Gift cards firm buys into brand engagement
BIRKENHEAD-based prepaid gift card specialist Park Group has acquired corporate employee and customer engagement firm Fisher Moy International for an undisclosed all-cash sum.
The AIM-listed company said FMI is profitable, debt-free and that the acquisition should be modestly earnings enhancing for Park in the first full year of ownership.
The strategic brand engagement consultancy works with blue-chip clients such as Huawei, Close Brothers, Inchcape, Logitech and LV. It specialises in the creation of events, targeted incentive and reward schemes, and helps businesses to communicate more closely with their customers and employees.
Park said the acquisition will further its position as a provider of rewards and incentivisation programmes to the corporate market, while the added scale and track record of Park, coupled with its listed PLC status, will also assist FMI in marketing its services to large corporations.
FMI will initially continue to operate under its existing brand and will remain at its offices in Buckinghamshire, which will also act as an additional geographic presence for Park’s southern corporate sales team.
Chris Houghton, chief executive of Park, said: “This acquisition is in line with our consistent strategy of new product development and enhancement and it will integrate easily into our corporate business. Having worked with FMI as an external provider for over a year to expand our online corporate offering, the synergies between our businesses became apparent and we are pleased to bring their additional capabilities into the Group. FMI also offers us an established presence in the south.
“We will continue to examine other best-fit strategic acquisitions which can benefit our Group offering and remain able to act should future suitable opportunities arise.”
In the year to March 2016 Park delivered an 8.5% increase in profit before tax to £11.9m on billings which were 3.3% higher than the previous year at £385m.
