2nd Feb 2007 07:00
Acquisition of Flight Comparison Limited The Board of Media Corporation plc ("Media Corp or the "Company") a leadingonline media group, is pleased to announce the acquisition of Flight ComparisonLimited ("Flight Comparison"), a travel portal operator and owner of flightcomparison website www.flightcomparison.co.uk. Flight Comparison, established in 2003, has grown into a profitable operator inthe online travel business. Its principal flight comparison sitewww.flightcomparison.co.uk provides a comprehensive guide to scheduled flightsworldwide, highlighting the best deals available. The site provides informationfor all major airlines including British Airways, American Airlines and Easyjet. Income is generated through affiliate deals where travel operators and airlinespay Flight Comparison for completed flight bookings and related cost per clicksearch advertising. The Company has top listings in the major search engines forthe term "flight comparison" and other relevant search terms related to all ofthe flights destinations for which the site provides information. The website isbuilt with the consumer in mind, so the flight search has been made simple andquick to use and the results are returned rapidly. The websites owned by FlightComparison receive around 100,000 unique monthly visitors per month. The business was founded by Oliver Ragg who has rapidly developed a successfultravel portal business. Having graduated from the University of Birmingham withan Honours Degree and PhD in 1994, Oliver has held senior technical roles atboth Honeywell Electronics and, more recently, Gold Medal Travel Group prior toestablishing Flight Comparison in 2003. Oliver has entered into a three yearemployment agreement with the Company to continue as Managing Director of FlightComparison. The total consideration for the acquisition of the Company is comprised of aninitial payment of £270,000 and an earn out consideration equating to 25% ofadjusted pre tax profits generated over the three year period ending 30September 2009. These further payments are capped at a total of £0.5 million. The Company is also making an additional payment of £205,000 for the fair valueof the Company's assets and liabilities, which on acquisition is £215,000,including £175,000 cash. As further consideration Oliver Ragg has been granted warrants to subscribe for500,000 shares in Media Corporation plc at a price of 6 pence per share. In the accounts for the years ended 31 August 2005 and 2006, the Companygenerated profits before tax of £138,000 and £75,000 respectively. It isanticipated that based on the current monthly revenues and the benefit ofsynergies provided by Media Corp that Flight Comparisons profit before tax forthe 2007 financial year will show a significant improvement over the 2006financial year. Justin Drummond, Chief Executive, Media Corp said, "Following our recent acquisition of Result Online Limited, a personal financeportal operator, this acquisition is another significant step forward for MediaCorp. It fits perfectly with our previously stated strategy of furtherdiversification into the lucrative personal finance and travel markets. We arenow effectively three businesses in one - we have significant media ownershipwith our market leading websites including Creditcardexpert.co.uk, Onthebox.com,and Freedeal.co.uk, a mass market online ad network with a monthly reach of morethan 30 Million people and best in class proprietary pay per click searchtechnology. This acquisition further bolsters our media ownership business wherewe already have a strong foothold in the personal finance, gaming and generalinterest websites and has strong synergies with our ad network and searchbusiness." "Media Corp now has critical mass and is fast becoming a very significant playerin a sector where UK online advertising spend alone reached £2 billion in2006*". *Source: Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) Oliver Ragg, Managing Director, Flight Comparison said. "Having built a successful business it is very exciting to be part of a fastgrowing and substantial Online Media Group that will give me the support I needto take the business to the next level". "The online travel industry is fast growing and portals like Flight Comparisonprovide the consumer with useful information and the best deals available.Growth of this industry has been enormous over the past few years and I lookforward to making Flight Comparison a substantial business in this excitingsector". \* TEnquiries: Media Corporation plc Justin Drummond, Chief Executive Officer+44 (0)20 7618 9000 Paul Tuson, Group Finance Director Canaccord Adams Limited Mark Ashurst, Managing Director+44 (0)20 7050 6500 Holborn PR Trevor Phillips, Managing Director+44 (0)20 7929 5599\* T Notes to editors: Listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, Media Corp, is a leadinginternet media and advertising Company focused on search, web -site publishingand media sales. The company has three principal divisions: Search Technology - The vertical search specialists building sector specificsearch engines for advertisers to communicate in a highly targeted environmentwith their particular audience. All of our Search and Media products are poweredby our own high performance proprietary technology. www.searchfocus.co.uk. Publishing - Media Corp has a diverse publishing division specialising in onlinemedia. Our impressive list of websites includes a number of market leading sitesincluding www.creditcardexpert.co.uk, www.onthebox.com, www.freedeal.co.uk. Media Sales - Formed in 1996, Eyeconomy specialises in mass reach campaigns toover 30 Million unique consumers via its own proprietary ad-serving and trackingtechnology for clients including AOL, Dell and American Express.www.eyeconomy.co.uk. www.mediacorpplc.com Copyright Business Wire 2007Related Shares:
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