Company Announcements

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15 December 2020

Ascential plc

Sale of Glenigan for £72.9m

Ascential plc (LSE: ASCL.L), the specialist information, data and analytics company, today announces that it has entered into an agreement to sell Glenigan, a brand within the Built Environment & Policy segment, to Byggfakta Group, for £72.9m in cash.  Completion is expected in Q1 2021 subject to an EU competition clearance required by the buyer.

As previously indicated, the nature of Glenigan's business is not aligned with Ascential's strategic priorities.  This disposal will allow capital to be allocated to core areas of the Company and in particular, the fast growing Digital Commerce segment, including organic investments and potential M&A opportunities.

In the financial year ended 31 December 2019, Glenigan generated revenues of £12.2m and Adjusted EBITDA before allocation of central costs of £6.8m.  Following the disposal, central costs allocated to this business amounting to approximately £1.5m in 2019, will be mitigated through transitional services agreements and cost savings over the coming year.  The gross assets of Glenigan as at 30 June 2020 were £7.1m*. 

Duncan Painter, Chief Executive Officer of Ascential, said:

"We are delighted that Glenigan has found a good home. The sale is a step forward for Ascential and our customers as our strategic focus and investments can be further concentrated on our core customer proposition: enabling our customers to design and create the right products, maximising their marketing impact and optimising their digital commerce performance."

*In addition, as at 30 June 2020, Ascential held £24.1m of acquired goodwill and intangible assets arising on consolidation in relation to the Glenigan business.

Contacts

Ascential were advised by Raymond James on this transaction.

About Ascential

Ascential is a specialist information, data and analytics company that helps the world's most ambitious businesses win in the digital economy.  Our information, insights, connections, data and digital tools solve customer problems in four principal disciplines:

●     Digital Commerce via data, analytics and managed services brands Flywheel Digital, Yimian and Edge;

●     Product Design via global trend forecasting service WGSN;

●     Marketing via global benchmarks for creative excellence and effectiveness, Lions and WARC, and MediaLink; and

●     Retail & Financial Services, including the world's premier payments and FinTech congress Money20/20 and events, data and tools for retailers.

Ascential also owns three digital information products in the Built Environment and Policy sector.

About Byggfakta Group

Byggfakta Group (formerly known as DOCUnordic) is the leading provider of business intelligence, data analytics services, and tendering software to the construction, real estate and healthcare markets across the Nordic, Iberian and DACH regions. Byggfakta Group has around 700 employees working from offices in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Portugal and Spain and is a portfolio company of Stirling Square Capital Partners and TA Associates.

Additional information can be found at https://byggfaktagroup.com