St Ives acquires Service Graphics

"St Ives plc has acquired the whole of the issued share capital of Service Graphics Limited for an initial consideration of £18 million."

Established in 1961 Service Graphics is the UK’s market leading independent large format graphics producer. It provides a wide range of large format digital print services and offers a fully comprehensive consultancy, manufacturing and installation service to the exhibition, retail, creative, live event and leisure sectors. Particular areas of expertise include the provision of all kinds of display products, modular and custom designed exhibition stands, full service retail solutions and giant media production.

The company has some 400 employees located in offices and production facilities in London, Bristol, Edenbridge, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Hayes (Middlesex), Nottingham, Salisbury, Skelmersdale and Wales giving it extensive UK geographic coverage. Following the acquisition it will continue to be managed by the existing management team as part of the Commercial Products Segment of St Ives under the leadership of Simon Ward.

In the financial year ended 31st December 2005, Service Graphics generated profit before interest, amortisation of goodwill and exceptional items of £1,768,210 on turnover of £36,075,061. At the date of acquisition, assets are expected to be approximately £9 million and it is being acquired on a debt free basis.

Commenting on the announcement, Simon Ward, the Chief Executive of Direct and Point of Sale activities at St Ives, said: “Service Graphics is focused on the delivery of exceptional service and represents a real catch in today’s digital market place. The acquisition significantly extends our digital capabilities and reinforces our strategy of developing further specialist print related services, increasingly through digital technology.”

Announcing the acquisition, Brian Edwards, Managing Director of St Ives, said: “This acquisition represents a further investment in our digital capabilities. Digital technology is at the forefront of our future strategy and we now offer the widest range of digital format printing and related services in the UK.”

Harwood Hutton acted as tax and accounting advisers to Service Graphics during the transaction. Richard Hutton, who led the team, commented: “This deal provides both parties with significant opportunities for growth.”

Mundays acted for Service Graphics during the deal.