THE MARKETING GROUP’S CREATIVE CONTENT AGENCY NICE&POLITE MAKES TWO TACTICAL ACQUISTIONS TO STRENGTHEN BUSINESS
- Nice&Polite, the creative content agency of The Marketing Group, makes two tactical acquisitions to augment its core creative content and branding business
- Acquisition of Digital Virtue and VOQS Limited will strengthen the offerings of Nice&Polite and increase the overall profitability of The Marketing Group
- Digital Virtue and VOQS Limited were acquired for no more than three times earnings and were paid with additional shares at a strike price of 4.15 Euros per share
- A 10-day volume weighted average was used to determine the strike price of the purchase shares, giving a share price of 4.15 Euros per share
Stockholm, July 26th 2016 – Nice&Polite, the creative content agency of The Marketing Group, today announces the tactical acquisitions of Digital Virtue, a social media agency and VOQS Limited, a website strategic consulting agency. This is in line with its growth plans as it looks to deliver a more on-going and engaging digital marketing solutions to augment its core creative content and branding business.
The two deals mark Nice&Polite’s first tactical acquisition and the establishment of the new division - Nice&Polite/Engage, which aims to provide clients on-going engagement by offering app builds, websites, conversion management and all channels of digital marketing. This includes SEO, social media marketing and high profile online strategic consultancy for B2B and B2C clients.
Digital Virtue and VOQS Limited have also established a strong reputation in the digital space over the past ten years. Some of their clients include the likes of Coca Cola, GSK, Hewlett-Packard, Greenleaf and Datasolutions.
Digital Virtue and VOQS Limited were acquired for no more than three times earnings and were paid with additional shares at a strike price of 4.15 Euros per share, with a total value of 81,000 Euros for Digital Virtue and 138,000 Euros for VOQS Limited.
The tactical acquisitions will have a demonstrable concentration effect on shareholder value from the stock issue and are in line with the interests of the shareholders.
Following this tactical acquisition, the total number of ordinary shares issued by The Marketing Group will increase from 22,690,566 to 22,743,337. This requires the creation of 52,771 new ordinary shares, over 50% of which will be subject to a 360-day lockup period.
“Priding ourselves on being on the technological forefront of all things digital, Nice&Polite is constantly seeking ways to maximise the digital channels to improve customer experience. As well as strengthening the offerings of Nice&Polite, this tactical acquisition will also increase the overall profitability of The Marketing Group. We also believe that the proven expertise of Digital Virtue and VOQS will enable us to raise the bar in the digital marketing space” comments Ross Anderson, founder and CEO of Nice&Polite.
Founded in 2002, Digital Virtue has delivered over 700 successful projects and developed its own Content Management System (CMS). The CMS is specially designed to allow immersive, media rich content to be pushed to screens located anywhere in the world. This means that data can be pulled from existing legacy systems and interlaced with cutting edge animation and brand messages to produce a new way in which content can be delivered and uniquely, how potential customers can interact with this.
VOQS specialises in providing strategic counsel to website development and has a presence in London, Cyprus and Sri Lanka. Over the years, it has established solid relationships with some of the UK’s biggest brands - helping them to succeed in the online space and profit considerably as a result.
Company’s Description
| DIGITAL VIRTUE LTD | |
| Location | Cardiff and London, UK |
| Turnover | £215,000 |
| PBIT | £27,000 |
| Key Clients | Coca Cola, GSK (GlaxoSmithKline), HP (Hewlett-Packard), Save the Children |
| Key Synergies | Engagement through Websites, Ecommerce, Social Media Management, Custom Integration, Interactive Presentations & Displays, Programming + Software, Mobile Apps, Hosting & Email Services |
| Owner & Managing Director | Indy SamraiIndy has been in the Internet sector since its very early days in the UK. His career started in 1995 when he helped setup a small cyber café, this soon grew to a full web agency with 3 branches. Indy was made Technical Director of the firm whilst still studying Computer Science at Cardiff but was headhunted by an agency in London. This new consultancy role allowed Indy to help grow the agency its turnover by 50% and within 12 months of joining was promoted to the board, reporting directly to the CEO. It was during this period he saw the opportunity for a new type of approach and the early foundations of Digital Virtue were born. |
| VOQS Limited | |
| Location | London, Cyprus and Sri Lanka |
| Turnover | £128,000 |
| PBIT | £46,000 |
| Key Clients | PHS, Teacrate, Orwak, Datasolutions, Shredding, Greenleaf, DGroup, LittleWhiteLies |
| Key Synergies | Strategic consulting, website build and management, SEO, traffic, conversion, offshore delivery |
| Owner & Managing Director | Conrad SwailesConrad has been an integral part of the business organisation and growth of Nice&Polite in the past year - and as a result helped to bring to life the The Marketing Group as a non-exec director alongside Founding Partner and CEO, Ross Anderson. His knowledge and background in the online space is second to none and his experience in Marketing, Ecommerce, Global sourcing, Distribution, Brand Protection, Business Turnaround, Listing, and Deal Making in Property and Finance will mean Nice&Polite goes from strength to strength as a result. |
For more information, please contact
Hannah Middleton, Director and Communications Director
Phone: +65 8193 7625
E-mail: hannah.middleton@marketinggroupplc.com
Jeremy Harbour, Executive Chairman
Phone: +65 8661 1776
E-mail: jeremy.harbour@marketinggroupplc.com
The Marketing Group in brief
The Marketing Group plc was incorporated in May 2015 with the purpose of gathering successful marketing businesses under one roof. During the first half of 2016, The Marketing Group acquired 9 companies with specialist skills and geographical reach. The Company comprises a series of independent marketing teams, each with specific expertise and innovative services. The consolidated group supports the subsidiaries with management and coordinating activities as well as a common operating platform. For more information, please visit the Company’s website www.marketinggroupplc.com. The Company’s share is listed on Nasdaq First North Stockholm from 8 June 2016 and Mangold Fondkommission AB, +46 8-5030 15 50, is the Company’s Certified Adviser and liquidity provider.
Digital Virtue Group in brief
Digital Virtue was founded in 2002 by Indy Samrai to bring high quality, bespoke, web solutions which had previously only been available to blue chip clients, to a wider SME audience. This strategy has led to steady, sustained growth and profit over the last 14 years. The company now has over 300 clients across the UK which rely on Digital Virtue for development, cloud hosting and email services.
A key strength of Digital Virtue is the ability to handle complex projects, normally involving integration with existing back office systems which other design based agencies struggle to deliver.
To date Digital Virtue has delivered over 700 successful projects and has developed its own Content Management System (CMS). The CMS allows integration with almost any legacy systems and can be modified to work around existing business processes, not the other way around. A new and exciting area for future growth is Interactive Presentations and Displays. As costs of large format touchscreens has fallen, a new market opportunity has been identified. Digital Virtue has been upgrading its existing CMS to allow immersive, media rich content to be pushed to screens located anywhere in the world. Data can be pulled from existing legacy systems and interlaced with cutting edge animation and brand messages to produce a new way in which content can be delivered and uniquely, how potential customers can interact with this.