LONDON (Alliance News) - Media and marketing company Ebiquity PLC Wednesday said it is no longer consider a sale of the business as it bought a media auditing and benchmarking company in China and reported higher profits and revenues for the first half of its financial year.
The company said it had closed its review of strategic options after deciding that none adequately met its view of the value of the business. It is therefore no longer mulling a sale.
"As part of our Strategic Review we have spoken to some of our largest shareholders who have expressed both enthusiasm for, and commitment to, our growth story. It is against this background that we have decided that our future can best be served in a public environment," Chief executive Michael Greenless said.
Separately, it said it has bought China Media Consulting Group Ltd for HKD20 million, or about GBP1.6 million, in cash, and could pay up to HKD85 million, or about GBP6.7 million, depending on the performance of the business in the five years to April 2017. It expects to deal to boost its earnings in the first full financial year.
China Media Consulting Group specialises in helping advertisers establish key media buying performance metrics, enabling them to improve performance and get more value from placing of adverts in the right places. It operates from offices in Shanghai and Beijing and made revenues of about GBP1.4 million in 2012.
Alex Abplanalp, who founded the Chinese company in 2006, will stay as head of the business and will also become chief executive of all Ebiquity's China business.
Ebiquity reported a pretax profit of GBP1.7 million in the six months to end-October, up from GBP1.2 million a year earlier, as revenues increased to GBP32.7 million, from GBP30.5 million, buoyed by organic growth and acquisitions.
It restructured its business during the fiscal first half, creating three distinct business units: Media Value Measurement, Market Intelligence and Market Performance Optimisation.
It said organic growth was 8% in its media value unit and 77% in marketing performance. However, it said overall growth had been held back by a drop in revenues in its market intelligence division.
"Although profitability has increased, the market remains competitive," it cautioned. However, it said it remains confident that it will meet management expectations for the whole of the current financial year.
Ebiquity shares were down 0.6% at 120.32 pence Wednesday morning.
By Steve McGrath; stevemcgrath@alliancenews.com; @SteveMcGrath1
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Ebiquity (EBQ)