In early 2008, Results International conducted a European panel survey across 40 senior executives at leading marketing communications and digitalfirms concerned with corporate development prospects for industry mergers and acquisitions.
The 40 panellists were selected across five markets in Europe: Germany,UK, France, Spain and Ireland. The sample was made up of buyers and sellers as well as Results International consultants.
The key findings are as follows:
- Creating an international presence is the leading motive for M&A activity, followed by securing additional skills/services and achieving critical mass.
- When making an M&A decision,critical issues include prospects for growth, business fit, personal chemistry and client needs.
- Growth sectors: both online advertising and mobile marketing represent the highest growth rate expectation for 2008.
- The fastest growing area of online marketing is search, followed by email and viral marketing.
- When to act: panellists think both buyers and sellers should act now.
- For the first time the market is seeing a reduction in banks’ willingness to make funds available for M&A. This strongly suggests that the credit crunch is already seriously affecting liquidity in the market.
To download a copy of the survey please click here
