Jaywing swoops for Yorkshire search marketing agency

MARKETING and consulting business Jaywing has acquired a Yorkshire-based search specialist in a deal worth around £18m.

Jaywing, which has offices in Sheffield and operates mainly in the digital marketing sector, has swooped for Leeds and London-based Epiphany Solutions for an initial consideration of £12m in cash, with an additional £6m available over the next two years.

The acquisition is being funded through the company’s existing cash resources and bank debt.

Epiphany was founded in 2005 by Shane Quigley and Robin Skidmore and is led by Rob Shaw, all of whom will remain employed in the business going forward.
Epiphany specialises in search engine marketing and clients include a range of blue chip companies such as Virgin Holidays, Tesco, AXA Insurance and Pets at Home.

Epiphany has experienced strong growth over the past three years. It reported a pre-tax profit of £1.43m for the 12 months ended January 31 2013 and gross assets of Epiphany at the same date were £2.34m.

Jaywing said the acquisition of Epiphany will strengthen the company’s performance in search marketing and increase its use of “Big Data” science in powering “highly creative multi-channel marketing activities.”

Rob Shaw will continue to head up Epiphany with Robin Skidmore focusing on growing its social public relations proposition, which operates under the Shackleton brand.

Shane Quigley will take on a broader product development role for Jaywing, in addition to retaining responsibility for the fledgling Epiphany Australia business.

Jaywing chief executive Martin Boddy said: “This acquisition is a big statement of our intent to re-invent the business. By focusing on digital opportunities to marry data science with brand, acquisition and customer marketing, we will achieve superior results for our clients and better experiences for their customers. Not only is Epiphany a well run business with good revenue visibility, it is also a great cultural and geographic fit. Most importantly, it provides our unrivalled team of over 50 data scientists with access to the digital data which will fuel our innovation.”

Rob Shaw, group CEO at Epiphany, added: “We’ve always prided ourselves on being the first to innovate in search, and this deal represents the next evolution; connecting Jaywing’s expertise in data science with our heritage in content marketing, global paid search and website optimisation. There are also large client bases to tap into, so all in all this creates a tremendous opportunity for everyone.”

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