Ebiquity Share News (EBQ)

(Sharecast News) - Independent marketing and media consultancy Ebiquity announced the acquisition of digital media monitoring and optimisation service Digital Decisions on Wednesday, for an initial consideration of €0.7m (£0.59m).
The AIM-traded firm said the acquisition was "highly complementary" to its media division, and would enhance the services that it offered its global client base.

It said Digital Decisions, launched in 2017, provides 'Source Data Monitoring', which it described as an "innovative solution" that helped global advertisers to monitor and optimise their digital marketing and media spend.

The service enabled brands to improve transparency and buying performance throughout the digital media supply chain, across multiple geographies and buying platforms.

Digital Decisions had developed the capability, through automated data processing, for brands to "efficiently and regularly" review billions of dollars in digital media investments.

Its solutions had been adopted by a number of global brands including Heineken and PepsiCo.

The acquisition was structured on an earn-out basis, with an up-front cash purchase of 100% of Digital Decisions' shares to be followed by two tranches of deferred consideration.

The first would be based on Digital Decisions' performance in 2020, and the second on the average for 2021 and 2022.

Ebiquity said the final deferred consideration payment would be paid in a mix of cash and Ebiquity shares, to be determined by the company.

The firm said it was acquiring the Digital Decisions shares from Cosimo Capital as a 55% shareholder, and Stichting Administratiekantoor Pinnacle Invest as a 45% shareholder, with both firms being owned and controlled by Ruben Schreurs, founder and chief executive officer of Digital Decisions.

For the 18-month period ended 31 December 2018, Digital Decisions reported revenue of €0.42m, profit before tax of €0.12m, and as at the end of that year it had gross assets of €0.15m.

Digital Decisions is based in the Netherlands, where it was founded, and recently established a sales team in London.

It would continue to operate as an individual service proposition, while integrating within Ebiquity "as appropriate" to support continued innovation of its media performance measurement services, as well as marketing and service delivery to clients.

The United States was one of its significant potential markets, and it was planned that Ruben Schreurs would be based there following completion.

"Digital Decisions aligns perfectly with Ebiquity's value proposition to clients and further strengthens our digital media advisory services," said Ebiquity interim chief executive officer Alan Newman.

"Its team has developed a market-leading, purpose-built media transparency and accountability solution to help brands evaluate and build trust in their digital ecosystems.

"We are confident that Ebiquity's global network and client base will help Digital Decisions rapidly to scale internationally."

Ruben Schreurs, CEO of Digital Decisions, added that Ebiquity was "the ideal home" for his company.

"Their work with 70 of the top 100 global advertisers, deep media expertise and knowledge, and breadth of data and benchmarks makes Ebiquity a natural fit and the perfect launch pad to take Digital Decisions into the next era of growth.

"I'm excited about the added value that we can jointly provide to our clients' global media and procurement heads."

At 1132 GMT, shares in Ebiquity were down 2.7% at 36p.