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RS Consulting is Latest String for Cello's Bow
UK-based marketing services company the Cello Group has acquired b2b agency RS Consulting Ltd in a deal worth £4.75m. Cello bought consumer agency Leapfrog Research & Planning only last month.
RS Consulting, formed in 1984 by Bryan Atkin and John Leston, works with a range of international and domestic clients including HP, Xerox, Sony, FedEx, the Department of Work & Pensions, AXA, and BUPA. For the year to 30th September 2004, the company had a turnover of £9.6 million, a gross profit of £3.8m, and a profit before tax of £0.1m.
Following its acquisition of RS, Cello will have an annual turnover of around £65m, a gross profit of more than £30m a year, and will employ more than 400 people. The RS deal consists of an initial £2.4m, of which £1.2m is in cash and the rest is shares. In addition, there is a deferred payment of up to £2.35m, depending on financial performance to December 2009.
Cello currently owns two market research companies: Insight Research Group, a specialist healthcare market research business, and Leapfrog, which it bought in July (www.mrweb.com/drno/news4240.htm ). The group also owns brand development companies The Value Engineers and Leith, and direct marketing firms The Target Group and Navigator Responsive Advertising.
Kevin Steeds, Cello's Chairman, stated that the acquisition of RS will 'complement our specialist healthcare and consumer research consultancies' and 'further reinforce our focus on the high value-added business advisory and consulting end of the market'.
The Cello Group's web site is www.cellogroup.co.uk . RS Consulting is online at www.rsconsulting.co.uk .
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