Brave Bison (AIM:BBSN), the digital media and marketing group, has snapped up SEO agency Builtvisible in a move that shows it’s getting serious about search - and M&A.
It’s the second deal of the year for the AIM-listed group, signalling that while big-ticket tech dealmaking remains sluggish, smaller players with cash and confidence are starting to make moves
The £3.5 million price tag, including a modest £1.5 million upfront, suggests Brave Bison picked up Builtvisible for less than 1x revenue, which is cheap by industry standards.
Founded in 2009, Builtvisible brings 35 staff and a tidy client list that includes Specsavers and Icelandair. Last year, it delivered £4.1 million in revenue and £300,000 in adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation.
While those margins are thin, Brave Bison isn’t buying Builtvisible for a quick profit. The aim here is to bulk up its performance marketing arm, particularly in SEO, a corner of the digital ad market that keeps proving its staying power.
Search Engine Optimisation may not be as flashy as TikTok ads or influencer deals, but it’s where a big chunk of marketing spend still goes.
Brave Bison already plays in this space, but the Builtvisible buy gives it more depth and more blue-chip relationships to work with.
Cavendish, the broker, expects the deal to be earnings-enhancing in short order and sees no need to tweak forecasts yet.
It highlights the valuation gap too: Brave Bison trades on just 5.9x expected FY25 enterprise value to adjusted EBIT, versus a sector average of 11.2x. That discount may not last long if the company keeps stringing deals together and proving it can integrate them.
Momentum, it seems, is starting to build - quietly but visibly.