TMN Buys in The Netherlands

UK-based TMN Group plc, parent company of panel operator iDFactor and Internet specialist ICD Research, has made its first overseas acquisition, Dutch digital DM company TAPPS B.V., for up to £7.94m.

TMN says the move will give it a solid foundation to launch its products, such as the competition and lead generation web site, www.plum-offers.com , and Envoy, its email distribution platform, into new markets.

The maximum price of £7.94m (EUR 10.75m) comprises an initial consideration of £5.70m (EUR 7.75m) of which £3.91m (EUR 5.25m) is cash and £1.79m (EUR 2.50m) shares; and a conditional deferred consideration of up to £2.24m (EUR 3.00m) over two earn-out years, with a minimum 50% cash.

TAPPS works with its partners by 'monetising their email databases and web sites', offering advertisers highly qualified access to more than seven million internet users in The Netherlands. For the period ended 31 December 2006 it generated revenue of EUR 4.00m (2005: EUR 2.40m), earnings before interest, tax and non-recurring items of EUR 1.04m (2005: EUR 0.40m) and profit before taxation of EUR 0.80m (2005: EUR 0.29m).

TMN says strong synergies exist between TAPPS and tmnmedia, its own UK-based email marketing division; and that further synergies will be explored, including the development of new European panels for the iD Factor.

TMN CEO Mark Smith comments: 'The online direct marketing sector is experiencing rapid growth and TMN is exploiting opportunities to grow its presence in the sector and control more of the advertisers online spend. TAPPS has built an excellent reputation in The Netherlands and is the ideal partner to support TMN's expansion into the European market, both for email marketing and online market research.'

TAPPS Director Annemiek de Geus - Verhagen says the move will give 'considerable benefits for both companies... in particular, we see significant opportunities to introduce TMN's products to our clients and to develop beyond our existing markets.'

Web sites: www.tmngroupplc.com and www.tapps.nl.

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

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