Informa buy sets rumour mills turning

It’s an unusual marriage. Informa is a traditional publisher of academic, scientific and business books and journals, while Datamonitor provides analysis and forecasts for a range of industry sectors.

Informa managing director David Gilbertson said: “Informa and Datamonitor both provide business customers with information they cannot do without.” He added that Informa expected to make annual savings of £3m from the acquisition.

Datamonitor users were surprised by the high price paid: around 27 times Datamonitor’s annual earnings.

Duncan Chapple, of Lighthouse Analyst Relations , said: “It is an astonishing price, with a 10% premium over the firm’s market capitalisation.”

The price suggests that Informa “has aggressive plans” according to Datamonitor customer Dominic Pannell of Hill & Knowlton’s global analyst relations team. He added: “They have already said the decision was based on revenue-generating possibilities rather than a desire to cut costs.”