Digital content company snapped up by listed firm

The Panoply Holdings, a technology services company, has acquired Leeds-based iDisrupted – trading as D/SRUPTION – for an initial consideration of £50,000 in shares.

D/SRUPTION, which is based in Platform in the city centre, is an established thought-leader with over 17,500 subscribers, including representatives from 88 of the FTSE100, numerous Government departments, Fortune 500 companies and other large organisations. The total consideration payable by The Panoply in respect of the acquisition is capped at a maximum of £3.6m.

Listed firm The Panoply Holdings said the deal provided the firm with a platform for its companies to increase awareness of the Group’s capabilities amongst digital transformation decision-makers in large organisations. “It also provides the opportunity to turn Group marketing into a profit rather than a cost centre,” The Panoply added. 

The firm said: “The Panoply has acquired D/SRUPTION to support expansion and further development as a business and with the intention for it to become a key marketing platform for its Group companies. Through its magazine, newsletter, research papers and events, D/SRUPTION currently reaches the senior management within many large organisations involved in digital transformation.

“Going forward, Group companies will be able to leverage content, sponsorship and advertising opportunities at limited or no cost. In order to preserve integrity and to maintain the high level of quality content it currently creates, D/SRUPTION will retain editorial independence.”

Neal Gandhi, Chief Executive Officer of The Panoply said: “One of the key reasons that companies join The Panoply is our ability to provide them with a marketing platform that smaller services companies are not typically able to create for themselves, driving further growth. Our plan has always been to build a content platform for our Group companies to leverage. The creation of that platform along with a subscriber base of a similar size to D/SRUPTION’s would have taken many years and cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. By acquiring D/SRUPTION, we have made that platform immediately available and saved a considerable amount of money.”

 Rob Prevett, Chief Executive Officer of D/SRUPTION said: “We have spent close to four years building D/SRUPTION to where it is today and are pleased to have a subscriber base that offers unparalleled access to digital disruption decision-makers in large organisations. We look forward to working with The Panoply to expose that base to Group companies, significantly increasing their awareness amongst this traditionally hard to reach group. We’ve long held an ambition to expand our proposition both in the UK and Europe and The Panoply provides us with the platform to fulfil that goal.”

The initial consideration for the Acquisition is £50,000 and will be satisfied through the issue of 57,142 ordinary shares in the Panoply at a price of 87.5 pence per share. The sellers of D/SRUPTION may be entitled to receive deferred earn-out consideration based on the performance of the business during the four financial years from 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2023. Any such shares will be issued over a 24 month period following the determination of the accounts in respect of the relevant financial period and will be issued at the higher of 87.5 pence per ordinary share and the 30 day VWAP prior to the issue of such earn-out shares.

The total consideration payable by The Panoply in respect of the Acquisition is capped at a maximum of £3.6m.

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