Acquisitive sports management group First Artist is paying £3.75 million for two acquisitions in football and entertainment management.

Recovery spec First Artist is paying £1.75 million cash to fellow AIM counter, sports marketing group Formation, for its ProActive Scandinavia division, with £100,000 of the total payable after one year. The deal involves a £250,000 payment to Karsten Aabrink, managing director of Copenhagen-based ProActive Scandinavia, which made £200,000 net in the year to last August but lost £200,000 in the nine months to May this year.

First Artist, chaired by colourful ex-boxing promoter Jarvis Astaire and run by chief executive Jon Smith, argues that the ProActive deal means the company now has a presence in 'all the key European football regions', with Aabrink staying on. Today's second acquisition, the £1.75 million shares-and-cash purchase of NCI Management, is intended to fill another gap, giving 'critical mass to First Artist's own expanding organically-grown entertainment division'.

As pointed out here in February, Smith has been keen to take First Artist into TV programme making. The company now claims NCI will bring it 'further TV/media personality clientele and the ability to produce and manage the content of our own programming'.

First Artist has also announced a turnaround in the six months to April from £312,000 losses to a £67,000 pre-tax profit on turnover soaring from £1 million to £4.5 million. This was helped by contributions from earlier acquisitions, ABG Financial Management and The Finishing Touch. The company ended the half year with £292,000 cash and net debt of £1.48 million.

Floated at 50p in December 2001, First Artist's shares plummeted to 2.37p in 2003 under previous management. They have climbed up to 7.38p and could rally further if these deals pay off.

Shares in Formation, a volatile and recently strong performer, were 0.25p up this morning at 13p. Texas Holdings has sub-10 per cent stakes in both companies.

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