Communisis PLC Regulatory News (CMS)

14 June 2011

Communisis plc

("Communisis")

Acquisition of Trade and Assets of Orchestra Bristol Limited

Communisis plc (LSE: CMS), the leading marketing services provider, is pleased to announce that it has acquired the trade and assets of Orchestra Bristol Limited ("OBL") (the "Acquisition"), which is currently in administration, for a cash consideration of £2.25m comprising an initial payment of £1.34m paid upon completion of the transaction with the balance of £0.91m to be paid 90 days after completion.

OBL is a marketing services business which is involved in data-services and specialist high integrity output in direct mail and transactional applications.

The principal contract at OBL is for marketing communication and transactional mailing involved in the issuance of TV Licences in the UK, and includes some associated online new channel activity. Around 25 million licences are issued in the UK every year and there is substantial activity involving targeted marketing communication, to optimise revenue collection. This contract is with Proximity London Ltd ("Proximity"), a contractor to the BBC, which has sub-contracted the fulfilment of certain services to OBL. The contract has been novated by Proximity to Communisis, simultaneous with the completion of the Acquisition. The contract term has 4 years left to run and has an estimated sales value to Communisis of £4.5m per annum.

As part of today's agreements, Communisis will be able to work with other valuable customers of OBL which have similar specialist requirements. In addition, Communisis will be working with Proximity on a range of new business development opportunities.

Commenting on these developments Andy Blundell, Chief Executive of Communisis said:

 "I am very pleased to announce this acquisition and to have been entrusted with the contract for TV licensing, which by its mission-critical nature plays to Communisis' strengths as the leading provider in our sector. I am also excited to be working in partnership with Proximity and look forward to working closely with them; both companies recognise the power of data analytics and consequent targeted communication.

 "Today's developments underline our strategic intent at Communisis to focus increasingly on specialist activity and in supporting clients' critical customer communications. Our existing activities and expertise, and the investments we have made in data, and in higher-end colour personalisation provide us with a substantial advantage in this market space."

Mike Dodds, CEO of Proximity London commented:

 "We are delighted to be entering into a relationship with Communisis. We believe that Communisis provides a market-leading offer and, as such, is an ideal partner for Proximity. In particular, we have been impressed with Communisis' plans for managing the TV Licensing contract and firmly believe that the team's expertise will enhance the effective collection of the TV Licence over the life of the contract."

In accordance with the listing rules the Company also discloses in the year ended 31 December 2009, OBL recorded profit before tax of £0.7m with gross assets of £4.4m. In addition to the principal contract, the book value of gross assets being acquired by Communisis is £0.4m.

There are no additional disclosures required under Listing Rule 10.4 Class 2 Requirements.

For further information please contact: 

Communisis plc 0113 277 0202

Andy Blundell / Sarah Morton / Rima Awad-Sanders

Financial Dynamics 020 7831 3113

Matt Dixon / Ed Bridges / Clare Thomas / James Melville-Ross

Brewin Dolphin 0845 213 1000

Sean Wyndham-Quin / Mark Brady

About Communisis

Communisis is a UK leading marketing services provider, specialising in helping customers make their communications processes more profitable. It helps to reduce costs and improve the effectiveness of the whole business process of customer communications.

Through its proven experience and scale, it works with clients to transform their customer communications processes by enhancing and deploying customer data; providing technology to automate and streamline workflows; and have world-class production capabilities that can output via print and electronic channels.

Ends