Trading update & acquisition
Next Fifteen Communications Grp PLC
05 August 2005
Next Fifteen Communications Group plc
5 August 2005
Pre-Close Period Trading Update and Acquisition
Trading update
Next Fifteen Communications Group plc ("Next Fifteen" or the "Company") is
issuing a trading update ahead of its preliminary results for the year ended 31
July 2005.
Next Fifteen is pleased to report that progress has continued in both revenue
generation and profitability levels and that these are in line with expectations
set when the Company announced record interim results in April. Trading remains
strong in all the Company's major markets with Next Fifteen expecting to post
its best ever set of full year figures in October.
In addition, the Company has in the last two months announced transactions that
will enhance the Company's earnings growth in the coming year. On 21 June 2005,
Next Fifteen announced the acquisition of OutCast Communications ("OutCast"), a
top US technology PR consultancy, and on 19 July 2005 announced the offer to
purchase the remaining minority interest of the Company's second largest
business; Bite Communications ("Bite").
The board of Next Fifteen (the "Board") is pleased to report that the
integration of OutCast is progressing well and that this business is operating
in line with internal forecasts. Since the acquisition took place, OutCast has
secured new business from Zazzle and Orb.
The Company's acquisition of the remaining minority interest in Bite comes when
this business is experiencing strong growth, particularly in North America
following its winning of the Sun Microsystems business.
Acquisition of minority interest in Lexis
Next Fifteen is today pleased to announce the acquisition of a 25% stake in
Lexis Public Relations Limited ("Lexis"), one of the UK's most respected PR
businesses, by its acquisition of a 25% stake in Panther Communications Group
Limited ("Panther"), the parent company of Lexis. In the year ended 31 December
2004, Panther achieved net revenue of £4.7 million, profit before tax, adjusted
for amortisation, of £580,773 and had net liabilities of £808,351 (excluding
intangible assets). Lexis is one of the UK's leading independent PR
consultancies delivering intelligent, informed, award-winning work for some of
the UK's best-known brands.
It is the intention of Next Fifteen to acquire the whole company by 2010 and
Panther's existing management has agreed to sell further stakes in the company
over the next 5 years. Under the terms of the acquisition, Next Fifteen will pay
initial consideration of £1.27 million for 25% of Panther, which is to be funded
out of existing cash and debt facilities. Further purchases will be made over
the next five years based on the performance of the company, with total
consideration capped at £10 million. During 2006 Next Fifteen will increase its
shareholding to at least 51% and the consideration for this and subsequent
purchases will be satisfied through a combination of cash and Next Fifteen
shares, with a minimum of 25% to be in the form of shares. Lexis will continue
to operate as a separate business under its own brand name.
The acquisition of Lexis will expand Next Fifteen's operations significantly in
the UK and provide a key step in achieving the strategy of further developing
its presence outside the technology PR sector. The acquisition of Lexis is
expected to be earnings enhancing from the first year of ownership.
Prospects
The Board is optimistic about its prospects for the new financial year as it
believes that Next Fifteen's agencies continue to perform more strongly than
many of their direct competitors. Furthermore, new business opportunities remain
very strong, based on the number of potential clients requesting pitches from
the Company's brands across the major markets in which they operate. The Board
is encouraged by the recent strengthening of the US economy and dollar. If this
year-on-year strength can be sustained it will provide a natural boost to
prospects as half the revenue of the Group is now earned in US dollars.
About Lexis
Lexis was founded in London in 1992 and is a full service agency with consumer,
corporate/B2B, consumer healthcare and sport divisions providing in-depth
expertise, supported by dedicated creative, digital marketing, sponsorship and
design specialists. The firm has won a string of awards; last year's included
Marketing Magazine's PR Consultancy of the Year 2004, PR Week's Best Consumer,
Best Business Communications and Campaign of the Year 2004, and 8th place in the
Sunday Times 'Top 100 Small Companies to Work For' survey.
More information can be found at www.lexispr.com.
About Next Fifteen
Next Fifteen Communications Group is a holding company for a number of world
leading PR and marketing services firms. The majority of clients are in the
technology industry with twelve of the world's top twenty technology businesses
being clients of the Group; these include IBM, Apple, Microsoft, Sun
Microsystems and Cisco. The Group strategy has also evolved to pursue
non-technology clients and the Group already works with such brands as Royal
Mail, More Th>n (Royal and Sun Alliance Group), Olympus, Total and the
Department for Education and Skills.
The Group is made up of five independently branded subsidiaries that operate as
autonomous businesses thus enabling them to service competing client businesses.
The Group has four broad technology PR subsidiaries: Text 100, Bite
Communications, Outcast Communications and Inferno. The fifth brand, AUGUST.ONE,
provides both B2B and Consumer services across a number of vertical market
sectors. More information can be found at: www.nextfifteen.com.
Enquiries:
Next Fifteen
Tim Dyson Chief Executive - 001 415 350 2801
David Dewhurst Finance Director - 07974 161 183
Holborn Public Relations
Trevor Phillips - 020 7929 5599
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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