This video was taken from the recent ICCO event ‘Merger and Acquisition Trends for PR’.

If you would like to view the full event, please click here.

“So the thing about the recent events, the things like the pandemic, I think, that has accelerated this process in some way. And so there is, you know, more need for that and particular demand at the moment – agencies in demand, you’ve got digital agencies are always in demand, data businesses are in demand, consultancies of all types and also geographically speaking quality and perhaps that’s caused by Brexit in the UK but the US is a very popular market for agencies.” – David Blois, Managing Partner at M&A Advisory.

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Eaton Square is pleased to announce its continued growth in the United Kingdom with the addition of the firm M&A Advisory.

M&A Advisory is a leading London-based mergers and acquisition services firm that specialises in the global marketing communications, marketing technology (martech) and digital sectors.

The addition of M&A Advisory is an important move for Eaton Square as it continues to grow our reach in the UK and Europe and deepens our capability in the global marketing and digital services sector.

M&A Advisory is led by David Blois and Michelle Underwood.

David Blois has over 20 years’ experience in global M&A. After several financial and business management positions in the UK and overseas, he became part of the Plc. Corporate Finance team at Reed Elsevier. David then joined Saatchi & Saatchi as Commercial Director, Eastern Europe. Prior to establishing M&A Advisory ten years ago, David completed UK and international transactions as Regional Director of Results International, a London-based advisory firm.

Michelle Underwood is a former Morgan Stanley Executive Director and independent consultant. She has over 20 years’ experience in global financial markets. Michelle specialises in the marketing communications, martech and media sectors. She leads a team of 7 people at M&A Advisory.

With this alignment, Eaton Square clients will gain wider access to opportunities in the UK as well as opportunities in digital marketing, marketing technology and media sectors. This is an important milestone for Eaton Square as we continue to grow our cross-border capabilities linking clients in Asia-Pacific, US and Europe.

“I am excited to welcome David, Michelle, and the M&A Advisory team to Eaton Square. Eaton Square has a long history of helping digital transformation agencies and IT Services firms with mergers and acquisitions, and the addition of M&A Advisory takes this capability to a whole new level. With London being a key hub in the global marketing communications sector, we know this stronger presence will help our clients in Asia-Pacific and the US to grow in Europe,” Reece Adnams, Eaton Square CEO.

“We are delighted to join Eaton Square. There has always been a strong international component to our work, and now we can plug into a truly global firm. This will be of great value to our clients,” David Blois Managing Partner, M&A Advisory.

“I am excited to be joining such a dynamic group of like-minded professionals with expert knowledge in both M&A and fund raising around the world. Being part of Eaton Square gives us truly global reach as well as a platform to share our deal knowledge of the marketing communications and Martech sectors,” Michelle Underwood, Director, M&A Advisory.

Eaton Square is a cross-border M&A and capital services firm with 22 offices across the US, Canada, China & Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Spain, Switzerland, Singapore and Malaysia.

If you’re interested to speak with our marketing team in London, please contact the following individuals:

• David Blois – david.blois@eatonsq.com
• Michelle Underwood – michelle.underwood@eatonsq.com
• Reece Adnams – reece.adnams@eatonsq.com

Clearly, we are approaching another challenging time with the potential for another lockdown, and the winding down of furlough, which could result in a spate of redundancies and much lower economic activity. However, we are currently seeing a fairly buoyant M&A market in our marketing communications, Martech and media niche. Some particular attributes of the current market are as follows:

Business performance is not generally as bad as feared…

Agencies we have spoken to are generally around 20% to 50% down on revenue for the Covid period. Many have managed to reduce their cost base to retain profitability, though not always at the same level as prior to Covid. When you mix in strong results pre-Covid, or a stronger recovery post Covid, their overall financial results are looking broadly acceptable. It is interesting to note that the types of business that have suffered the least during Covid relates more to luck than skilled management. We have seen some excellently managed business suffer because they have a client concentration in some of the more vulnerable sectors such as travel, leisure and events. However, the stronger businesses have been able to innovate and win new business quickly. Some businesses, particularly those in Martech have continued to grow throughout the period. Somewhat surprisingly, ‘hospital cases’ in need of an urgent sale, are less common. Those badly affected have often chosen to re-build rather than sell.

M&A market is looking reasonably buoyant…

We work in an industry that needs to constantly evolve around the needs of its clients. A significant change like Covid provides additional challenges for clients which will need new tools to overcome them. This has increased the demand for data, CRM and CRO businesses, as buyers continue to look for such opportunities to enhance their businesses. In addition, private equity buyers are continuing to search out fast growing businesses. Deals have continued to be completed during the lockdown period and all at good pre-lockdown multiples.

New buyers emerging…

The lockdown period has had many business, particularly stronger ones, taking the opportunity to reflect on their future strategy. We have seen new buy and build groups emerging who are hungry for acquisitions. These range from well-financed listed groups through to smaller businesses who have reached the stage where acquiring a new skill set, technology or geography, in order to wrap themselves more closely around their clients, makes strong commercial sense. Poor availability of finance has hampered some businesses from implementing this strategy, but this is slowly improving.

Shortage of sellers…

Many potential sellers of largely unaffected businesses are holding back before coming to the market for fear they will be considered as desperate sellers and marked down accordingly. Serious trade and private equity buyers however know quality businesses when they see them and are continuing to pay good prices.

Buyers giving credit for post recovery performance…

During normal market conditions when a seller hits a rocky period, a buyer would expect to see the seller have a clean year end post recovery, plus the achievement of a significant part of their next forecast, before entering into a transaction. Clearly, post lockdown many businesses are in the same boat, so buyers are tending to give credit where sellers are starting to achieve pre-lockdown revenues on a monthly basis.

If you have been considering a sale and your business works in areas not too affected by the current crisis, then this might just be a good time to start the process.

David Blois

Managing Partner

M&A Advisory

www.mandaadvisory.com

Based in Central London, M&A Advisory are advisors to the global Marketing Communications and Martech sectors.

Originally published by BBP Media.

While there are many elements that contribute towards a successful and long-lasting transaction, I often look for three basic elements when I am introducing two parties. These are:

1. Chemistry – strong personal chemistry between the two parties when they meet for the first time. If they can’t get along now, it is unlikely they will be able to work effectively together under the strains of a commercial relationship.
2. Culture – the two businesses should have a compatible culture. This is often defined in different ways, but simply put you could say ‘it’s the way we do things around here’.
3. Proposition – the two businesses together should be able to create a powerful business proposition post-deal. A lot of time is dedicated to working out what this might be.

The embedded video I hope illustrates some of the above points.

How about selling an advertising agency? What if you have a business that is driven by strong personal relationships and the creative juices of the founder/principal? How would you sell a business like that? This is what David Blois and I discuss this week when we talk about his M&A firm.

The Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) has announced M&A Advisory as its exclusive Mergers and Acquisitions Partner.
 
M&A Advisory will work closely with PRCA members who are looking to maximise shareholder value, merge with like-minded consultancies or be acquired by larger marketing service groups.
 
David Blois, Managing Partner, M&A Advisory.
 
“We are delighted to be appointed as the PRCA’s exclusive Mergers & Acquisitions Partner.  In these challenging times we look forward to providing members with best advice and optimal outcomes.”

PRCA Director General Francis Ingham MPRCA, said:
 
“It is our great pleasure to announce M&A Advisory as our exclusive M&A Partner. This is a crucial time for many of our members, who need the best possible advice for their future courses of action. M&A Advisory will provide precisely that advice, helping members navigate the tricky merger and acquisition process.”
 
If you would like further information or a confidential discussion please contact David Blois or Michelle Underwood on +44 (0)207 680 9849  davidb@mandadvisory.com or michelleu@mandaadvisory.com.

Young entrepreneur, James Morgenstern sells his agency, Ideal Insight to global group MMR. This is the story behind the deal…

If fighting Covid 19 is a war, must we adopt first world war tactics to defeat it?

There is an increasing debate in the press over whether the response to Covid 19 has been over the top due to the subject being over hyped in the media. I have no wish to join this debate as I am not an expert, but in my job at M&A Advisory I am seeing many excellent businesses suffering and being damaged due to the current lockdown and this will certainly have a knock on effect on the wider economy at a later stage.

The current lockdown is a very blunt instrument and reminds me of trench warfare in the great war and all the senseless damage that it inflicted.

The creative industries in which I work are adept at solving business problems using creative thinking through working alongside experts in the relevant field rather than being experts themselves. The current battle with Covid 19 appears to be only run by experts who don’t have the creative thinking skills.

Perhaps the creative industries can find ways to free up some of our people and businesses so they might live to fight another day. Doing a number of small things can make a big difference overall. Perhaps some examples but not an exhaustive list might be:

• Allow younger people who are not living with at-risk people to return to work. Many would-be given the welcome opportunity for greater responsibility and reward.
• Allow people who have had COVID 19 and no longer infectious back into work.
• Open garden centres and other such businesses, but at the same time respecting social distancing.
• Consider opening pubs and restaurants with capacity based on square footage to respect social distancing. There also some excellent remote ordering apps that can remove the need for waiting staff to come into contact with customers. https://www.wi-qtechnologies.com/
• Open takeaway restaurants subject to social distancing.
• Consider opening up small areas of the country not affected by the virus, so that they can operate normally with restrictions on access. At first, there may only be small areas such as villages, but it will grow.

Feel free to make suggestions of your own, but I am sure that the creative industries have a role to play here. YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU!