Latitude completes deal to accelerate growth
- January 12, 2010
- by Alex Hoye
Latitude, a leading digital marketing services group, has announced a fundraising of additional capital to accelerate the growth of the business. The deal, backed by the existing major shareholder private equity firm Vitruvian Partners, will see the management team increase their stake in the business.
Latitude manages campaigns in 157 countries from offices in London and Warrington with over 90 staff. The company was recognised as the fifth largest company on the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 in September 2009.
2009 also saw Latitude form a key partnership with BT, launch an accredited conversion analytics division and expand its display, affiliate and social media offerings in addition to its established leadership in pay per click and search engine optimisation services.
The MBO will see new investment from the management team and Vitruvian Partners and will enable continued growth of the company’s full service digital marketing offering.
Commenting on the deal Alex Hoye, chief executive officer of Latitude Digital Marketing said: “This deal secures Latitude’s ability to innovate and grow in a disruptive market. Marketing spend online surpassed TV for the first time in the UK this year – advertisers’ continued shift of expenditure to digital services provides growth opportunities for firms like Latitude in any economic environment. We share a vision with our investors on how to take the business forward, building on investments we have made in 2009.”
Commenting on the investment Ian Riley from Vitruvian Partners said; “The marketing services sector has had a difficult time in the last 12 months. However, Latitude is a market leader and innovator with a talented management team. Vitruvian remains supportive of Latitude’s strategy.”
2 Comments
DIGITAL MARKETING MATTERS
Alex Hoye
In response to some queries regarding this news, I want to confirm a few things ? in short, we are not only ?business as usual?, but bolstered with new investment from investors and management:
- Latitude as a brand and team is healthy, growing and it?s business as usual in the agency after the MBO
- We have invested in diversifying our business into a full service digital marketing agency in 2009 and are on a growth curve as we enter 2010
- Our employees, suppliers and clients all remain the same and we look forward to continued good service and innovation
- We expect to increase headcount by 15-20% this year if we just keep our current trends ? but we intend to exceed current trends
- While the historical company structure went through an administration process, all of the assets with which we serve our clients continues ? with increased investment capability ? as Latitude Digital Marketing Ltd