Media Corporation plc Acquires Travel Portal Operator Flight Comparison Ltd.
London, England (PRWeb) February 3, 2007 -- The Board of Media Corporation plc ("Media Corp or the "Company") a leading online media group, is pleased to announce the acquisition of Flight Comparison Limited ("Flight Comparison"), a travel portal operator and owner of flight comparison website Flight Comparison.
Flight Comparison, established in 2003, has grown into a profitable operator in the online travel business. Its principal flight comparison site www.flightcomparison.co.uk provides a comprehensive guide to scheduled flights worldwide, highlighting the best deals available. The site provides information for all major airlines including British Airways, American Airlines and Easyjet.
Income is generated through affiliate deals where travel operators and airlines pay Flight Comparison for completed flight bookings and related cost per click search advertising. The Company has top listings in the major search engines for the term "flight comparison" and other relevant search terms related to all of the flights destinations for which the site provides information. The website is built with the consumer in mind, so the flight search has been made simple and quick to use and the results are returned rapidly. The websites owned by Flight Comparison receive around 100,000 unique monthly visitors per month.
The business was founded by Oliver Ragg who has rapidly developed a successful travel portal business. Having graduated from the University of Birmingham with an Honours Degree and PhD in 1994, Oliver has held senior technical roles at both Honeywell Electronics and, more recently, Gold Medal Travel Group prior to establishing Flight Comparison in 2003. Oliver has entered into a three year employment agreement with the Company to continue as Managing Director of Flight Comparison.
The total consideration for the acquisition of the Company is comprised of an initial payment of £270,000 and an earn out consideration equating to 25% of adjusted pre tax profits generated over the three year period ending 30 September 2009. These further payments are capped at a total of £0.5 million.
The Company is also making an additional payment of £205,000 for the fair value of the Company's assets and liabilities, which on acquisition is £215,000, including £175,000 cash.
As further consideration Oliver Ragg has been granted warrants to subscribe for 500,000 shares in Media Corporation plc at a price of 6 pence per share.
In the accounts for the years ended 31 August 2006 and 2005, the Company generated profits before tax of £75,000 and £138,000 respectively. It is an anticipated that based on the current monthly revenues and the benefit of synergies provided by Media Corp that profits before tax for the 2007 financial will show a significant improvement over the 2006 financial year.
Justin Drummond, Chief Executive, Media Corp said,
"Following our recent acquisition of Result Online Limited, a personal finance portal operator, this acquisition is another significant step forward for Media Corp. It fits perfectly with our previously stated strategy of further diversification into the lucrative personal finance and travel markets. We are now effectively three businesses in one - we have significant media ownership with our market leading websites including Creditcardexpert.co.uk, Onthebox.com, and Freedeal.co.uk, a mass market online ad network with a monthly reach of more than 30 Million people and best in class proprietary pay per click search technology. This acquisition further bolsters our media ownership business where we already have a strong foothold in the personal finance, gaming and general interest websites and has strong synergies with our ad network and search business."
"Media Corp now has critical mass and is fast becoming a very significant player in a sector where UK online advertising spend alone reached £2 billion in 2006."*
*Source: Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB)
Oliver Ragg, Managing Director, Flight Comparison said.
"Having built a successful business it is very exciting to be part of a fast growing and substantial Online Media Group that will give me the support I need to take the business to the next level".
"The online travel industry is fast growing and portals like Flight Comparison provide the consumer with useful information and the best deals available. Growth of this industry has been enormous over the past few years and I look forward to making Flight Comparison a substantial business in this exciting sector."
Enquiries:
Media Corporation plc
Justin Drummond, Chief Executive Officer
+44 (0)20 7618 9000
Paul Tuson, Group Finance Director
Canaccord Adams Limited
Mark Ashurst, Managing Director
+44 (0)20 7050 6500
Holborn PR
Trevor Phillips, Managing Director
+44 (0)20 7929 5599
Notes to editors:
Listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, Media Corp, is a leading internet media and advertising Company focused on search, web site publishing and media sales.
The company has three principal divisions:
Search Technology -- The vertical search specialists building sector specific search engines for advertisers to communicate in a highly targeted environment with their particular audience. All of our Search and Media products are powered by our own high performance proprietary technology. www.searchfocus.co.uk.
Publishing -- Media Corp has a diverse publishing division specialising in online media. Our impressive list of websites includes a number of market leading sites including www.creditcardexpert.co.uk, www.onthebox.com, www.freedeal.co.uk.
Media Sales -- Formed in 1996, Eyeconomy specialises in mass reach campaigns to over 30 Million unique consumers via its own proprietary ad-serving and tracking technology for clients including AOL, Dell and American Express. www.eyeconomy.co.uk.
www.mediacorpplc.com
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