Rrsat Continues Global Expansion
With the Acquisition of JCA, A
London, UK-Based Company
September 3, 2013
RRsat
Global Communications Network
Ltd. announced the acquisition
of JCA, a London-based provider
of content management services.
This acquisition is fully
aligned with RRsat's growth
strategy of becoming a global
company with local presence in
key locations. The acquisition
is expected to be accretive to
RRsat's earnings within the
first full operational quarter
post acquisition.
"This
acquisition and the formation of
RRsat Europe Ltd. are important
milestones in the implementation
of our strategy to become a
global company with local
presence, closer to our
clients," commented Avi Cohen,
RRsat CEO. "There are two major
aspects to our business: content
management and content
distribution. While the content
distribution aspect involves our
state-of-the-art facilities in
the U.S. and Israel, content
preparation and management
requires a local presence
working closely with our
customers. The addition of JCA's
sophisticated local operation in
London will enable RRsat to
leverage local talent and
provide services specifically
for content preparation and
content management to customers
in Europe. This is an important
asset that will expand our scope
of services and we are confident
that it will enhance our
leadership position in the
market."
"The
effort to expand our local
presence in key markets began
with the acquisition of SM2 in
2012. This gave us an expanded
local presence in the United
States, content management and
distribution of lucrative sports
events, as well as access to
top-tier North American
customers," added Mr. Cohen.
"During 2013, we opened an
office in Moscow, augmenting our
access to customers in Russia
and the Commonwealth of
Independent States. Today, we
are establishing a strong
foothold in Europe, specifically
in London, one of the world's
largest centers for media and
broadcasting. The continued
execution of this strategy will
allow RRsat to expand further,
effectively leveraging our
global distribution
infrastructure."
Strategic benefits of the JCA
acquisition include:
-
A solid business with
impressive track record of
growth, exceeding 400% since
JCA was acquired by TVP
Group in 2004 reaching
revenue of just under $10
million (non-GAAP) during
the last year as well as
gross margins and profit
margins that are
consistently higher than
RRsat's.
-
A talented management
team, with over 30 years of
industry experience, which
strengthens RRsat's senior
management team. JCA's
Managing Directors, Simon
Kay and Nick Pannaman, will
remain with the organization
as Managing Directors of
RRsat Europe Ltd., and will
join RRsat's executive
management team, reporting
directly to RRsat's CEO.
-
A presence in London, a
key strategic market and one
of the premier broadcasting
centers in the world,
providing access to
customers in continental
Europe.
-
A top-tier customer base,
including BBC Worldwide,
Sony DADC, Shine
International, Channel 4,
Classic Media, DRG, Film4 as
well as access to additional
higher tier local
broadcasting customers in
the U.K. and Europe.
-
A broadening of RRsat's
content management
capabilities, including
expanded content preparation
capabilities such as film
restoration, ingest and
transcoding, content
re-versioning, digital
platform distribution and
its bespoke Media Window
providing clients with their
own on-line platform.
RRsat
is acquiring 100% of TVP Group
of which JCA is a wholly owned
subsidiary. In consideration for
the acquisition, RRsat will pay
$9 million in net cash. An
additional payment of $4.5
million will be deferred,
conditional on business results
including revenue growth and
profitability in the three years
following the acquisition.
Management expects the
acquisition to be accretive
during the fourth quarter this
year.
"Once
we complete the integration of
JCA, we plan to increase its
core service and expand its
global customer base and
services," added Mr. Cohen. "Our
existing client base will
benefit from additional
sophisticated content
preparation services. We plan to
take advantage of the
experienced local management
team and their access to top
tier clients in the U.K and
Western Europe and offer RRsat's
complete set of content
management and global
distribution services.
Financially, we expect this
acquisition to improve our
overall profitability."
RRsat
management expects to fund this
acquisition using cash on hand
and through expected operating
cash flow of the acquired
entity.
Simon
Kay, JCA's Managing Director,
stated: "We see that there will
be tremendous benefit from
leveraging RRsat's content
management and distribution
capabilities and we are excited
to offer these sophisticated
services to our clients.
Evolving from being a
stand-alone local company to
being part of a global business
will enable us to offer a
greatly expanded service
portfolio. We are committed to
pursuing this opportunity and
maximizing our capabilities as
part of the RRsat group."
Nick Pannaman, JCA's Managing
Director added: "RRsat is a
proven leader in this rapidly
growing industry, with
state-of-the-art capabilities
and an increasingly global
footprint. We are excited to
become part of
this dynamic organization that
will allow us to respond where
we were unable to in the past.
This move unlocks opportunity
for our customers, our team and
our business as it will allow us
to broaden both our portfolio
and customer base."
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