Last checked at 30 May 2022 07:00
30 May 2022
Digitalbox plc
("Digitalbox" or the "Company")
Acquisition of the assets of TVGuide.co.uk Limited
Digitalbox plc (AIM: DBOX), the mobile-first digital media business, which owns Entertainment Daily, The Daily Mash and The Tab, is pleased to announce it has exchanged contracts (the "Exchange") to acquire the web and mobile platform assets of TVGuide.co.uk Limited (the "TVGuide Assets") for a total cash consideration of £550,000 (the "Acquisition"). This includes services required from TVGuide.co.uk Limited to be renamed Yo.tv Limited ("TVG"), during the transitional period from the date of completion of the Acquisition. The Acquisition will be immediately earnings enhancing when completed.
About TVGuide.co.uk
Launched in 2002, TVguide.co.uk is an established dedicated interactive UK TV listings brand. It provides more than one million monthly users with detailed episode guides, daily video previews, ratings, and recommendations of everything worth watching on more than 300 channels. The website has expanded to cover major streaming services, including Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and NOW TV.
Digitalbox will integrate TVguide.co.uk onto its Graphene technology platform, which it has successfully deployed on The Daily Mash and The Tab as part of their respective acquisitions and integrations. TVG founder Chetan Damani will remain on a consultancy basis to ensure a smooth transition and editorial operations will remain unchanged. Digitalbox already has a significant reach among UK TV viewers through its TV and celebrity news brand Entertainment Daily and will gain synergies from this complementary relationship.
The Acquisition
Completion is conditional upon the satisfactory upgrade, by TVG, of the TVGuide.co.uk website as part of the platform redevelopment (the "Completion"). The total consideration for the Acquisition to be paid is £550,000, with £20,000 payable immediately on Exchange to trigger the platform redevelopment, a further £350,000 payable on Completion - which is anticipated to be within three to six months from the date of Exchange - and a deferred payment of £180,000 paid four months from the Completion date, or such later period as is agreed, for transitional services to be delivered in connection with the TVGuide website.
The consideration will be funded from the Group's existing cash resources, which at 24 May 2022 were approximately £2.8 million. The Acquisition is being undertaken via Digitalbox Publishing Limited, which is wholly owned by the Company.
According to TVG's unaudited management accounts for the financial year ended 31 December 2021, revenue and operating profit attributable to the TVGuide Assets were approximately £0.49 million and £0.15 million, respectively. No liabilities will be transferred to the Company under the Acquisition.
The Acquisition will be immediately earnings enhancing when completed.
James Carter, CEO, Digitalbox, said: "The acquisition of TVGuide.co.uk is another excellent addition to our growing portfolio of digital assets. It is an exciting business with considerable potential and an established brand. Following the acquisitions of The Daily Mash and The Tab, we have an established process of integrating assets onto our Graphene platform, and we are confident we can quickly grow the site's revenue and increase its profitability."
Chetan Demani, CEO, TV Guide, said: "We are pleased to be sending TVGuide.co.uk to a great home. The site will complement the Digitalbox portfolio and benefit from the Company's technology stack while enabling us to focus our efforts in the Voice space. We wish them the best of luck with the next stage of development for the brand."
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Market abuse regulation: This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR").
Enquiries:
Digitalbox | c/o SEC Newgate |
James Carter, CEO | |
Panmure Gordon (Nominated Adviser, Financial Adviser & Joint Broker) | Tel: 020 7886 2500 |
Alina Vaskina / James Sinclair-Ford (Corporate Advisory) | |
Rupert Dearden (Corporate Broking) | |
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Alvarium Capital Partners (Joint Broker) | Tel: 020 7195 1400 |
Alex Davies / Hugh Kingsmill Moore | |
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SEC Newgate (Financial Communications) | Tel: 07970 664807 |
Robin Tozer / Moly Gretton / Max Richardson | digitalbox@secnewgate.co.uk |
About Digitalbox plc
Based in Bath, UK, Digitalbox is a 'pure-play' digital media business with the aim of profitable publishing at scale on mobile platforms.
Digitalbox operates three trading brands, "Entertainment Daily", "The Tab" and "The Daily Mash". Entertainment Daily produces and publishes online UK entertainment news covering TV, showbiz and celebrity news. The Daily Mash produces and publishes satirical news content. The Tab is the UK's biggest youth culture site fuelled by students.
Digitalbox generates revenue from the sale of advertising in and around the content it publishes. The Group's optimisation for mobile enables it to achieve revenues per session significantly ahead of market norms for publishers on mobile.