The Mission Group Regulatory News (TMG)

14 Mar 2007 07:00

The Mission Marketing Group PLC14 March 2007 14th March 2007 The Mission Marketing Group plc ("themission") or (the "Company") Acquisition of BDW adds growing real estate market to sector expertise themission(R), the national marketing communications and advertising group,announced today that it has acquired Bastin Day Westley Limited ("BDW"), one ofthe UK's leading specialist property and real estate marketing agencies. BDWprovides creative, marketing, media and technical services to some of the UK'sleading house building, property development and estate agency Groups. themission(R) has acquired the entire issued share capital of BDW for an initialconsideration of £5.98m consisting of an initial cash consideration of £4m andthe issue of 1,528,014 shares in the Company issued at 129.58 pence per share,totaling £1.98m. An additional deferred cash consideration of £620,000 ispayable in annual installments over the next three years. A further potentialpayment of up to a maximum £7.9m is due in 2010, subject to BDW meetingchallenging performance criteria based on its profit before interest and taxperformance over three years. This final payment is payable in cash or up to 50%in shares, at the Company's discretion. The total consideration for BDW iscapped at £14.5m. The BDW shareholders will be paid additional cashconsideration equal to the amount by which the acquired net assets (excludinggoodwill on acquisition) at completion exceed £1.05m. The financing has beenprovided through a flexible funding package provided by The Royal Bank ofScotland ("RBS"). BDW audited accounts for the year ended 31 December 2006 recorded profit beforeinterest and tax of £1.19m on turnover of £18.29m. As at 31 December 2006 BDWhad audited total net assets of £2.74m. BDW will benefit from being part ofthemission's enlarged network and as a result, the acquisition is expected to beearnings enhancing in the first full year of ownership. BDW was established by its CEO, Robert Day, in 1989 and currently employs 68staff who will all join themission(R). BDW provides a broad suite of specialistmarketing, advertising, media, brochures, signage, exhibitions, CGI, animation,internet and photography products and services. BDW clients include St George,Bellway and Crest Nicholson. Under the Think BDW and Think Media brands, thecompany now operates from three locations in the South East of England, two inColchester and an office in central London. With the support of themission(R) the company is now well placed to expand itsoperations into other parts of the UK and offer an even wider service range.Recent work undertaken by BDW includes marketing of the development at 'TheStadium' -Arsenal's landmark residential development at Highbury, London andBellways Park Royal development of the Guinness Brewery building. themission(R)'s expertise in areas such as PR and events perfectly complementBDW's existing suite of services and may be valuable to clients who seek aconsolidated marketing package. themission(R)'s geographical footprint coveringthe UK will give BDW the opportunity to provide further services to theirclients who operate in areas beyond the South East. themission(R) has identified a number of sectors with good growth prospects,including residential property. Consistent with this, the number of householdsin England is forecast to increase by more than a fifth; from 20.9 million in2003 to 25.7 million by 2026, according to the latest projections published byJohn Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister. Government forecasts show that newhouseholds are being formed at a rate of 209,000 a year, compared withprojections of 189,000 in 2004 and 153,000 in 1996. The number of new householdsin England each year has gone up by 50,000 since the 1996 figures. Thesestatistics confirm the Company's confidence, irrespective of price shifts orinterest rates, in the long-term prospects of the residential property sector.Iain Ferguson, Chief Executive of themission(R), said: "Residential property marketing is one of the sector winners we have identifiedwhich have strong fundamentals, significant potential for growth and offer scopefor layering new services. "BDW is one of the UK's leading property and real estate specialists and hasestablished a reputation and proven track record of creativity and greatcommercial performance working with long-term, blue chip clients. These are thecore strengths of all of the agencies in themission(R) and we believe thiscommon focus will provide new opportunities for our enlarged Group. "As demonstrated by the acquisition of Bray Leino, themission's strategy ofgrowth through selective acquisitions delivers benefits to all parties and allclients. The results of our acquisition of Bray Leino in April 2006 are clearlyevident and further reinforce our confidence in our strategy to build a leadingnational marketing communications Group." Calder Corporate Advisory Limited advised BDW on the transaction. Robert Day, Chief Executive of BDW, said: "Joining with themission(R) provides us with the ideal platform to take BDW toits next level of growth. Leveraging the nationwide coverage and complementaryservice range of the agencies already within the Group, will provide us withexciting new business opportunities and places us in an even stronger positionto add significant value to our existing clients' businesses." The Company will make application for the 1,528,014 new ordinary shares to beissued to be admitted to trading on AIM, and their admission to AIM is expectedto take effect on Monday 19 March 2007. Enquiries: Iain Ferguson, Chief Executive 020 7395 7575Tim Alderson, Chief Financial OfficerThe Mission Marketing Group plc Charles Palmer/Nicola Biles 020 7831 3113Financial Dynamics Mark Percy/ Jeremy Porter 020 7107 8000Seymour Pierce Websites: www.themission.co.uk www.thinkbdw.co.uk themission(R) is a national marketing communications and advertising group with6 offices across the UK. The Group specialises in providing national andinternational clients with award winning marketing, advertising and businesscommunications. Group members include Bray Leino, Big Communications and FuseDigital. themission(R) employs over 300 staff nationally and is listed on AIM(TMMG). This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange