Personal injury marketing specialist NAHL (NAH:AIM) is looking to add another string to its bow through the £4.3 million acquisition of Fitzalan Partners. The deal takes NAHL into a new space, is expected to be immediately earnings enhancing and appears to have won the market's approval - the shares rising 5.2% to 249.4p.
As a reminder NAHL - a running Play of the Week - works in the personal injury sector but not actually fund no-win no-fee claims itself, instead concentrating on marketing to generate leads for the law firms it counts as clients. Most of this work is done through the ‘Underdog’ character which fronts its core National Accident Helpline brand.
Fitzalan does much the same thing with its own proprietary platforms but in conveyancing, targeting home buyers and sellers in England and Wales and directing them towards a panel of law firms and surveyors. It is profitable - posting a pre-tax profit of £700,000 in its financial year to July 2014.
Kettering-based NAHL will pay an initial £3 million now with a further £1.3 million due at the end of 2015 assuming certain unspecified conditions are met.
House broker Investec is effusive about the move, reiterating its buy recommendation and lifting its price target from 300p to 350p. Analyst Alex Paterson says: 'We believe this is an excellent transaction, providing technology and access to a complementary market at a sensible price that should be immediately EPS enhancing.'
