zamano

Mobile data services and technology counter zamano has completed its first acquisition since listing on AIM in October with a £4m funding at 24p.

Managing director John O’Shea has unveiled the acquisition of Eirborne – a fast-growing Irish mobile content company that, like zamano, is burgeoning in the UK, Ireland and Australia – in a deal capped at €8.5m (£5.8m).

Eirborne, whose core business is to provide mobile phone entertainment services such as music, videos and games to over 100,000 subscribers, also provides text and picture messaging services for youth oriented websites such as Bebo, marking an important milestone in the group’s development. ‘It really accelerates our entry in the web space,’ says O’Shea, ‘and the deal will enhance earnings in the first full-year. It’s a low risk acquisition because we know them as we’ve worked with them before.’

zamano, brought to market by Seymour Pierce, operates a ‘hybrid’ business model in the mobile data services market. It runs a B2B business, serving customers wanting to interact and sell mobile services to mobile users while its B2C arm operates the ‘Mobile X’ brand, which is sold directly to phone owners.

By investing in both the B2B and B2C areas, O’Shea says he is able to maximise economies of scale and spread the group’s investment costs over a wider revenue base, helping the company deliver ‘industry leading’ margins.

News of this acquisition comes hot on the heels of maiden full-year figures that smashed City forecasts with pre-tax profits surging ahead by 71% to €2.2m, as sales dialled up by 38% to €13.4m. This represented a fourth successive year of bumper growth for the group, which claims industry leading profit margins.

zamano also boasts a quote on the IEX as ‘there’s a big demand in Ireland for growth stocks, and IEX has allowed growth funds in Ireland to participate’.