Grafenia buys Image Everything for up to £3m

AIM-listed Grafenia has bought large format sign manufacturer and exhibition contractor Image Everything for a total consideration of up to £3m.

The vendors - Neil Cousins, John Fitzgerald and David Brunt - will remain with the group, leading the team and further developing the business as part of Grafenia.

The initial consideration, paid on completion, comprises cash of £1.15m, together with vendor loan notes of £1.25m. A further £0.6m is payable contingent upon the achievement of certain targets relating to the future financial performance of Image and Grafenia said the acquisition is cash flow generative and is expected to be earnings enhancing once fully integrated.

Based in Manchester and founded in 1998, Image Everything currently has 41 employees. It provides clients with merchandising, retail graphics, site branding, signage, promotional advertising and exhibition solutions. In the year ended 31 May 2016, it delivered revenue of £4.81m, a pre-tax profit of £0.43m, and closing net assets of £0.23m.

Grafenia said: "The acquisition of Image, given its size, is a significant further step in our sign roll-up strategy. It enables us to scale our business more quickly.

"Image provides a complementary range of products to those we already make. The acquisition adds additional manufacturing facilities and capability. There's limited overlap and the acquisition will provide cross-selling opportunities for the enlarged group. Our aim is to reliably deliver more of what clients need, from within our supply chain."

At 1240 BST, the shares were up 6.4% to 7.45p.