Ascential

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British business media company

title: "Ascential" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["ascential", "informa", "companies-based-in-the-city-of-westminster", "british-companies-established-in-1947", "publishing-companies-established-in-1947", "companies-listed-on-the-london-stock-exchange", "apax-partners-companies", "mass-media-in-peterborough", "companies-based-in-cambridgeshire", "2016-initial-public-offerings", "2024-mergers-and-acquisitions"] description: "British business media company" topic_path: "science/biology" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascential" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary British business media company ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox company"]

FieldValue
nameAscential
logo[[File:Ascential_Logo.svg
typeSubsidiary
foundation
industry
num_employees700 (2024)
revenue£206.4 million (2023)
operating_income£51.5 million (2023)
net_income£5.8 million (2023)
key_peopleScott Forbes (Chairman)
Philip Thomas (CEO)
Mandy Gradden (CFO)
locationLondon, United Kingdom
ownerInforma
homepage
::

| name = Ascential | logo = [[File:Ascential_Logo.svg|frameless|class=skin-invert]] | type = Subsidiary | foundation = | industry = | num_employees = 700 (2024) | revenue = £206.4 million (2023) | operating_income = £51.5 million (2023) | net_income = £5.8 million (2023) | key_people = Scott Forbes (Chairman) Philip Thomas (CEO) Mandy Gradden (CFO) | location = London, United Kingdom | owner = Informa | homepage =

Ascential (formerly EMAP) was a British-headquartered global company, specialising in events, intelligence and advisory services for the marketing and financial technology industries. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was acquired by Informa in October 2024.

History

Richard Winfrey purchased the Spalding Guardian in 1887 and later purchased the Lynn News and the Peterborough Advertiser; he also started the North Cambs Echo. He became a Liberal politician and campaigner for agricultural rights and the papers were used to promote his political views in and around Spalding, Boston, Sleaford and Peterborough. During World War II Winfrey's newspaper interests began to be passed over to his son, Richard Pattinson Winfrey (1902–1985). In 1947, under the direction of 'Pat' Winfrey, the family's newspaper titles were consolidated to form the East Midland Allied Press (EMAP): this was achieved by the merger of the Northamptonshire Printing and Publishing Company, the Peterborough Advertiser Company, the West Norfolk and King's Lynn Newspaper Company and commercial printing sections at Rushden, King's Lynn and Bury St Edmunds.

The magazine division was founded on a hunch when the company's printing presses lay dormant between printing issues of the local papers. The staff gambled that a weekly angling publication would be a hit; in 1953, Angling Times was born. This was soon joined by another weekly heavyweight when EMAP bought Motor Cycle News from its founder in 1956 for £100. In 1992 and 1993, EMAP moved into trade magazines by acquiring titles from Maxwell Communication and Thomson. In 1996, EMAP agreed to sell its 65 newspaper titles, including the 300-year-old Stamford Mercury, to Johnston Press for £111 million.

Scottish Radio Holdings was acquired by EMAP on 21 June 2005. In 2006, EMAP sold its French division to Italy's Arnoldo Mondadori Editore. On 27 July 2007, EMAP announced that it was undertaking a review of the structure of the group in response to receiving a number of unsolicited proposals to purchase parts of the company. On 12 September 2007, EMAP announced that it had completed the disposal of its Australian consumer magazine division, EMAP Australia for approximately £38m to ACP Magazines. On 29 January 2008, EMAP completed the sale of its radio, television and consumer media businesses (EMAP Radio) to German company Bauer for £1.14bn. The remainder of the company was taken over by Eden Bidco Ltd, a company incorporated for the purpose of the acquisition by its owners, the private equity investment group Apax and the Guardian Media Group in late March/early April 2008.

In March 2012, the company announced that it would be renamed Top Right Group, and that its magazines, events and data businesses would be separated into three standalone companies. The EMAP name would continue to be used for the magazines operation, which at the time accounted for around 18 per cent of the group's turnover. The database business was renamed 4C Group, and the events unit was renamed I2i Events Group. Then in October 2015 the company announced that the EMAP brand would be scrapped as all its titles move to digital-only format.

In February 2015, Top Right Group sold Media Business Insight (including Broadcast, Shots and Screen International) to Mobeus Equity Partners and Tenzing PE.

In December 2015, Top Right Group rebranded as Ascential. The company was the subject of an £800m initial public offering in February 2016. The Guardian Media Group sold off its shares of Ascential in 2016 and 2017.

In June 2017, Ascential sold heritage brands (business-to-business titles) to Metropolis International. The transaction included the rights to EMAP name (as EMAP Publishing Ltd).

In July 2024, Informa reached a deal to acquire Ascential for approximately £1.2 billion. The court sanctioned the deal in October 2024, allowing the transaction to proceed to completion.

Acquisitions and sales

2014

  • Money 20/20 - Acquired

2015

  • Retail Net Group - Acquired

2016

  • One Click Retail - Acquired

2017

  • RWM - Sold
  • Clavis Insight - Acquired
  • MEED - Sold
  • 11 heritage brands (EMAP Publishing) - Sold
  • MediaLink - Acquired
  • HSJ - Sold

2018

  • Brand View - Acquired
  • WARC - Acquired
  • Flywheel Digital - Acquired
  • Exhibitions - Sold

2020

  • Glenigan - Sold

2021

  • DeHavilland - Sold{{cite news|url= https://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/news/AN_1613120790535216400/ascential-sells-dehavilland-brand-to-bridgepoint-for-gbp15-million.aspx |title=Ascential Sells DeHavilland Brand To Bridgepoint For GBP15 Million|date=12 February 2021|newspaper=Morning Star|access-date=3 December 2024}}

  • OneSpace - Acquired

  • MediaLink - Sold

2022

  • Intrepid - Acquired
  • Sellics - Acquired{{cite news|url= https://www.inpublishing.co.uk/articles/ascential-acquires-sellics-20671|title= Ascential acquires Sellics|date=20 April 2022|newspaper=In Publishing|access-date=3 December 2024}}

2023

  • Contagious - Acquired{{cite news|url=https://www.conference-news.co.uk/news/ascential-plc-acquires-strategic-intelligence-service-contagious/|title=Ascential plc acquires strategic intelligence service Contagious|newspaper=Conference News|date= 14 August 2023|access-date=3 December 2024}}

2024

  • WGSN - Sold

Operations

Ascential operates two informational service categories focused on businesses in the digital economy. The two areas are marketing and financial technology.

Marketing

Financial Technology

  • Money 20/20

Previous publications

References

References

  1. "Preliminary Results 2023". Ascential.
  2. "History". EMAP.
  3. (31 May 2014). "Sir David Arculus likes a challenge, so at 67 he has entered the world of wealth management". The Telegraph.
  4. (18 February 1993). "Emap buys Thomson titles in pounds 21m deal".
  5. (10 May 2004). "Johnston Press is still a shrewd investment". City Wire.
  6. Brook, Stephen. (21 June 2005). "Emap snaps up Scottish Radio Holdings". [[The Guardian]].
  7. Tryhorn, Chris. (20 June 2006). "Emap France sold for £380m".
  8. (27 July 2007). "Emap reviewing group structure following proposals". City Wire.
  9. (12 September 2007). "Emap sells Australian consumer magazines for £38m". Campaign Live.
  10. (7 December 2007). "Emap sells magazines and radio divisions to Bauer for £1.14bn". Campaign Live.
  11. Andrews, Amanda. (24 December 2007). "Guardian and Apax snap up a fifth of Emap". The Times.
  12. (28 March 2012). "Emap to change name to Top Right Group and split into three". [[The Daily Telegraph]].
  13. (5 October 2015). "Emap brand to be scrapped as all its titles move digital-only". The Guardian.
  14. "Broadcast-owner completes management buy-out".
  15. (15 December 2015). "Top Right Group rebrands to Ascential". Fipp.
  16. (9 February 2016). "Guardian and Apax share £80m from Ascential flotation". The Guardian.
  17. (1 May 2019). "Guardian Media Group announces outcome of three year turnaround strategy". [[Guardian Media Group]].
  18. (1 June 2017). "Ascential sells 11 former Emap magazine brands to Metropolis for £23.5m". Press Gazette.
  19. (24 July 2024). "Informa agrees to buy Cannes Lions owner Ascential for almost £1.2bn". Financial Times.
  20. (8 October 2024). "Ascential plc: court sanction of scheme of arrangement". Research Tree.
  21. (9 October 2024). "Ascential is now part of the Informa Group {{!}} Ascential".
  22. (26 October 2014). "Top Right Group eyes up £100m events takeover". City A.M. Limited.
  23. (8 October 2015). "EMAP to rebrand and accelerate digital conversion". Media Mergers.
  24. "Ascential Buys eCommerce Analyst One Click". MrWeb Ltd.
  25. "RWM sold to Prysm Group". Environment Media Group Ltd.
  26. "Irish ecommerce firm Clavis Insight acquired by Ascential in €100m deal". The Irish Times.
  27. "Ascential has to sell MEED to Global data for $17.5 million".
  28. (June 2017). "Ascential sells its 11 remaining UK-based Heritage Brands to Metropolis International for £23.5M". Fusion.
  29. (7 February 2017). "MediaLink gets acquired by Cannes Lions operator Ascential". NYP Holdings, Inc.
  30. "Ascential sells Health Service Journal for £19m". The Financial Times Ltd.
  31. (27 September 2018). "Reading: Brand View acquired by Ascential for £38m". Elcot Media & Events Ltd.
  32. "Ascential Acquires Digital Marketing Business WARC For GBP24 Million". Alliance News.
  33. (8 November 2018). "Flywheel Digital acquired by UK-based Ascential for $60M". Technically Media Inc.
  34. "ITE Group pays £300m for Ascential trade exhibitions". Times Newspapers Limited.
  35. (16 December 2020). "Ascential has entered into an agreement to sell Glenigan to Byggfakta Group for £72.9m". Media Mergers.
  36. (13 September 2021). "Ascential buys US e-commerce content optimisation firm OneSpace". Morningstar.
  37. (16 December 2021). "Ascential sells Michael Kassan's MediaLink to talent agency giant UTA for $125m". Campaign.
  38. "Ascential buys Singapore's Intrepid in up to $250m deal". Tech Asia.
  39. "Apax Funds complete acquisition of leading trend forecasting business WGSN {{!}} Apax Partners".
  40. "Our business {{!}} Ascential".
  41. (9–23 September 1992). "BIG!". [[EMAP]].

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

ascentialinformacompanies-based-in-the-city-of-westminsterbritish-companies-established-in-1947publishing-companies-established-in-1947companies-listed-on-the-london-stock-exchangeapax-partners-companiesmass-media-in-peterboroughcompanies-based-in-cambridgeshire2016-initial-public-offerings2024-mergers-and-acquisitions