Ebiquity Share Price (EBQ)

Business data consultancy Ebiquity has bought advertising auditing firm FirmDecisions in a deal that could be worth up to seven million pounds. FirmDecisions is being acquired for an upfront cost of £1m which is being paid from Ebiquity's existing banking facilities. That figure could rise to £7m, depending on the performance of the FirmDecisions business in the three financial years ending April 30th, 2014. FirmDecisions works in media and production cost auditing, specialising in the advertiser supply chain. The company helps its advertiser clients benefit from contractual compliance by their agencies. The company is being acquired from its current and previous managers, including Stephen Broderick, one of the founders, who will remain as Chief Executive. FirmDecisions' unaudited revenue for the year ended June 30th was approximately £2m and it generated an operating profit before highlighted items of approximately £0.3m. The company employs approximately 20 people.

Michael Greenlees, Chief Executive Officer of Ebiquity: "FirmDecisions is the first name in media financial compliance with experience across a wide range of global clients. This acquisition enables Ebiquity to bring increased transparency to the media transaction market-place and a higher level of advertiser confidence in contractual compliance."

Acquisition of FirmDecisions Ebiquity plc is pleased to announce the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of FirmDecisions ASJP Group Limited, the holding company of the FirmDecisions group ("FirmDecisions" or the "Acquisition"). FirmDecisions is being acquired for an initial consideration of £1m which is being satisfied from existing banking facilities. The maximum total consideration is up to £7m, payable in cash, depending on the performance of the FirmDecisions business in the three financial years ending 30 April 2014. The Acquisition will be earnings enhancing in the first full financial year. FirmDecisions specialises in media and production cost auditing, with specific reference to the advertiser supply chain. FirmDecisions ensures that its advertiser clients benefit from contractual compliance by their agencies and transparency of transactional value. FirmDecisions is being acquired from its current and previous managers, including Stephen Broderick, one of FirmDecisions' founders, who will remain as Chief Executive of the FirmDecisions business. FirmDecisions' unaudited revenue for the year ended 30 June 2012 was approximately £2m and it generated an operating profit before highlighted items of approximately £0.3m. FirmDecisions employs approximately 20 people.

http://www.investegate.co.uk/Article.aspx?id=201208030700102177J

Underlying diluted earnings per share were 7.40p (2011: 6.02p), an increase of 23% over the prior year, reflecting the positive impact of the acquisitions and the use of brought forward tax losses. Net debt increased from £4.5m to £12.2m.

Ebiquity, the media and marketing performance measurement business, has pleased its investors by returning to the black. Pre-tax profit for the year ended April 30th came in at £2.64m (2011: £1.78m loss) on revenues of £52.92m that were up 20% on the previous year's £44.17m, boosted by acquisitions in the Analytics business. Platform revenue fell by 5.0%, largely due to the disposal of Newslive, but retention of clients has again been strong and as a result the renewal rate for advertising monitoring has been maintained at 92% in the year. With the Analytics division growing at 9.0%, offset by a marginal decline in the Platform division, total organic revenue grew by 1.0%. The underlying operating profit margin improved from 12% to 16%, primarily because of the impact of the Xtreme acquisition synergies over a full year this time round.