Dods acquires Meritgroup in £22.4m deal

Events and publishing outfit Dods Group has acquired data services and software code provider Meritgroup for £22.4m on a debt-free basis.

Dods snapped up the London-based business on Tuesday for a mixture of cash and new ordinary shares.

In order to cover the cash portion of the consideration, Dods also announced it was in the process of concluding an equity fundraising.

As part of the fundraising, the AIM-listed company expects to provide an open offer to enable existing shareholders the opportunity to participate. It also proposed to enter into a new debt facility to part fund the acquisition.

Dods said the acquisition will be "transformational" for the group and will enable it, among other things, to diversify its service offering into faster growing, higher margin activities.

Merit achieved compound annual growth of over 20% across the last three years and has been profitable for the past seven years. In the financial year ended 31 December, the business generated revenues of approximately £9.2m, adjusted underlying earnings of around £1.9m and a pre-tax profit of roughly £1.2m.

At 0935 BST, Dods shares were up 10% at 8.25p.