Ascential says Hudson sale ongoing with 'multiple parties'

B2B events and media group Ascential has said that the sale of its loss-making Hudson division is still ongoing despite earlier expectations that it would be wrapped up in the second quarter.

The company said the sale process is still underway with "multiple parties" but would provide a further update at or before its half-year results in September.

SaaS media buying and media accounting solutions business Hudson announced last October that it was putting itself up for sale. Ascential had been a minority investor in Hudson since 2018 but entered into an agreement last year with creditors and majority stakeholders MT II Holdings that could increase its ownership from 36.5% to 79% in the future.

In October, the company confirmed that Omnicom was participating in the sale process, though it was unclear what role the media giant would play in any potential transaction.

At its full-year results in March, Ascential reported that discontinued operations – of which Hudson is a part – made a loss of £195.5m combined, with Hudson seeing a fair value loss of £116.7m.

Ascential shares were up 0.7% at 344.5p in early deals on Monday.