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(Alliance News) - Live events firm Aeorema Communications PLC on Tuesday announced the GBP480,000 acquisition of Eventful Ltd.
Shares in Aeorema were 43% higher on Tuesday afternoon in London at 19.95 pence each.
Eventful is a boutique events and incentive travel firm, founded in 2002 by current leader Caroline Lumgair. It is based in London and has clients across industries such as luxury retail, entertainment, oil and gas, and manufacturing.
Aeorema is paying GBP353,422 in cash and the rest in shares, issuing 187,500 shares at 14 pence each. It could also pay a further GBP100,000 in cash depending on Eventful meeting some revenue targets.
"We are delighted to have acquired Eventful. Caroline, her team and her clients will be an excellent addition to the group. The acquisition, which is immediately earnings enhancing and is expected to grow fee-based revenue, will enable the group to enter into the venue sourcing and incentive travel events market, something we believe is very much linked to the live events market in which Cheerful Twentyfirst is already very successful," said Aeorema Chair Mike Hale.
"The incentive travel sector, a multi-billion pound global market, needs specialist skills and knowledge which Eventful will bring us. We will concentrate on delivering logistics and value, in addition to creative and inventive solutions for our clients."
"We believe the acquisition is good value for money. Taking into account the positive cash balances in Eventful, net profits of some GBP96,000 for 2019, and on the assumption that both earn-out payments of GBP50,000 each are paid, we believe we are making an acquisition that is on a much lower valuation multiple than other acquisitions we have seen in our sector," Hale continued.
The acquisition comes after Aeorema on Monday announced a 53% rise in revenue for the first half ended December, with the pretax loss narrowing.
By George Collard; georgecollard@alliancenews.com
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