Companies: ELE   

At the end of April the group snapped up Incentive Plus Limited and Incentive Publishing Limited, ventures which operate in the education market, an area where Electric Word's information products have gained a strong reputation. £1.9 million was raised in a placing to meet the total cost of the deals.

It followed this deal up less than a week later by purchasing Chris Kington Publishing, a tiny outfit in the teacher resources field of ‘thinking skills and professional development’. The initial upfront asking fee for this business was £137,500, largely financed through a share issue. The deal is something of a related party transaction as Chris Kington is a director of the group, although he will now head Electric’s thriving Public Sector publishing arm.

Of course Electric Word is also strong in health and other public sector areas and has built up an exciting presence in the sports health arena. Indeed, in January the group extended its reach in this particular niche by purchasing SportBusiness Group for £2.74 million.

All three new businesses should make meaningful contributions this year and hopefully enable Electric Word to surpass the profits of £451,000 it made last year to November, on sales of £6.2 million.

Of course, what is probably troubling Turner at present is the question of why his business is only valued at £11.6 million. A re-rating looks likely.