Ten Alps targets growth

LONDON-headquartered media group Ten Alps, which was co-founded by Bob Geldof, is planning to expand through acquisition in the Irish market this year.

The group, which established a small Irish presence last year, is looking to become — in its own words — “a big specialist communications player” here over the coming years.

Ten Alps’s business is split between its communications and broadcast divisions — covering everything from online advertising and contract publishing to high-end events management, and also looking after television production.

Any expansion here would likely be via the communications side of the business, although the group has already undertaken some production work on programmes made for RTÉ.

“We’re a very varied group, and rather than just saying we want to expand through this avenue or that, we want to be seen, ultimately, as a big specialist communications business,” said Ten Alps Communications chief executive Adrian Dunleavy.

“We have a few alternative avenues for growth in Ireland — either organically, through a joint venture or through an acquisition. We see Ireland as a fast growing market with a lot of public sector activity and the ability to grow further.”

During the second half of last year Ten Alps bought the Manchester- based online video ads producer, Multimedia Arts. The acquisition indirectly took Ten Alps into the Irish market as MMA had an office here. That has since been rebranded as Ten Alps Ireland.

Bob Geldof co-founded Ten Alps in the late 1990s with current group chief executive Alex Connock. He is the company’s third largest shareholder with a 7% stake.

Commenting last year, when the business entered the Irish market, Mr Connock said: “Ireland is a media market we’ve been considering since we founded Ten Alps, and this struck us as the right time to go for it. We are starting small, but we hope to build a decent-sized business there over the next couple of years.”