Centaur Buys and Sells, with Focus on B2B

UK-based publishing group Centaur Media Plc is set to dispose of its Home Interest business for £32m, and to acquire business telemarketing agency MarketMakers for an initial £13.4m, thus sharpening its focus on b2b information, insights and events.

Assuming Home Interest is sold as planned to digital publishing group Future plc, some of the proceeds will be used to fund the acquisition, while the rest will go to improve Centaur's balance sheet, and/or be used for later acquisitions.

Both transactions must be approved by shareholders, to whom a circular has been issued.

Founded in 2004 and based in Portsmouth, MarketMakers employs approximately 300 people, had revenues of £11.4m and adjusted EBITDA of £1.7m for the calendar year 2016. 'Ranked as the No.1 telemarketing agency in the UK by B2B Marketing' the company has grown revenue by 27% over the last three years. The buy brings the complementary strengths of B2B telemarketing, data analytics, database enrichment and automated lead generation to the Centaur portfolio; and will reduce its reliance on print and advertising, says the Board.

MarketMakers management team currently includes MDs Henry Braithwaite and Kirsty Dawe, FD Alan Yonge and Sales Director Tom James. Braithwaite, James and Dawe are set to remain with the company after it joins Centaur.

According to CEO Andria Vidler (pictured): 'These transactions are a major step forward in the continuing transformation of Centaur into a B2B focused business, providing our increasingly professional customer base with a range of higher value-added products and services. It is the right time for our Home Interest business to fulfil its potential under new ownership and we wish the management team every success'.

In just three years, Centaur has evolved from reliance on controlled circulation advertising into a group offering 'a range of products and services that enable professionals to optimise their business performance including market insight, data, consultancy and events'.

Says Vidler: 'The process of taking Centaur up the B2B value chain continues, and these transactions are a very significant step forward in our ambitions'.

Centaur, whose last acquisition was specialist marketing consultancy Oystercatchers in September 2016, is online at www.centaur.co.uk .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.