Bob Bond, chief executive of investment business e-quisitor, has picked up Broadnet, a scheduling software business, in a purchase that offers potential synergies with its other acquisition, Florida-based TVI. William Davidson reports.

E-quisitor (EQI) was spun out of Gartland Whalley Barker back in May 2000, with the intention of taking controlling stakes in profitable 'information oriented' businesses. Its first move was to pick up TVI, a Florida-based media production company, with plans to move into the area of broadband communications.

Today the group announced it is buying Broadnet, which develops scheduling software for commercial radio stations. The purchase should prove earnings enhancing as Broadnet is currently trading profitably, turning in a pre-tax profit of £257,000 in the year to June. The initial consideration will be £1.05 million in e-quisitor shares, with £700,000 of guaranteed loan notes and £227,000 in cash. Further payments of up to £2.5 million will be payable over the next three years if Broadnet meets performance targets. 'We like to make sure that the managers of the business have their interests aligned as closely as possible with those of the shareholders', said Bond, who previously worked for Oracle.

According to Bond, the acquisition offers e-quisitor the chance to 'address the opportunities presented by digital radio, whilst at the same time generating recurring revenue from its core analogue radio customers. It fits our acquisition criteria perfectly, with existing profits as well as major opportunities from digital radio customers'.

The software that Broadnet supplies helps radio stations organise their advertising slots as efficiently as possible. With stations having around 100,000 advertising spots per year, the station has to schedule the adverts as carefully as possible. The software is currently rented out on a standing order basis to around 140 of the 250 commercial radio stations in the UK, generating a revenue of around £600,000 per annum. Bond says this number is expected to continue to rise in the analogue market, but the real growth is expected from the digital radio stations.

Bond hinted that there might be other acquisitions in the offing, perhaps in the related field of advanced database management in the US. 'We hope to have one completed in the next two or three months', he added.

Today, e-quisitor shares were unchanged at 185p, capitalising the business at £8.24 million. With Gartland Whalley Barker still holding 90 per cent of the shares, trading in e-quisitor is somewhat thin.