.”

UK, London & Netherlands, Amsterdam

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