Time Out Group buys event booking app YPlan

AIM-listed magazine publisher Time Out Group has bought YPlan, a mobile-first events discovery and booking app, payable in shares worth £1.6m.

In combination with Time Out's curated content, the app will let allow the company's 137m monthly global audience discover, book and share what the world's cities have to offer.

The acquisition will be payable with 1.16m shares with a value of £1.6m based on a share price of £1.393, to be admitted on AIM on 26 October.

A deferred issue of shares worth up to £800,000 is payable 12 months after completion

When Time Out floated in June, the company said it wanted to invest in technology and products to grow e-commerce and expand its team of engineers, and the acquisition is in line with this strategy.

YPlan has invested in the development of an e-commerce platform and associated software for the events industry as well as in customer acquisition marketing, which resulted in the company generating, in the year to 31 December 2015, a pre-tax loss of £6.2m, with subsequent cost base reductions which have materially reduced losses in the current year.

The company said the transaction is expected to be “mildly dilutive to Time Out's earnings in the current financial year and broadly neutral in 2017”.

Julio Bruno, Time Out Group chief executive, said: "Developing e-commerce and monetising our audience is an important element of our ambitious growth strategy. We acquired YPlan because its advanced technology will significantly accelerate this strategy. It will enable us to offer our large audience more online booking opportunities, whilst improving the user experience.

“We look forward to welcoming the highly skilled YPlan employees to the Time Out team. Together we will be stronger than ever to bring our customers the capabilities to make the most of the city and to make Time Out an even better place to discover, book and share."

The company has also recently set up a market in Lisbon and is also due to open a market in Shoreditch, east London.

Shares in Time Out Group were down 0.71% to 140p at 0941 BST.