Next Fifteen Communications Group Plc, the holding company for a group of worldwide PR consultancies, has acquired the remaining 13 per cent of Panther Communications that it does not already own.

Next Fifteen Communications Group Plc, the holding company for a group of worldwide PR consultancies, has acquired the remaining 13 per cent of Panther Communications that it does not already own. Panther is the parent company of the UK public relations agency Lexis Public Relations.

The deal is in accordance with the sale and purchase agreement between the acquirer and vendor made in August 2005. Next Fifteen originally acquired a 25 per cent stake in Panther and subsequently upped its holding to 87 per cent. The final payment of £1.77 million was paid to the vendors through the issue of one million new shares in the company and £1.33 million in cash.

The majority of Next Fifteen’s clients are in the technology industry, and include IBM, Apple and Microsoft. Over the last few years, the business has expanded to cater for non-technology clients, such as Coca-Cola, Nokia, MySpace and the Barclays Premier League.

Tim Dyson, Next Fifteen CEO said: “Lexis was our first significant investment beyond our core technology PR businesses and it has clearly shown how the group has the ability and capacity to move into new areas over time. It is our intention to extend the Lexis brand beyond the UK market in the next year, assuming the current trading environment remains favorable.”

In spite of the credit crunch, Next Fifteen managed to post a 3.3 per cent increase in revenues, from £29.4 million (2007) to £30.4 million to 31 January 2008.