Acquisition

Acquisition

Next Fifteen Communications Plc

Next Fifteen Communications Group plc

Completion of the acquisition of the trading subsidiaries of Upstream Marketing and Communications Inc

Further to the announcement made on 02 October 2009, Next Fifteen Communications Group plc (“Next Fifteen”) (AIM:NFC) announces that it has now completed the acquisition of the marketing communications trading subsidiaries of AIM-listed Upstream Marketing and Communications Inc.. These businesses referred to here as “Upstream Asia” are located in Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney and will be integrated into Next Fifteen’s Bite Communications Group (“Bite”) and will begin to be re-branded as Bite from November.

Upstream Asia’s existing management team will remain in place, with David Ketchum, president, Asia Pacific, joining the Bite Communications Group board and executive vice president Paul Mottram running operations in the region. Bite’s former Beijing team is being integrated into Upstream’s Beijing office to form a single enlarged team.

Bite is now able to deliver comprehensive global reach for its clients and enable Asia-Pacific-based brands to grow on a global scale by adding Upstream Asia’s offices to its current network, which includes offices in London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Stockholm and Toronto. In addition to geographic coverage, Bite will incorporate Upstream’s blue-chip clients to its roster, ranging from Skype and HTC in consumer technology, to Qantas and Jumeirah Hotels and Resorts in travel, and SWIFT in the financial industry. Bite will also benefit from Upstream’s exceptional digital marketing and social media capabilities.

About Upstream Asia

Founded in 2000, Upstream Asia is a full service marketing and corporate communications network positioned to help companies make the most of business opportunities in the Asia Pacific region. Upstream Asia has offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, and Sydney, as well as regional affiliates. Key practice areas include technology, corporate & financial, and consumer & travel. Upstream Asia was acquired from London AIM-listed company Upstream Marketing and Communications Inc. (UPS.L).

About Bite Communications

Bite Communications, a subsidiary of Next Fifteen Communications Group plc, is a 140-strong communications consultancy with offices in London, San Francisco, New York, Toronto, LA, Beijing and Stockholm. With a mission to deliver fearless and boundless communications campaigns to its range of B2B and B2C clients, Bite has built its business on developing creative, results orientated campaigns for market-leading blue chip as well as fast growing emerging start-up brands. Its client list includes AMD, BT, HP, Microsoft and Sony. For more information, visit www.bitepr.com.

About Next Fifteen

Next Fifteen Communications Group plc is the holding company for a group of worldwide PR consultancies. It owns five independent subsidiary PR agencies that operate as autonomous businesses and has a 70% stake in 463 Communications, a policy communications company. It also owns two research businesses. Between them these businesses have 43 offices in 18 countries. The Group has established itself as a leader in digital public relations. The focus on digital PR comes naturally to the Group given that the majority of the Group's clients are in the technology industry, and include global names such as IBM, Yahoo!, Microsoft, Facebook and Cisco. Over the last few years the Group’s strategy has broadened and to include non-technology clients. This strategy was particularly helped by the acquisition of Lexis Public Relations in 2005 and M Booth & Associates in August 2009. The Group now works with brands such as American Express, Coca-Cola, Whirlpool, TOTAL, Dove, Nokia and the Barclays Premier League. For more information, visit www.nextfifteen.com.

For further information, please contact:

Next Fifteen Communications Group plc  
Tim Dyson, Chief Executive

David Dewhurst, Finance Director

+1 415 350 2801

+44 (0)20 8846 0771

 

Canaccord Adams Limited

Mark Williams

Henry Fitzgerald O’Connor

+44 (0)20 7050 6500

UK 100

Latest directors dealings