Next Fifteen Buys Brand Consultancy Morar

UK-based digital communications group Next Fifteen has acquired a 75% stake in London-based brand performance researcher Morar, for up to £1.8m in cash.

Morar has offices in London, Zurich and Melbourne, and was founded in 2005 by Roger Perowne and Alistair Cunningham, both of whom will remain with the business. The firm employs researchers, consultants, strategists and software developers.

Next Fifteen will pay £1.35m initially, and expects to add around £0.45m in February 2015 dependent on profits for the year ending 31st January. It will then make further cash and/or share payments dependent on Morar's performance for the financial years to January 2017 and 2018. In 2020, it plans to acquire the remaining 25% of the company, with price based again on performance.

Morar's turnover in the first nine months of its current financial year was c.£1.3m, and normalised profit before tax c.£0.5m; and the acquisition is expected to be immediately earnings enhancing for Next Fifteen.

The move caps a year of research buys for Next Fifteen, which in February snapped up Hampshire, UK-based B2B intelligence provider Continuous Insight (CI), and upped its stake in digital marketing consultancy Agent3 Ltd beyond 50 percent. CEO Tim Dyson comments: 'Morar's approach of combining high level consulting and technology fits with our digital strategy and extends our commitment to the insight and analytics area of marketing.' Perowne, who is CEO of Morar, says of the sale: 'We've been looking for an entrepreneurial partner to help us take Morar forward and in Next 15 have found the people, brands and strategy that fit our ambitions perfectly.'

Web sites: www.morarconsulting.com and www.next15.com .