5th Aug 2005 07:00
Next Fifteen Communications Grp PLC05 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") isissuing a trading update ahead of its preliminary results for the year ended 31July 2005. Next Fifteen is pleased to report that progress has continued in both revenuegeneration and profitability levels and that these are in line with expectationsset when the Company announced record interim results in April. Trading remainsstrong in all the Company's major markets with Next Fifteen expecting to postits best ever set of full year figures in October. In addition, the Company has in the last two months announced transactions thatwill enhance the Company's earnings growth in the coming year. On 21 June 2005,Next Fifteen announced the acquisition of OutCast Communications ("OutCast"), atop US technology PR consultancy, and on 19 July 2005 announced the offer topurchase the remaining minority interest of the Company's second largestbusiness; Bite Communications ("Bite"). The board of Next Fifteen (the "Board") is pleased to report that theintegration of OutCast is progressing well and that this business is operatingin line with internal forecasts. Since the acquisition took place, OutCast hassecured new business from Zazzle and Orb. The Company's acquisition of the remaining minority interest in Bite comes whenthis business is experiencing strong growth, particularly in North Americafollowing 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 inLexis Public Relations Limited ("Lexis"), one of the UK's most respected PRbusinesses, by its acquisition of a 25% stake in Panther Communications GroupLimited ("Panther"), the parent company of Lexis. In the year ended 31 December2004, Panther achieved net revenue of £4.7 million, profit before tax, adjustedfor amortisation, of £580,773 and had net liabilities of £808,351 (excludingintangible assets). Lexis is one of the UK's leading independent PRconsultancies delivering intelligent, informed, award-winning work for some ofthe UK's best-known brands. It is the intention of Next Fifteen to acquire the whole company by 2010 andPanther's existing management has agreed to sell further stakes in the companyover the next 5 years. Under the terms of the acquisition, Next Fifteen will payinitial consideration of £1.27 million for 25% of Panther, which is to be fundedout of existing cash and debt facilities. Further purchases will be made overthe next five years based on the performance of the company, with totalconsideration capped at £10 million. During 2006 Next Fifteen will increase itsshareholding to at least 51% and the consideration for this and subsequentpurchases will be satisfied through a combination of cash and Next Fifteenshares, with a minimum of 25% to be in the form of shares. Lexis will continueto operate as a separate business under its own brand name. The acquisition of Lexis will expand Next Fifteen's operations significantly inthe UK and provide a key step in achieving the strategy of further developingits presence outside the technology PR sector. The acquisition of Lexis isexpected to be earnings enhancing from the first year of ownership. Prospects The Board is optimistic about its prospects for the new financial year as itbelieves that Next Fifteen's agencies continue to perform more strongly thanmany of their direct competitors. Furthermore, new business opportunities remainvery strong, based on the number of potential clients requesting pitches fromthe Company's brands across the major markets in which they operate. The Boardis encouraged by the recent strengthening of the US economy and dollar. If thisyear-on-year strength can be sustained it will provide a natural boost toprospects 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-depthexpertise, supported by dedicated creative, digital marketing, sponsorship anddesign specialists. The firm has won a string of awards; last year's includedMarketing 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 theSunday 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 worldleading PR and marketing services firms. The majority of clients are in thetechnology industry with twelve of the world's top twenty technology businessesbeing clients of the Group; these include IBM, Apple, Microsoft, SunMicrosystems and Cisco. The Group strategy has also evolved to pursuenon-technology clients and the Group already works with such brands as RoyalMail, More Th>n (Royal and Sun Alliance Group), Olympus, Total and theDepartment for Education and Skills. The Group is made up of five independently branded subsidiaries that operate asautonomous businesses thus enabling them to service competing client businesses.The Group has four broad technology PR subsidiaries: Text 100, BiteCommunications, Outcast Communications and Inferno. The fifth brand, AUGUST.ONE,provides both B2B and Consumer services across a number of vertical marketsectors. More information can be found at: www.nextfifteen.com. Enquiries: Next FifteenTim Dyson Chief Executive - 001 415 350 2801David Dewhurst Finance Director - 07974 161 183 Holborn Public RelationsTrevor Phillips - 020 7929 5599 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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