Independent advertising agency Pressman Advertising Ltd has completed its reverse merger with Nucent Finance, a little known firm majority owned by the promoters, to get listed on the stock exchanges.
The reverse merger was completed recently and the name of the firm was changed to Pressman Advertising making it arguably the first ad agency to go public in the country.
Talking to VCCircle, Niren Suchanti, CMD of Pressman, said the most important reason for listing is to open up new opportunities for strategic alliances as well as acquisitions. Besides, the listing will also allow the employees of Pressman to sell shares allotted to them as part of stock options plan, in the public market, he added.
He said post the reverse merger, promoter holding in Pressman (formerly Nucent) has moved to 75 per cent, the maximum allowed for a public listed firm. The promoters previously held 55.17 per cent in the listed firm.
Founded by late HC Suchanti, Pressman Advertising has been active for over four decades. It provides advertising, design, media planning and buying, market research, digital and public relations services. The Kolkata-headquartered ad agency has offices in Kolkata, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Nagpur, Siliguri, Guwahati and Patna.
Pressman reported a net profit of Rs 2.02 crore with a top-line of Rs 9.6 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2013.
Shares of Pressman last changed hands at Rs 13.95 each, up 4.98 per cent to hit the upper circuit for the day on the BSE in a strong Mumbai market on Tuesday. It currently has a market cap of Rs 32 crore or around 4x its projected annualised net profit for the current year.
(Edited by Joby Puthuparampil Johnson)