Digital communications group Next 15 acquires Brandwidth Group Limited

Next 15, the London-based digital communications group, has acquired digital innovation agency Brandwidth Group Limited.

The initial consideration for the transaction is £6.2m, which will be settled with £4.9m of cash and the issue of 292,235 new ordinary shares in Next 15.

Further deferred consideration may be payable in September 2018 of up to £3.3m and April 2020 of up to £800k based on the EBIT performance of Brandwidth in the year ending 30th June 2018.

The maximum total consideration of £10.3m represents a 5.5x multiple of Brandwidth’s adjusted EBIT in the year ended 30th June 2017.

Next 15 believe that the acquisition will be earnings enhancing in the year to 31st January 2019.

For the year ending 30th June 2017, Brandwidth reported adjusted net revenues of £7.3m, adjusted EBIT of £1.9m and adjusted pre-tax profit of £1.9m.

The joint CEOs, Phil Goodman and Jason Jones, and the chairman, Andrew Strange, will continue to lead the business.

Tim Dyson, CEO of Next 15, commented: “Brandwidth is a great addition to Next 15. It brings significant digital skills to the Group, in particular we are excited to be able to offer clients its capabilities around the use of voice.

“We see voice, through platforms such as Google Home and Amazon’s Alexa, as a highly disruptive form of marketing. Their knowledge and experience of working with these technologies are of immense value.”

Jason Jones, CEO of Brandwidth, said: “We are enormously excited to be joining Next 15. Our visions are entirely aligned, focusing on innovation at the centre of creativity, content, technology and data.

“This strong alignment, with the acceleration in capabilities that our partnership brings, will enable us to greatly speed our clients’ ambitions to deliver truly connected, next-generation digital interfaces and transformative customer experiences.”