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dsicmm Group acquires K2 to extend UK's biggest independent direct communications player
dsicmm Group has announced the acquisition of Manchester-based multimedia communications company K2 Group, which employs 300 staff and has revenues of over £30 million The resulting dsicmm organisation has a turnover in excess of £120 million, employs 1,100 people, and extends its lead as the UK’s largest independently owned direct communications organisation.
The K2 acquisition further reinforces the market leading position of dsicmm, providing a scale of operations unparalleled in the UK. The company extends its existing strengths in key industries such as Financial Services, Investor Relations, Retail, Travel and Leisure and Automotive, while also bringing dsicmm’s extensive portfolio of services to new sectors that include Telecoms, Utilities, Healthcare and Electoral Services. The expanded company helps its clients with innovative direct communications solutions across all media, from traditional printing to complex variable data output, digital print and the use of new media channels such as email and web, including many instances of hybrid solution where physical and digital communications are fully integrated.
Not only does the K2 acquisition add scale and additional services to dsicmm, it also provides the company with a countrywide footprint, with production centres in London and the South East, East Anglia, Tyne & Wear, and now Manchester. The friendly acquisition, in which K2 Managing Director Kevin Illingworth will remain with the group, also marks the fusing of very similar company cultures, led by a solutions mentality which seeks first and foremost to provide clients with real solutions to their current challenges, wherever possible producing a combination of efficiency, reliability and improved customer service levels.
Yolanda Noble, Chief Executive of dsicmm, comments, “This very exciting acquisition marks the latest stage in our growth strategy, initiated some years ago. Back then, we saw the market changing. Demand for integrated media solutions was growing – especially the pairing of internet based and traditional printed communication. High speed, high quality personalised digital print was already on companies’ wish-lists. Transpromotional advertising on bills and statements had just begun. The deregulating postal market was opening up massive opportunities for national and international mail efficiencies and legislative restrictions on consumer communications were focusing minds on existing customer development, in a new balance with the formerly dominant cold prospecting activity.
“Our strategy for growth has firmly concentrated on acquisitions or mergers which bring together organisations with the same attitude to top-notch client service, innovation and client market knowledge; hence the acquisition of K2. The printing market is often presented as one experiencing contraction and consolidation. The direct communications market, however, is enjoying substantial growth, and that is the market in which dsicmm is the leading independent player. As a company that supports 90% of the FTSE top 100, as well as many other dynamic organisations, we need to be constantly coming up with proactive innovations for our clients. That is how we cement our long-held client relationships.”
The Group is in a strong position to take advantage of global integrated print and communication solutions, through its strengths in international mail along with localised production partnerships in key international markets. The Group already has joint ventures in Europe and North America where it holds a license with the US Postal Service.
The internationally recognised, award winning in-house software platform, nexdox, is key to the continuing development of cutting edge applications to meet the emerging demands for multi-channel communications. Both companies have also been recently investing in leading-edge new technology capabilities to provide clients with additional quality and economies.