Deal triggers US debut for Adshel
Britain’s biggest poster company, The More Group, has launched its Adshel brand in the US by buying into a New York-based street furniture advertising company.
The deal, worth over $4.5m (2.8m), means The More Group will have a 12.5 per cent interest in SHF Communications, which will change its name to Adshel.
The move comes a month after More Group Inc, a subsidiary of The More Group, set up an office in New York to pitch for 3,500 New York city bus shelters that come up for tender next year.
It already has 80 per cent of the bus shelter market in Britain and Ireland, as well as ventures in France, Belgium, Taiwan, Singapore and Norway.
Under the terms of the agreement, announced this week, Stephen Feinberg, owner and president of SHF, will remain chief executive.
Roger Parry, group chief executive of The More Group, says: “In addition to enhancing earnings per share, this acquisition constitutes an important foothold in the developing US street furniture market.”
In the year ended December 31, 1995, SHF recorded sales of $2.2m (1.4m) with a pre-tax profit of nearly $330,000 (200,000).
The More Group increased its pre-tax profits by 33 per cent to 6.2m in the first six months of 1996 (MW September 27).
