DODS.L Regulatory News (DODS)

16 November 2017

Dods Group PLC("Dods", the "Group" or the "Company")Acquisition of equity stake

Dods Group PLC is pleased to announce it has acquired and subscribed for 30% of the enlarged issued share capital of Social360 Limited ("Social360") for £1.65 million in cash.

Founded in 2009 by communications professionals, Social360 provides comprehensive social media monitoring and intelligence for corporate communications and public affairs. Its proprietary search and categorisation technology filters out social media noise and highlights specific insights, providing a single reference point for corporate executives who require, fast, accurate and easily digestible intelligence.

Dods and Social360 share a common view of the corporate communications marketplace. In particular, both share a dedication to providing critical information services on a real-time, daily and weekly basis which are comprehensive and highly tailored. Following the transaction, the Group will be launching Dods Social Intelligence.

The Board of Dods believes that there is a significant opportunity for cross selling services into both Social360's and Dods' existing client bases as well as targeting new clients with the enlarged product portfolio. The transaction will also create the ability to collaborate on the development of further products to complement the combined offering.

The acquisition includes a contractual option for the Company, at its sole discretion, to purchase the balance of the current existing shares between 24 and 36 months from completion, at a valuation based upon Social360's prevailing EBITDA.

Cheryl Jones, Chairman of Dods, commented:

"We are delighted to welcome the Social360 team, led by co-founders Ryszard Bublik (CEO) and Robert Herridge (CTO), both of whom have a clear and strong vision for the delivery of social media monitoring and analysis. Their vision for their company's core capabilities and international reach is in keeping with the trends and changing market requirements seen by the Board of Dods."

Ryszard Bublik, CEO of Social360 Limited, commented:

"This partnership will see Social360 become the engine behind Dods' social media monitoring offering as well as enabling us to invest in our core technology and new products and markets. The combination of our cutting-edge and innovative technological approach and Dods' reputation and commercial reach will create a powerful proposition for our target markets.

"Social360 helps time-poor clients make sure that they're kept up to date with what's being said about their brand or organisation wherever it appears on the social web in a format that works for them - on email, via a dashboard, in real time or through edited, scheduled reports. We share with Dods the view that the ever-increasing volume of brand and reputation-critical social media content has meant that the outsourcing of social media listening is becoming the norm and identifying the right partners to deliver the best outsourced solution is critical."

For further information, please contact:

Dods Group PLC Alma PR

020 8004 4216

Cenkos

Nicholas Wells 020 7397 8900

Mark Connelly

Alma PR 020 8004 4216Josh Royston 07780 901979John Coles 07836 273660Helena Bogle 07580 216203

Notes to Editors:

About Dods Group PLC

Dods is a specialist content, media services and events company delivering information and analysis across multiple platforms. Dods provides the relevant information, topical knowledge, actionable insights and critical connections vital for its global client base to understand, navigate and engage in the political and public policy environments across the United Kingdom and European Union. For further information, please visit www.dodsgroup.com.

About Social360 Limited

Social360 provides comprehensive social media monitoring and intelligence for corporate communications and public affairs. Its uses a combination of proprietary search and categorisation technology and human editors to filter out social media noise and highlight specific insights, providing a single reference point for corporate executives who require, fast, accurate and easily digestible intelligence. 

Social360 has worked with more than a quarter of the UK FTSE 100 as well as many Fortune 500 businesses from its offices in London and New York.

For more information about Social360 Limited, please visit www.social360monitoring.com.