Cision Divests UK Print Monitor Operations

Cision has signed a conditional agreement to sell its UK Print Monitor operations to Durrants Ltd. Durrants Ltd is a leading company in the UK media monitor market, owned by Exponent Private Equity LLP. Cision UK’s Print Monitor operations had revenues of about 8.5 MGBP in 2008.

Cision’s UK business has been loss-making in 2008 and 2009, with an operating loss before restructuring charges of 0.7 MGBP for the first quarter of 2009 and 0.9 MGBP for the second quarter of 2009. The losses have been attributable to the Print Monitor operations and therefore, following completion, Cision’s UK business is expected to return to profitability in 2010. Following completion, Cision UK will continue to offer its customers a complete offering through its service platform, CisionPoint. Media monitoring will be provided through internet sources, electronic feeds from news aggregators and through a reseller agreement with Durrants. Through the reseller agreement, Durrants will also provide UK print media monitoring services to other Cision businesses globally. “This divestment is another important step for Cision to improve profitability and transform its business to capitalize on the structural changes in the media landscape and the industry consolidation brought about by these changes. Following completion of this transaction, Cision UK will be a fully digital business, with a leading customer offering through our award winning CisionPoint platform”, says Hans Gieskes, CEO of the Cision Group. The transaction is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2009. The transaction is conditional upon clearance by the UK Office of Fair Trading and subject to customary staff consultation processes. Following completion of the divestment, Cision’s UK business will have revenues of approximately 9 MGBP on an annual basis.

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