Last checked at 12 May 2009 12:00
| For Immediate Release | Tuesday, 12th May 2009 |
Velti plc
VELTI ACQUIRES AD INFUSE
Strategic Acquisition Increases Velti's Global Footprint
San Francisco and London - 12th May 2009 - Velti (LSE:VEL), announced today that it has acquired Ad Infuse Inc., the leader in personalised mobile advertising, further expanding Velti's position as the world's largest mobile marketing and advertising company by revenues, profitability and global reach, and will enable the company to strengthen its position in the US market and sustain its growth over the coming years. Velti will immediately integrate Ad Infuse's first-class management team, award-winning technology and prestigious customer base into its global operations.
"The acquisition of Ad Infuse will broaden our US team and enhance our global product offering. Mobile advertising and marketing continues to enjoy significant growth even in today's environment: the marketing landscape is changing and mobile is the catalyst for this. Velti is pioneering the way that mobile impacts upon the worlds of advertising and marketing," said Alex Moukas, CEO of Velti. "This transaction provides us with a proven management team; a strong client base and proven technology that will help us further accelerate our global growth."
The integration of Ad Infuse's personalisation and ad routing/serving technology within Velti's Mobile Marketing Platform (MMP) will allow advertising agencies to utilise the industry's only end-to-end solution for mobile media planning, campaign management, optimisation, execution, analytics and hosting of mobile advertising and marketing campaigns. This new offering addresses a key problem that advertising agencies currently face of having to communicate with multiple suppliers to run an integrated campaign. Additionally, Velti's enhanced platform will provide a single point for: media planning across quality mobile inventory providers; tracking across any media channel that converts to mobile (including TV, print, outdoor); post-response interactivity with over 90 proven scenarios; and creative media utilisation including rich content, such as mobile Internet sites, applications, games and video.
The integrated company will comprise over 400 people across its operations in the US, Europe, China, India and Middle East. Velti is already the world's largest mobile advertising and marketing company with operations in 35 countries a reach of over two billion consumers and some of the world's leading advertising and media agencies, brands, operators and publishers as its customers, these include: Microsoft, Disney, Unilever, Orange, Singtel, MasterCard and CBS.
Velti recently announced strong 2008 organic revenue (up 164% on 2007) and profits growth: sales reached $70 million, with an EBITDA of $17 million. Revenues in the first quarter of 2009 are expected to be more than 50% higher than Q1 2008. Velti's balance sheet continues to demonstrate strong cash and net assets positions and the company will fund the acquisition in cash using existing and pre-arranged resources. Management expects that following modest dilution in 2009, the transaction will be EPS enhancing in 2010, the first full year after closing. Ad Infuse' s leading mobile ad serving and routing technology platforms enable advertisers, publishers, brands, and operators to place mobile ads on multiple networks and manage them in real-time. Ad Infuse works with leading advertisers, publishers, and operators in the US and Europe, including: Procter & Gamble, Dell, AT&T, Disney, Swisscom, France Telecom, Orange and Microsoft.
Brian Cowley, Ad Infuse's CEO, will assume the position of General Manager of Velti North America, he added: "This deal provides existing and prospective customers with the most complete solution available. We will be delivering even more compelling options for advertisers, brands, publishers, and operators."
ENDS
About Velti
Velti is the world's leading mobile marketing and advertising company. With operations in 35 countries, Velti can reach an estimated two billion consumers. Velti was founded in 2000 and it has been at the heart of the global mobile industry ever since, providing some of the world's biggest companies with the technology platform and support to deliver innovative mobile campaigns to their customers. Whatever the goal of a mobile campaign: to raise brand awareness; acquire new customers; inspire loyalty or directly drive revenues - Velti helps brands, advertisers, media agencies, publishers, and operators to meet their business objectives. For more information, visit www.velti.com.
About Ad Infuse
Ad Infuse is leading the industry in personalized mobile advertising solutions. With a technology platform that delivers relevant advertising experiences targeted to each mobile subscriber, Ad Infuse is replacing mass communications with a direct, brand-to-consumer relationship. Uniting carriers, brands, content providers and consumers, Ad Infuse is creating a marketplace for mainstream mobile media consumption. For carriers, Ad Infuse offers an ad-serving technology solution architected to protect consumer privacy and to deliver a blend of ad-supported and subscription-based premium content. For brands, Ad Infuse redefines advertising with truly dynamic ad insertion, allowing marketers to personalize their message and build a direct, high-impact relationship with the consumer. For content providers, Ad Infuse offers a path to mobile syndication supported by a balanced combination of subscription and ad-supported revenue.
For more information about Ad Infuse, please visit http://www.adinfuse.com.
Contacts
Corporate Inquires
Nick Miles, PR Manager
Velti, London
nmiles@velti.com
+44 (0)207 633 5034
Financial Inquiries
Simon Bloomfield / Steve Liebmann
simon.bloomfield@bankside.com
steve.liebmann@bankside.com
+44 (0)207 367 8861
Bankside Consultants for Velti
Sarah Wharry
sarah.wharry@rbccm.com
+44 (0)207 653 4667
RBC Capital Markets for Velti
Media Inquires
Steve Ortley, US Contact
sortley@webershandwick.com
+1.212.445.8470
Weber Shandwick for Velti