S4 Cap. Regulatory News (SFOR)

1st February 2021

S4 Capital plc

("S4Capital" or "the Company")

MightyHive to absorb Datalicious

MightyHive strengthens its Data capabilities, adds talent and clients in Asia Pacific

S4Capital plc (SFOR.L), the tech-led, new age/new era digital advertising and marketing services company, announces that MightyHive has acquired the assets of Datalicious, a leading Google Marketing Platform, Google Cloud and Google Analytics partner in Asia Pacific. The purchase from Equifax Inc (EFX) adds talent, clients and further Data capabilities in Australia, New Zealand and India.

Datalicious is a specialised data and analytics consultancy, helping marketers make sense of their data. Datalicious tracks and analyzes customer interactions across multiple marketing channels, so clients can drive the most impact from their marketing dollars and create targeted and personalised customer experiences and staff and clients in the financial services, telecommunications and media industries will become part of S4Capital's expanding Data and Digital Media practice at MightyHive.

S4Capital Executive Chairman Sir Martin Sorrell said, "We are delighted to welcome the Datalicious staff and clients to S4Capital and further expand our Data and Digital Media practice in the crucial Asia Pacific region. Asia Pacific is currently our fastest growing region, but only 10% of our revenue. We aim to make it 40%."

S4Capital Executive Board Director and MightyHive COO and Co-Founder Chris Martin said, "We continue to see significant demand from clients for Data services so we are excited to announce this further expansion of our capabilities in this area."

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About Datalicious

Datalicious, an Equifax company, is a specialised data and analytics consultancy, helping marketers make sense of their data. Datalicious tracks and analyzes customer interactions across multiple marketing channels, so clients can drive the most impact from their marketing dollars and create targeted and personalised customer experiences. The Datalicious team of web analysts, data scientists, data engineering and consulting experts know marketing challenges come in many different shapes and sizes, so they work with brands to find the right data-driven solutions that are the best fit. In addition, Datalicious is a trusted Google Marketing Platform & Google Cloud Platform partner and reseller, so clients can get the support they need for smarter marketing measurement and better results. With advanced analytics, best of breed technology, and proficiency in building custom statistical models, Datalicious empowers clients to increase conversions and optimise ROI.

About MightyHive

MightyHive is the leading data and digital media consultancy that helps marketers take control. MightyHive delivers sustained results from the ground up through advisory for business transformation, privacy-first data strategy, and digital media services.

The company is headquartered in San Francisco, with a team of consultants, platform experts, data scientists, and marketing engineers in 19 countries and 27 cities around the world. In 2018, MightyHive merged with S4Capital plc (SFOR.L), a tech-led new age/new era digital advertising and marketing services company established by Sir Martin Sorrell.

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 two practice areas: Data & digital media and Content, 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% and by 2024 to approximately 70%, accelerated by the impact of covid-19. It is anticipated that in 2020, total global advertising spend will shrink to approximately $500-550 billion, driven by a fall in traditional media advertising expenditure. However digital advertising spend is expected to remain constant or increase slightly and therefore improve its market share of total advertising spend to over 50% for the first time.

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 combined 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 combined with Amsterdam-based digital influencer marketing agency IMA. In October 2019, MediaMonks combined with Firewood Marketing, the largest digital marketing agency based in Silicon Valley, that was recently ranked, along with MediaMonks and Circus (see below), as one of the fastest growing agencies by Adweek, and MightyHive combined with award-winning UK-based digital analytics, biddable media and data science company ConversionWorks and South Korea-based data and analytics consultancy MightyHive Korea. In November 2019, MediaMonks announced its combination with Delhi-based content creation and production company WhiteBalance (completed in August 2020 - the delay due to necessary merger clearance procedures) and then with fully integrated digital agency Circus Marketing in January 2020 (completed in March 2020).

In May 2020, MightyHive announced a combination with Digodat, one of the leading Latin American data and analytics 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 in Seattle. In August 2020, MightyHive announced a combination with London-based Brightblue, an econometric and media optimisation consultancy. In September 2020, MediaMonks announced its combination with Dare.Win, expanding its geographical presence to France. In January 2021, MediaMonks announced its combination with integrated creative, technology and media agency Decoded Advertising, Shanghai based creative agency TOMORROW and Stuttgart based automotive specialist STAUD STUDIOS. MightyHive also announced its combination with integrated digital performance marketing agency Metric Theory.

On 16 July 2020, S4Capital announced the successful placing of 36,766,642 new ordinary shares at a price of 315p raising approximately £116 million gross proceeds which will be used for further expansion and merger and combination purposes.

Victor Knaap, Wesley ter Haar, Pete Kim, Christopher Martin, Peter Rademaker and Scott Spirit all joined the S4Capital Board as Directors. The S4Capital Board also includes Rupert Faure Walker, Paul Roy, Daniel Pinto, Sue Prevezer, Elizabeth Buchanan, Naoko Okumoto, Margaret Ma Connolly and Miles Young.

The Company now has over 4,085 people in 31 countries across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa and Asia-Pacific and a current market capitalisation of approximately £2.7 billion (c.$3.7 billion), and would rank in the FTSE 150. It 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 £9.4 billion. Prior to that Sir Martin was Group Financial Director of Saatchi & Saatchi Company Plc for nine years.