Consulting Firm is Latest Buy for Cello

In the UK, AIM-listed MR owner Cello Group plc has acquired SMT Consulting Limited, a strategy and research firm specialising in business and competitive intelligence. Cello is paying up to £6.2m in cash and shares up front with further performance-related consideration of up to £8.8m.

SMT has around 35 employees in two locations: a head office in Oxford and a base in Shenzhen, China. Clients are in financial services, nuclear & utilities, telecoms and FMCG sectors. For the year to 30 April 2006, the company had a turnover of £3.4m and normalised profits before tax of £0.8m.

Cello owns a number of UK research companies including Leapfrog Research & Planning, Insight Research Group (which includes Field Management Ltd), and RS Consulting with its subsidiary companies Kudos Research and Consensus. Kevin Steeds, Cello Group's Chairman, says the buy will further strengthen the group's upstream research and consulting offer, and help accelerate the development of its international offering with clients in the UK and Asia.

The initial payment consists of £4.2m in cash and 1,542,480 newly issued ordinary shares. Performance related payments cover the period to 31 December 2010, in a mixture of loan notes and new ordinary shares. Cello has financed the deal with a new £12m committed three year banking facility, and now has net debt of c.£2m.

Cello is online at www.cellogroup.co.uk .

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