Last checked at 3 Sep 2020 07:00
3 September 2020
S4 Capital plc ("S4Capital" or the "Company")
Issue of Shares
On 27 August 2020, S4Capital plc (SFOR.L) announced a merger with BrightBlue Consulting, a UK-based data analytics and measurement consultancy (the "Transaction"). Pursuant to the terms of the Transaction, the Company has agreed to issue 1,454,564 ordinary shares of 25 pence each in the capital of the Company, credited as fully paid, as initial consideration (the "Initial Consideration Shares"). The Initial Consideration Shares will be subject to a restriction on sale until 4 September 2022.
Applications have been made to the FCA and to the London Stock Exchange for the Deferred Consideration Shares to be admitted to the standard segment of the Official List of the FCA and to trading on the London Stock Exchange's Main Market for listed securities respectively ("Admission"). It is expected that Admission will become effective at 8.00 a.m. on 4 September 2020.
S4Capital plc
Sir Martin Sorrell, Executive Chairman
Powerscourt (PR Advisor) Tel: +44 (0)7970 246 725
Elly Williamson
Jessica Hodgson
About S4Capital
S4Capital plc (SFOR.L) is the tech-led, new age, new era digital advertising and marketing services company, established by Sir Martin Sorrell in May 2018.
Its strategy is to build a purely digital advertising and marketing services business for global, multinational, regional, local clients and millennial-driven influencer brands. This will be achieved initially by integrating leading businesses in three practice areas: first-party data, digital content, digital media planning and buying, along with an emphasis on "faster, better, cheaper" executions in an always-on consumer-led environment, with a unitary structure.
Digital is by far the fastest-growing segment of the advertising market. S4Capital estimates that in 2019 digital accounted for approximately 47.5% or $275 billion of total global advertising spend of $550-600 billion (excluding about $400 billion of trade support, the primary target of the Amazon advertising platform), and projects that by 2022 this share will grow to approximately 55-60%.
S4Capital combined with MediaMonks, the leading AdAge A-listed creative digital content production company led by Victor Knaap and Wesley ter Haar, in July 2018 and with MightyHive, the market-leading digital media solutions provider for future thinking marketers and agencies, led by Peter Kim and Christopher S. Martin, in December 2018.
In April 2019, MightyHive integrated with ProgMedia to expand operations into Latin America and MediaMonks acquired film studio Caramel Pictures to expand content studio capabilities. In June 2019, MediaMonks announced a planned combination with Australia-based BizTech, a leading marketing transformation and customer experience company. In August 2019, MediaMonks integrated with Amsterdam-based digital influencer marketing agency IMA. In October 2019, MediaMonks integrated with Firewood Marketing, the largest digital marketing agency based in Silicon Valley, that was recently ranked, along with MediaMonks, as one of the fastest growing agencies by Adweek, and MightyHive integrated with award-winning UK-based digital analytics, biddable media and data science company ConversionWorks and South Korea-based data consultancy MightyHive Korea (formerly Datalicious). In November 2019, MediaMonks announced its combination with Delhi-based content creation and production company WhiteBalance and then with fully integrated digital agency Circus Marketing in January 2020.
In May 2020, MightyHive announced a combination with Digodat, one of the leading Latin American data consultancies, and in June 2020, MightyHive announced its combination with Lens10, a leading Australian digital strategy and analytics consultancy. In July 2020, MightyHive announced a combination with Orca Pacific, a market leading full-service Amazon agency and boutique consultancy firm based out of Seattle. In August 2020, MightyHive announced a combination with London-based Brightblue, an econometric and media optimisation consultancy.
On 16 July 2020 S4Capital announced the successful placing of 36,766,642 new ordinary shares at a price of 315p raising approximately £116m gross proceeds which will be used for further expansion and M&A purposes.
Victor, Wesley, Pete, Christopher and Peter Rademaker (formerly Chief Financial Officer of MediaMonks, now Chief Financial Officer of S4Capital), all joined the S4Capital Board as Directors. The S4Capital Board also includes Rupert Faure Walker, Paul Roy, Daniel Pinto, Sue Prevezer, Elizabeth Buchanan, Scott Spirit, Naoko Okumoto, Margaret Ma Connolly and Miles Young.
The Company has over 2650 people in 30 countries across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Asia-Pacific and a market capitalisation of approximately £1.9 billion c.$2.5 billion, and would rank well into the FTSE 250. It has achieved Unicorn status in a little over one year, unique in the advertising and marketing services industry.
Sir Martin was CEO of WPP for 33 years, building it from a £1 million "shell" company in 1985 into the world's largest advertising and marketing services company with a market capitalisation of over £16 billion on the day he left. Today its market capitalisation is less than £8 billion. Prior to that Sir Martin was Group Financial Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Company plc for nine years.