Ascential plc completes acquisition of marketing intelligence service WARC

Ascential plc, the London-headquartered specialist information company, has acquired WARC Limited for an initial cash consideration of £19.5m, plus deferred consideration of £4.5m payable in 2019.

The acquisition is expected to complete on 2nd July 2018.

WARC is a global digital subscription business that helps brands, agencies and media platforms assess marketing effectiveness across all channels.

The company is a specialist in providing information and insight to understand and measure multi-channel advertising effectiveness. Founded in 1985, WARC employs approximately 90 people with offices in London, Washington DC and Singapore and serves approximately 1,200 customers globally.

The business strengthens Ascential’s digital product offering and the intention is to combine WARC with Cannes Lions’ The Work, to form a digital subscription product of scale.

In the year ending 31st March 2018, WARC generated unaudited revenues of £10.8m (a growth of 10%) and EBITDA of £2.2m. Gross assets were £9.6m.

The acquisition, which will be funded from cash reserves and existing borrowing facilities, is expected to enhance Ascential’s earnings per share in the current financial year.

Duncan Painter, CEO of Ascential, commented: “Ascential enables its customers to win in the digital economy. WARC is an important step forward as we continue to grow our digital offering, adding breadth and depth to our marketing proposition.

“Alongside Cannes Lions’ The Work, our recent digital product launch, we will now have a digital subscription product of scale encompassing both creative excellence and marketing effectiveness.”

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