Ipsos to invest around £3m in Big Sofa

AIM-listed Big Sofa said on Friday that market research organisation Ipsos has agreed to invest around £3m in the company by way of a subscription for 16.4m ordinary shares at 18.5p each.

The subscription price represents a premium of around 45% to Thursday’s closing mid-market share price.

The company said the investment will enable it to enhance its sales and marketing functions, particularly within the US, to take advantage of the "considerable" revenue-generating opportunities it sees ahead of it, "as brands and research agencies increasingly recognise the value of incorporating video analysis into their consumer research strategies".

It will also allow the group to accelerate further investment in its video analytics platform and technology infrastructure, resulting in a more scalable platform, as the pipeline of prospective work increases, but a longer lead time to operational breakeven.

Thanks to the investment, Big Sofa will also accelerate development of new kinds of analysis that link consumer context and behaviour, driving greater value for clients, either directly or as part of their knowledge management systems.

Chief executive Simon Lidington said: "We are extremely proud that Ipsos has chosen to invest in the considerable potential of Big Sofa's technology to be applied both within their industry and potentially in wider areas. Following our collaboration on a large number of projects, Ipsos has seen first-hand the value that Big Sofa's video observation and analytics technology already delivers to clients.

"Their Investment is intended to help Big Sofa develop faster as an innovative technology business and enable us to add additional capacity to take advantage of the opportunities to accelerate our rate of revenue growth."

At 0950 GMT, the shares were up 12.4% to 14.33p.