Fuse 8 on acquisition hunt

DIGITAL marketing agency Fuse 8 is in “advanced discussions” with a number of potential acquistion targets, according to chief executive Nigel Hunter.

The Leeds-based company is looking to broaden its offer after announcing revenue growth of 8% at the end of its first year as an AIM-listed firm.

Mr Hunter told TheBusinessDesk.com: “We are acquisitive, we have made our stance on that widely known since we came to market.

“We have probably three or four advanced conversations on the go at the moment and in the event they don’t work out we have a second tranche of communication with seven or eight different organisations on the go.

“We will look to build the Fuse 8 organisation. We are not looking to buy random or disperate organisations to buy market share, we are looking for complementary businesses that are well managed and profitable in their own right.”

Mr Hunter said the company was particularly pleased with its headline operating profit margin of 19% which he described as “exceptional”.

“There is not doubt about it, the fact that we have managed to develop and maintain a successful offshore division through our office in Russian with 38 full time Fuse 8 developers plays a significant role in how we can get and maintain those margins,” he said.

Mr Hunter said that while the economy overall was flat Fuse 8 was in a good position to capitalise on the increasing trend for marketeers to want to spend their budgets in the digital arena.

He also said the company’s AIM listing, achieved through a reverse takeover last year, had played a key part in helping to secure clients such as Ikea, McArthurGlen and Unilever.

“We had a very clear aim and that was we wanted to raise our profile. By getting ourselves listed on the market we wanted to be able to demonstrate that in a fragmented market where the bulk of players can have two or three members of staff that we were a well run business and make ourselves open to scrutiny.

“We did that alongside our acquisition in London to secure repeat businesses from international businesses and it has been very successful.”