Advertising and marketing group Adventis is to shell out up to £10.5 million on the purchase of technology marketing agency Second2.

Founded in 2001 by James Collis and Matt Rippon, Oxfordshire-based Second2 generated a £593,000 profit from £2.6 million turnover in the eight months to February this year. Adventis is paying an initial £3.65 million, mainly in cash and bulked out with loan notes and new shares, but will increase this as the acquisition continues to grow profits.

Adventis chief executive Charles Phillpot believes the addition of Second2, which has built a client list including Toshiba, Hitachi, Microsoft and TalkTalk, will enhance earnings and increase group margins. He believes that technology is a sector that will complement Adventis’ existing expertise in the areas of healthcare, financial services and property.

‘Some time ago we identified technology as a sector that had the same opportunities and attributes as our existing business sectors and would therefore be earnings-enhancing whilst enabling us to maintain our high margins,’ he said.

Indeed, house broker Arbuthnot has called the deal ‘very significant’ and has lifted its profit forecasts for the current year from £2.6 million to £3 million and earnings from 4.3p to 4.7p.

Shares in Adventis, which joined AIM in 2004 at 28.5p, hit a high of 71.5p last year but have staggered down to below their float price. They rose 5.88 per cent to 27p on the news today.

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