Panoply Holdings to buy D/SRUPTION for up to £3.6m

Panoply Holdings said on Monday that it has bought D/SRUPTION, the owner of business magazine iDisrupted, for up to £3.6m.

The initial consideration for the acquisition is £50,000, which will be satisfied through the issue of 57,142 ordinary Panoply shares of 87.5p each. D/SRUPTION may also be entitled to receive a deferred earn-out consideration based on the performance of the business during the four financial years from 1 April 2019 to 31 March 2023. The total consideration is capped at £3.6m.

Panoply said D/SRUPTION has been acquired to support expansion and further development as a business and with the intention for it to become a key marketing platform for its group companies.

It noted that through its magazine, newsletter, research papers and events, D/SRUPTION currently reaches the senior management within many large organisations involved in digital transformation.

"Going forward, group companies will be able to leverage content, sponsorship and advertising opportunities at limited or no cost. In order to preserve integrity and to maintain the high level of quality content it currently creates, D/SRUPTION will retain editorial independence," it said.

Panoply chief executive Neal Gandhi said: "One of the key reasons that companies join The Panoply is our ability to provide them with a marketing platform that smaller services companies are not typically able to create for themselves, driving further growth.

"Our plan has always been to build a content platform for our group companies to leverage. The creation of that platform along with a subscriber base of a similar size to D/SRUPTION's would have taken many years and cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. By acquiring D/SRUPTION, we have made that platform immediately available and saved a considerable amount of money."

At 1605 GMT, Panoply shares were up 12.5% to 98.40p.