Ascential buys digital subscription business WARC for £24m

Specialist information company Ascential has announced the acquisition of global digital subscription business WARC for up to £24m.

The price comprises an initial cash consideration of £19.5m and deferred consideration of £4.5m payable in 2019 and the acquisition - which will be funded from cash reserves and existing borrowing facilities - is expected to enhance Ascential's earnings per share in the current financial year

Ascential said the business strengthens its digital product offering in the marketing discipline to span both "creative excellence and marketing effectiveness". It plans to combine WARC with Cannes Lions' The Work, to form a digital subscription product of scale.

With 90 employees in offices in London, Washington and Singapore and around 1,200 customers globally, WARC helps brands, agencies and media platforms assess marketing effectiveness across all channels.

In the year to the end of March 2018, the company generated unaudited revenue of £10.8m and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation of £2.2m.

Chief executive officer Duncan Painter said: "Ascential enables its customers to win in the digital economy. WARC is an important step forward as we continue to grow our digital offering, adding breadth and depth to our marketing proposition. Alongside Cannes Lions' The Work, our recent digital product launch, we will now have a digital subscription product of scale encompassing both creative excellence and marketing effectiveness."