UTV buys Tibus for £5m

UTV said yesterday that it had paid £5 million (€6.73 million) to acquire Tibus, an all-Ireland web development company, from Anderson Spratt Group Holdings.

Tibus will be integrated into UTV's new media division, which also includes its residential broadband and phone services.

Tibus provides online services for clients across a range of business sectors and central and local government. Founded in 1996, it employs 30 staff at offices in Belfast and Dublin.

In the six months to the end of June 2007, UTV's new media division recorded a 12 per cent increase in revenue to £5 million while its operating profit rose by 25 per cent to £600,000.

At the time, the company said it had carried out a strategic review that had identified the need to add more content to the business model.

"Our new media division was very much focused on broadband and telephony in the residential area," said Jim Downey, UTV's group commercial director.

"Web development was the area we were weak in and saw development potential for . . . This deals helps us do that."

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times