News
Gyro Group Secures £3M Funding For Development
11 February 2005 - Gyro Group plc, the integrated brand communications agency, today announced it has secured £3 million to finance a partial management buy-out led by chief executive Gary Brine and to provide capital for growth. Octopus Asset Management arranged and led the deal.
The investment has allowed the group, headquartered in London, to reorganise its shareholding and corporate structures and will provide working capital to support the ongoing growth of the business.
Gyro was founded in 1991 and has established offices in London, Geneva, Stockholm, Amsterdam, New York and San Francisco and has recently opened in Dublin. A Hamburg office will open shortly as a result of increasing levels of business activity in Germany.
The company provides an integrated suite of marketing services including brand strategy, direct marketing, on and off-line advertising, media planning, web marketing and event management. In the year to October 2004, the company had fee income of £12m.
Gyro’s focus is the technology and financial services sectors and it is known for providing innovative solutions for clients which benefit from high returns on investment. Gyro’s clients include Adobe Systems, Sony, Sun Microsystems, Oracle, Iomega, MCI, Deutsche Bank, American Express, Orange and, most recently, it has won Symantec’s business in EMEA.
Gary Brine, CEO of Gyro Group, said: ‘This is a great day for Gyro. The investment by Octopus will allow us to progress our strategy on three fronts
‘Firstly, we will now accelerate our expansion strategy which is based on delivering a ‘one brand network’ to our clients. We will now be able to expand our international footprint far faster than we would otherwise have been able to do. As well as Hamburg we are already looking at opportunities in Paris and Madrid.
‘We will also be making a significant investment in our digital offering, continuing to grow this very important part of our business.
‘Finally, the reorganisation of the shareholding structure means that we can now spread the company’s shares more widely amongst the senior management team which will help us to attract and retain the best quality people.
‘The investment by Octopus has confirmed our belief that our strategy is sound and we are all looking forward to working with Chris Allner and his team as we build Gyro into the largest and most successful independent integrated communications brand.’
Chris Allner, who heads up the unquoted investment team at Octopus, led the deal and will join the Board of Gyro.
He said: ‘This is an excellent quality investment for the Octopus funds. Gyro has an impressive customer base, a highly capable and ambitious management team and the business has a strong track record. It is pre-eminent among its peer group and recent trading performance has been particularly impressive. We believe with this investment, Gary and the team will be able to deliver substantial growth in the UK and internationally to become the international market leader in its field.’