Acquisition Drive

30 Nov 2006 12:48

Adventis Group PLC30 November 2006 For immediate release30 November 2006 Adventis Group Acquisition Drive Backed by Leading Global Financial Institutions Adventis Group plc ("Adventis" or "the Group") has today announced significantinvestments by Oceanwood Capital Management LLP and Morgan Stanley InternationalLimited. In addition to taking a stake in the Group, Oceanwood may also providefinancing to fund a significantly larger acquisition programme. Since float in July 2004 Adventis Group profits have increased by 135% through acombination of organic growth and selective, high margin acquisitions in itsniche markets of property, healthcare and financial services. The supportoffered by these new institutional investors should enable the Group toaccelerate this acquisition programme in terms of both scale and speed. Charles Phillpot, CEO of Adventis stated. "In the last two years we have morethan doubled the size of the Group while also achieving a 44% improvement inmargin. These results demonstrate a strategy that is both robust and able toderive real benefits from increases in scale. We have been particularly pleasedwith how our online business has grown and are confident that this aspect of thegroup's offering will reap substantial rewards in the near future. Thisinvestment by institutions of this calibre is a demonstration of theirconfidence in both our strategy to acquire and ability to integrate marketingbusinesses and will greatly support our drive towards a £100m capital value.2007 promises to be an exciting year!' The Board of Adventis would like to thank Key IP Ltd for enabling thissuccessful placing. ENDS Editor's Notes Oceanwood Global Opportunities Master FundOceanwood Capital Management LLP has invested on behalf of Oceanwood GlobalOpportunities Master Fund. It is an international investment group with officesin London and Boston. Adventis Group plcAdventis Group's strategy is to focus its marketing and media buying services onthree main sectors, in which it has the opportunity to build significant marketpositions. There are three main strands to Adventis' strategy to develop the business: • Consolidation of its position in the residential and commercial property markets, which, as noted above, are predominantly serviced by a large number of small operators; • Diversification into other specific sectors, notably healthcare and financial services, for which marketing is governed by regulatory disclosure and which therefore, like the property sector, have a requirement for expertise; • Increase profit margins by providing services that are currently sub-contracted to third parties. Management intends to achieve these objectives through a mix of organicdevelopment, acquisitions and by creating structures to attract new key seniorstaff, who have proved revenue earning potential and appropriate sectorexpertise. For further information:Adventis Group plc Charles Phillpot, Chief Executive Tel: 020 7034 4750www.adventis.co.uk This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange