Perform another two acquisitions

Following closely on the heels of the Perform Group’s acquisition of WatchandTrade Limited and Global Sports Media B.V. earlier this month, the company has announced the purchase of a further two German businesses supporting its strategy for growth through acquisitions announced at the time of its IPO.

Perform Group has acquired Spox Media GmbH (“Spox”) and mediasports Digital GmbH (“mediasports”) for an initial cash consideration of Euro 3.65 million, with a maximum deferred cash consideration of Euro 12.35 million payable which will be based on full year reported EBITDA results of both businesses over the next three years.

The purchase of the businesses formerly owned by management and private equity firm Cresces Sports Media AG will significantly enhance the company’s presence in Germany, in what it terms as the largest digital market in Europe.

Spox was founded in September 2007 and owns and operates one of Germany’s leading independent sports websites spox.com. In 2011 spox.com averaged over 1.6 million monthly unique users, 15 million monthly visits and over 70 million monthly page impressions. The site is also available via a range of smartphone and Connected TV applications. In the year to 31 December 2010 Spox reported revenues of Euro 4.1 million and a pre-tax loss of Euro 0.1 million. Gross assets at 31 December 2010 were Euro 1.74 million.

Mediasports, established in February 2010, is the largest independent digital sports advertising sales agency in Germany with a combined audience of over 6 million unique users. It represents the advertising inventory of spox.com and a number of other premium sports websites including comunio.de – Germany’s largest online fantasy football management game, kicktipp.de – Germany’s largest match prediction game, and formel1.de – Germany’s largest independent Formula 1 website. In the period to 31 December 2010 mediasports reported revenues of Euro 2.3 million (Euro 1.8 million were related to spox.com) and a pre-tax loss of Euro 1.2 million, reflecting start up costs. Gross assets at 31 December 2010 were Euro 0.7 million.

Following the completion of the acquisition, Spox and mediasports founder and Managing Director, Manuel Lopez, will become Managing Director of Perform Deutschland.

Oliver Slipper, joint chief executive officer of Perform commented: “We have set out a growth strategy focused on augmenting Perform’s strong organic growth with selective acquisitions including ‘local champions’ and this announcement is an excellent example of us executing this strategy.

“Spox and mediasports bring a strong and experienced local management team in Germany, Europe’s largest digital media market. Furthermore they provide us with the opportunity to improve the monetisation of our existing German ePlayer and Goal.com businesses, grow video and display advertising revenues as well as delivering operational and technology synergies.”

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