Racing Post aims to boost digital revenue with ICS deal

Racing Post has completed the acquisition of ICS Media Group in a deal it said will help to enhance its service offering and support an ongoing “strategic aim” of increasing digital revenue.

Based in Leeds, England, multimedia content provider and digital marketing agency ICS works with a number of major bookmakers, as well as various publishers, radio stations and mobile networks.

Racing Post said that the purchase will help continue its diversification beyond racing, with plans to utilise ICS’s international content and digital marketing expertise.

ICS’s four directors – Ian Holding, Cheryl Westerman, Matt Roche and Charlotte Green – will continue to run the business on a day-to-day basis.

The agreement comes after Racing Post in May bought a majority stake in sports betting and mobile applications business Apsley Group International. The firm this month also struck up a new partnership with Spanish-facing Orenes Grupo.

Speaking to iGamingBusiness.com about the latest deal, Alan Byrne, chief executive and editor-in-chief at the Racing Post, said the company has identified “many benefits” that ICS will bring to the business.

“We have long admired ICS's work and see this acquisition as a way of broadening the range of services we offer through our business-to-business division,” Byrne said.

“Buying ICS, as well as the recent majority stake acquisition in Apsley, supports one of our strategic aims which is to increase our digital revenues.

“We believe that by acquiring ICS we can deepen the relationships with existing customers by extending the products we can offer them. Adding ICS means we can offer a much broader range of content and services.”

Byrne also said that ICS's “superb digital marketing expertise” will support the growth of Racing Post’s various own platforms and in turn pass this on to its customers.

“Equally, with the support of the Racing Post, ICS can grow and flourish by extending their reach,” Byrne said.

In addition, Byrne said Racing Post is open to further M&A activity and is mulling over various other options.

“We are open to M&A activity where we see benefits to our business,” Byrne said. “We are considering other opportunities, but it will be on a very selective basis.”