Centaur Media acquires Econsultancy for upto £50m

eConCentaur Media plc (LSE: CAU, ‘Group’, ‘Centaur’), the business information and events group, has agreed to acquire E-consultancy.com Limited (‘Econsultancy’), a leading digital marketing information provider, for an initial consideration of £12m. The acquisition is subject to shareholder approval.

Highlights:
– Econsultancy is a leading digital and events-led information provider to the global digital marketing and e-commerce community in the UK, with a growing presence in the USA, Middle East, Asia and Australia
The acquisition is a key part of the strategy to transform the Group into a predominantly digital and events-led business
– Initial consideration of £12m in cash, with deferred consideration of up to £38m due in 2016, based on EBITDA performance for the year ending December 2015
– Expected to be materially earnings enhancing within the first full year
– Econsultancy’s revenues stem from subscriptions, events, training, professional qualifications and media
– Econsultancy has approximately 110,000 registered users and approximately 5,000 subscribers
– Econsultancy’s CEO and key executives will remain with the business following the acquisition
– In the financial year to 31 December 2011, Econsultancy reported revenues of £6.6m (representing an increase of 50 per cent. on the prior period) and adjusted EBITDA of £1.1m
– The deal complements Centaur’s market-leading publications, events and digital services in the marketing, design and creative sectors

Geoff Wilmot, Centaur Chief Executive, said:centaur

‘The earnings enhancing acquisition of Econsultancy provides us with an exciting opportunity to acquire a leading information brand in a high growth sector with global potential which fits well with Centaur products including Marketing Week and New Media Age.

‘Econsultancy is highly complementary with Centaur and gives us a prominent position in the rapidly growing digital marketing sector with the opportunity to scale internationally.

‘We see considerable potential for collaborative growth through leveraging our existing position in marketing and the development of high value, paid-for information services.’