Optimisa buys Andrew Irving Associates
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Market research and consulting group Optimisa has acquired UK research agency Andrew Irving Associates (AIA) in a deal worth up to £317,000.
It is Optimisa's first acquisition since the group raised £0.9m with a share issue in May this year.
An upfront payment of £187,000, in the form of 17,701 shares and £10,700 cash, will be followed by a further payment of up to £130,000 depending on the company's performance.
Optimisa chief executive Simon Dannatt called the acquisition of AIA “an exciting development… significantly improving our reach into the public sector”.
The acquisition of AIA, which has a track record of more than 20 years working with government, is the first time Optimisa has actively sought to develop a public sector research practice.
In the last financial year, AIA had sales in excess of £700,000, pre-tax profits of £47k and a net asset value of around £175,000.
Dannatt told Research that Optimisa is looking to expand further with acquisitions in the UK and overseas. He said: “We expect to make a number of similar add-on acquisitions over the short-term and are actively pursuing a potentially earnings enhancing acquisition that would transform the scale and scope of the company.
“We want to expand our existing footprint in the marketing services arena between the traditional research companies and the business strategy consultants – providing commercial advice with robust evidence to back it up,” he said.
Andrew Irving, managing director of AIA, said: “We think there's a very good fit between the Optimisa Group and AIA in terms of outlook and approach, and we are very pleased that they want to keep the company as a separate entity and develop its potential.”
AIA will be taking on new qual and quant projects from Optimisa, which had previously been outsourced.
In March, Optimisa acquired NxtMove, a US-based strategic market analysis and business intelligence firm for around £1m. It also owns KAE, a strategy development, market evaluation and competitive intelligence agency, headquartered in London.
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Optimisa in talks as share issue generates £0.9m acquisition warchest
