Marketing agency Mission turns down takeover bid

Digital marketing group Mission today rejected a £27 million takeover bid from Brave Bison, a rival which is backed by former Tory Party deputy chairman Lord Ashcroft.

Brave Bison is offering 29p a share, a bit higher than the 22.7p at which the shares opened today. They rose 4% to 23.5p when trading began.

Mission said in a statement that “following consultation with its financial and legal advisers, unanimously rejected the Possible Offer which it believes to be opportunistic and significantly undervalues the Group and its prospects”.

Mission shares are down 55% over the last year.

Brave Bison is run by the sons of former Carlton TV boss Michael Green. It was previously run by Ashley MacKenzie, the son of former Sun editor Kelvin Mackenzie.

Lord Ashcroft has a 20% stake.

Mission does marketing for clients who include Porsche and Speedo. It said in March it had received “a number” of takeover bids without naming the bidders.

The statement added: “The Possible Offer is earnings dilutive for MISSION's shareholders. Brave Bison anticipate that MISSION's shareholders would enjoy more value from the combination based on a re-rating of the proposed combined group. There is no certainty of a re-rating.”

In the year to December Mission had revenues of £86.3 million and profits of £4.2 million. That contrasts with revenue of £20.9 million for Brave Bison and profit of £3.6 million.

Mission has been in talks with lenders to cut its debts.

Brave Bison is itself in talks with Mission shareholders in an effort to win support for its offer.

It says a tie-up will create one of the UK’s largest independent digital marketing agencies on Aim, a combined group with sales of around £120 million and underlying earnings of about £14 million.

The enlarged group would be headed up by brothers Oliver and Theo Green, executive chairman and chief growth officer of Brave Bison, who took over the company in 2020.

Brave Bison said: “A company of this size, scale and profitability would present a more attractive investment opportunity to institutional shareholders than either standalone company, leading to the possibility of the enlarged Brave Bison trading at a higher multiple of earnings.”