Results tagged “Encanta Media” from The Word is Not Enough

Buyout fund Endless has sold Encanta Media for £2.72 million. Surprise, surprise, it was quite a profitable deal for Endless.

Got a letter from Ernst & Young on Saturday, giving details of the Highbury break-up. For ex-Highbury freelances, the following clauses probably seem the most relevant - if anyone can spot any others, feel free to add comments:

How's this for a happy story from a former Highbury freelancer?

Hi Rob. I freelance for the Radio Controlled Models and Electronics magazine previously owned by Highbury and now a suite of Orpington based magazines owned by Encanta media. I thought you might like to know that Encanta are to pay me in full the missing money I was owed by Highbury. A very kind gesture I thought as they have no obligations to do so. I believe this arrangement is offered to all Encanta freelancers who didn't jump ship as it went down.

A small result but encouraging.

While that's not happening, as far as I know, with any of the titles now owned by Imagine, Imagine are re-commissioning some of the work Highbury commissioned. That means that even if the receivers don't pay up, at least the work will get used and paid for by someone.

As for SMD, I've seen Hotdog and the other titles on the newstands now, but I have no further information on what's happening there. If anyone would like to email me with dirt, the address is blog@the-word-is-not-enough.com.

Subscribers to Model Boats and eight other former Highbury titles now owned by Encanta Media received a flyer yesterday saying the editors, management and staff have all joined Encanta Media and that they have plans to develop all the titles.

So that's good news for one group of former Highbury staff members, anyway.

While the antics at Encanta and SMD/Remnant have been filling this blog of late, the situation with Imagine is still developing. Many are curious as to what's going to happen to the former Highbury Entertainment staff (and, erm, freelancers). This is the latest from someone on the ground who wishes to remain anonymous.

According to a meeting with the HR consultancy firm that Imagine have employed and reps from the NUJ and our accounts and HR departments, they are looking to make approximately 70 redundancies, which is obviously a large proportion of staff. Even more concerning for freelancers is the fact that they are planning to axe all but 13 of the titles that they have acquired.

What's shocking me is that the majority of staff haven't been given this information, and it seems to be down to the NUJ to keep us informed. Their plan now is for everyone to participate in one-on-one interviews with these consultants to justify our own jobs so that they can decide which positions to make available, and we will then have to reapply for our jobs.

I haven't verified any of this with Imagine or the NUJ (this is a non-paying blog and with taxes just around the corner and a big Highbury-shaped dent in my bank account, I have a lot of money-earning to do), so don't take it as gospel. Nevertheless, the re-interviewing procedure has been confirmed by other sources, so that part's almost certainly true.

Having been through a couple of redundancies myself, my heart goes out to you ex-Highbury guys. I really hope it all works out well for you.

Potential visitors to The International Woodworking Exhibition 2006 will be delighted to hear that it's to go ahead on the 17-19th February 2006 as planned. How do we know? Because Encanta Media is sending out emails to let everyone know. Apart from text at the bottom (written in black on a black background) about various matters to do with administration, we get confirmation that Owen Davies is the managing director of Encanta Media:

The Joint Administrative Receviers contract only as agents of the Company without personal liability.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales authorises M.E Mills to act as Insolvency Practitioner under section 390(2)(a) of the Insolvency Act 1986 and The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants authorises R Bailey to act as an Insolvency Practitioner under section 390(2)(a) of the Insolvency Act 1986.

The Yorkshire Post has managed to piece together the details of the Encanta/Brush Colour deal. Note the fact that a former Ernst & Young practitioner is behind Endless, the buy-out firm involved.

PS If you have problems with the link, go to the home page of the Yorkshire Post's site, then look through the business section.

We're getting some potential names for the backers of SMD and Encanta now. It looks like SMD is a company set up by Remnant Media so that it can keep the likes of Front and Hotdog separate from its other titles. Meanwhile, Owen Davies, former financial director of Highbury, is being fingered as one of the names behind Encanta. All of this is just rumour at the moment, but I hope to firm things up.

This situation with SMD is looking mighty familiar. Yesterday, they didn't show up at all in a Companies House search, except as a dissolved company. Today, the paperwork has made its way through the Companies House bureaucracy and we have some new info.

It's all beginning to look very familiar:

Date of incorporation
Brush Colour: 8th December 2005
SMD Publishing: 6th December 2005

Name changes
Brush Colour: Changed name to Encanta Media Ltd on 20th January 2006 (the same day it made its Highbury acquisition)
SMD Publishing: Changed name from Astroplan Ltd on 23rd January 2006 (the same day it made its Highbury acquisition)

Appointments
Brush Colour: Registered through companies (“YORK PLACE COMPANY SECRETARIES LIMITED”, “YORK PLACE COMPANY NOMINEES LIMITED”)
SMD Publishing: Registered through companies (“ACI SECRETARIES LIMITED”, “ACI DIRECTORS LIMITED”)

Looks like someone's been passing around the company acquisition cheat notes.

Press Gazette has the news first, this time: Hotdog and Front have been sold off to new company SMD Publishing. Notable nugget of information:

It was confirmed today, the company's remaining craft titles have been sold to another new company, Brush Colour.

Accountancy firm Ernst & Young, which has been overseeing the company's breakup since it went into receivership, said it could reveal no further details about SMD and Brush Colour, although it is believed they could consist of staff or previous management from the titles.

All the deals put together very quickly, huh? The fact that the confirmation is for Brush Colour, rather than Encanta Media, speaks volumes about the new owners not wanting to be named. And I wonder what happened to Remnant, last heard of doing their due diligence over the weekend.

UPDATE: The Media Guardian reports that DVD World went to SMD as well.

As discussed on Friday, the mysterious Brush Colour has bought Highbury's specialist titles. Now Companies House is open again, we can get a few more details on the company. They were only incorporated on the 8th December last year, just a fortnight before Highbury's difficulties became public knowledge. Equally strangely, they changed their name on Friday to Encanta Media Ltd.

Now I'm not saying there's anything fishy going on, but the two company appointments listed on their appointments report are “YORK PLACE COMPANY SECRETARIES LIMITED” and “YORK PLACE COMPANY NOMINEES LIMITED”. Looks like the new owners wants to stay anonymous for the moment, at the very least.

Updates and related entries
January 23, 2006: Can't find any reference to SMD Publishing down at Companies House. Well, that's not true actually: there's an S.M.D. Publishing listed as having been dissolved in October 1999. No companies of similar current or proposed names are listed. Assuming...
January 23, 2006: Press Gazette has the news first, this time: Hotdog and Front have been sold off to new company SMD Publishing. Notable nugget of information: It was confirmed today, the company's remaining craft titles have been sold to another new...
January 25, 2006: Potential visitors to The International Woodworking Exhibition 2006 will be delighted to hear that it's to go ahead on the 17-19th February 2006 as planned. How do we know? Because Encanta Media is sending out emails to let everyone...