Acquisition of Epiphany set to create significant player in marketing sector

THE chief executive of Yorkshire marketing and consulting business Jaywing has big plans in the pipeline following the multi-million pound deal to acquire Epiphany.

The £18m acquisition announced yesterday, saw Jaywing which employs 270 of its 600 staff in Yorkshire, buy search specialist Epiphany Solutions.

Jaywing chief executive Martin Boddy, says this deal is a big statement of its intent to re-invent the business.

“Two plus two equals five with this deal – there is very much an opportunity to create something new in the market and really create something different,” he said.

“This acquisition has created a very significant marketing business. Both Jaywing and Epiphany were already on a good growth curve, so putting the two together will create additional opportunities.

“It is really important for Yorkshire that we have successful marketing agencies of this scale.”

Jaywing, which is headquartered in Sheffield and has offices in Newbury, Ipswich and Swindon, has been built through the acquisition of various different firms since 2007.

Jaywing said the acquisition of Epiphany – which 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 –  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”.

Boddy said: “We want to reinvent the business by marrying data science with data marketing across a number of different channels. When you look at how much data there is around in the whole marketing mix, it has grown exponentially. Marketing has become far more complex than it ever was and there are so many more skill sets required. But we have now got the capability across the skill sets.

“Ephinany gives us the access to data to really innovate and create that extra nugget of insight.”

Jaywing disposed of Tryzens, its ecommerce business and part of its Consulting division, for £6m in October last year, with a view to undertake a strategically important acquisition.

Epiphany, which has offices in Leeds and London, 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. It 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. 
 
Boddy added: “We now have a London base again, as well as a strong Northern presence.  The key thing is that Epiphany is very well respected in what they do. The chemistry is right between our key people and Epiphany’s key people and we share a common view of the future and how we can succeed. There is also little overlap of clients between Jaywing and Epiphany, so there is a real opportunity to generate a lot of business.”

“I am absolutely delighted we have completed this deal.”
 
Following the acquisition of Epiphany, Jaywing will now comprise an Agency division and a Media and Analysis division.

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