Media Corporation PLC
Media Corporation PLC
Acquisition of Result Online Limited
The Board of Media Corporation plc ('Media Corp'), a leading internet media and
marketing Company, is pleased to announce the acquisition of Result Online
Limited ('Result Online'), a leading financial portal operator and owner of
credit card comparison website www.creditcardexpert.co.uk ('Creditcardexpert').
Result Online, established in 2003, has grown rapidly into a highly profitable
operator in the personal finance market. Its credit card comparison site
www.creditcardexpert.co.uk provides a comprehensive guide to UK credit cards
highlighting the best deals available and giving general credit card tips to
consumers. The site provides information on most major credit cards including
Barclaycard, American Express and MBNA.
Income is generated through affiliate deals where credit card operators pay
Result Online for credit card applications and related cost per click search
advertising.
Creditcardexpert has top listings in the major search engines for 'credit cards'
and other relevant search terms related to them. The websites owned by Result
Online receive over 80,000 unique monthly visitors and generate over 30,000
credit card applications per year.
The business was founded by Stephen Hewitt, who has rapidly developed one of the
most successful finance websites in the UK. He was previously marketing manager
in credit card customer acquisition for HFC Bank plc. Stephen has had various
account management roles within advertising agencies in both the UK and the US.
Stephen will continue as Managing Director of the business.
The total consideration for the acquisition of Result Online is comprised of an
initial payment of £1.57 million and earn out consideration equating to 25% of
adjusted pre tax profits generated over the three year period ending 30
September 2009. These further payments are conditional on the business achieving
an adjusted pre tax profit of not less than £0.35 million in each of the
financial years ending 30 September 2007 to 2009 inclusive and are capped at
£1.5 million.
In addition, as further consideration Stephen Hewitt has been granted warrants
to subscribe for 1,000,000 shares in Media Corporation plc at a price of 6 pence
per share.
In the accounts for the period ended 31 July 2006, Result Online generated a
gross profit of £0.55 million and a profit before tax of £0.43 million. Tangible
net assets were £0.73 million.
Justin Drummond, Chief Executive, said,
'This acquisition is a major step for Media Corp and fits perfectly with our
previously stated strategy of further diversification into the lucrative
personal finance and travel markets.
Synergies are immediately apparent as Result Online uses a competitor of Search
Focus, the Group's search business, for its paid search advertising. In
addition, Eyeconomy, Media Corp's online media agency business, has its
principal advertising client base in the personal finance market'.
'The characteristics of the personal finance market are almost identical to the
gaming industry in that customer acquisition costs and customer churn are both
very high. This makes these markets particularly attractive for the Group's
search advertising business.'
This is an excellent deal for the Group and as previously stated will be the
first of many in the fast growing personal finance and travel markets as we
execute our strategy of building a major internet media and marketing business'.
Enquiries:
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Media Corporation plc Justin Drummond, Chief Executive Officer
+44 (0)20 7618 9000 Paul Tuson, Group Finance Director
Canaccord Adams Limited Mark Ashurst
+44 (0)20 7050 6500
Holborn PR Trevor Phillips
+44 (0)20 7929 5599
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Notes to editors:
Listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, Media Corp, is a leading
internet media and advertising Company focused on search, publishing and media
sales. The company has three principal divisions:
-- Search - The vertical search specialists - building sector specific
search engines for advertisers to communicate in a highly targeted
environment with their particular audience. All of our Search and Media
products are powered by our own high performance proprietary technology.
We can therefore partner with your online businesses to offer 'White
Label' services across a number of key vertical markets.
www.searchfocus.co.uk.
-- Publishing - Media Corp has a diverse publishing division ranging from
online to printed media. Our impressive stable of websites includes a
number of market leading sites including www.onthebox.com,
www.casino.co.uk.
-- Media - Eyeconomy was formed in 1996, and is a separate operating
division of Media Corporation. Eyeconomy specialises in the various
sectors of online marketing and advertising, such as online media
planning and buying, as well as managing online media campaigns for
clients including AOL, Dell and American Express.
See www.mediacorpplc.com
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