Marketing group sells struggling businesses

Marketing services group St Ives has sold its marketing activation businesses in a £6m deal as part of its strategy of focusing on core activities.

SelmerBridge has bought SP Group in Redditch, Flintshire-based field marketing agency Tactical Solutions UK and Flare, and visual animation business Service Graphics.

St Ives has sought to move away “from the commoditised sectors of the print market”, with competition and cost pressures producing challenging trading conditions in recent years.

The division lost £4.4m in its 2017 financial year on revenues of £106.3m. It provides point of sale, large format printing services, field sales and marketing services to a largely UK customer base.

Matt Armitage, chief executive of St Ives, said: “Having taken considerable action over the past year to stabilise the performance of the division, we are pleased to complete the sale as part of a planned disposal process.

“The sale is in line with the board’s stated strategy of focusing on the group’s core businesses, in particular those within its higher growth, higher margin Strategic Marketing segment.”

St Ives’ marketing activation segment will now just be its print management business, St Ives Management Services.