Cision strengthens Swedish market position through acquisition of PIR
Cision has today signed an agreement to acquire all shares of the Swedish company Public and Investor Relations PIR Svenska AB, ‘PIR’. The transaction will be completed on July 1, 2010.
PIR’s business focus is the distribution of press releases and providing a contact database for journalists and the media for the Swedish market, i.e the services Cision refers to as ‘Connect’ and ‘Plan’. PIR currently has 7 employees with a turnover of about SEK 8 million for 2009. Through focused sales management and excellent customer service, PIR has experienced high growth rates in the past few years, accumulating a sizeable customer base, particularly in the public sector.
Historically, PIR has delivered very solid operating margins. Combined with expected synergies upon its integration with Cision, the acquisition is therefore expected to have a positive impact on Cision’s European operating margins from the second half of 2010.
“The acquisition of PIR is consistent with our strategy as presented earlier in the year, where we stated that we will increasingly seek out opportunities for selected value-accretive acqusitions in the Plan and Connect service areas. Combining the customer base of PIR with Cision’s award winning service platform CisionPoint strengthens our Swedish market position and improves earnings capacity of Cision’s European division”, says Hans Gieskes, CEO of the Cision Group.
For further information, please contact:
Hans Gieskes, President and CEO
Telephone: +46 8 507 410 91
E-mail: hans.gieskes@cision.com
Erik Forsberg, CFO
Telephone: +46 8 507 410 91
E-mail: erik.forsberg@cision.com
Cision AB
SE-114 88 Stockholm
Telephone: +46 8 507 410 00
Cision empowers businesses to make better decisions and improve performance through its CisionPoint software solutions for corporate communication and PR professionals. Powered by local experts with global reach, Cision delivers relevant media information, targeted distribution, media monitoring, and precise media analysis. Cision has offices in Europe, North America and Asia, and has partners in 125 countries. Cision AB is quoted on the Nordic Exchange with revenue of SEK 1.5 billion in 2009. This press release is also available at the Cision corporate site.
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