Kin + Carta Explained

Kin and Carta plc
Trade Name:Kin + Carta
Former Name:St Ives
Type:Public
Industry:Digital transformation consultancy
Predecessors:-->
Founded: in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, UK[1]
Founder:Robert Gavron
Hq Location City:London
Hq Location Country:United Kingdom
Areas Served:-->
Key People:Kelly Manthey, CEO[2]
Chris Kutsor, CFO
Revenue: £195.9 million (2023)[3]
Operating Income: £18.5 million (2023)
Net Income: £(18.8) million (2023)
Owners:-->

Kin + Carta is an international digital transformation consultancy company with headquarters in London, UK. Originally founded in 1964 as printer St Ives, it grew to be the UK's leading print company by the 1980s.[4] It shifted focus away from the struggling print industry during the 2010s and rebranded as Kin + Carta in 2018.

History

Printing company St Ives was founded in 1964 by Robert Gavron. Then a lawyer, he borrowed to purchase a failing publishing company and renamed it after the town where it was located, St Ives, Cambridgeshire. The company grew over the next 30 years to become the foremost U.K. commercial printer, acquiring Clays and other rivals along the way.[5] [6] It was first listed on the LSE in 1985 and reached a market value of in 1993.[7]

St Ives expanded into the U.S. with the acquisition of commercial printer A.D. Weiss in 1989, and then later into European markets with German direct mail firm Johler Druck. In 1993 Gavron retired as company chairman, though he still held considerable interest, and was replaced by Miles Emley.[5]

In the 21st century St Ives began a serious decline along with the rest of the printing industry due to the rise of digital media, reporting its first loss in 2009.[8] [9] It then undertook a large series of acquisitions in the digital technology space, attempting to diversify away from print. The first purchase was digital marketing and data company Occam in 2010. The 80-staff firm was acquired for about £12 million.[10]

St Ives acquired Chicago-based software consultancy Solstice Mobile for £23 million.[11] Solsticehad been founded in 2001 by John "J" Schwan and named to University of Illinois at Chicago’s Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame in 2013.[12] Schwan became St Ives' first chief digital officer at the time of the merger and in 2018 took over the CEO position from Matt Armitage.[13] [14] Also in that year the firm sold all its remaining print operations and rebranded as Kin + Carta, said to represent "connection and collaboration".[15] [16]

In 2021 it became the first company traded on the London Stock Exchange to be certified as a B Corporation.[17] In October 2023, Kelvin UK Bidco, a newly-formed UK company, owned by the private equity firm Apax Partners, offered to acquire Kin + Carta for £203 million.[18] [19]

In April 2024, Kin + Carta was acquired by Valtech.[20] [21]

Year Company Industry Price (£) Price after inflation Ref
1983 Severn Valley Press [22]
1986 Clays Limited Book printing
1987 Burrups Limited Financial printing
1989 A.D. Weiss Printing Commercial printing
1995 Johler Druck Direct mail
1996 Perlmuter Printing Direct mail
1998 Hunters Armley Direct mail 33m m [23]
2000 Packard Press Financial printing
2000 Global Financial Financial printing [24]
2001 Avanti/Case-Hoyt Commercial printing 29m m [25]
2004 SP Group Point-of-sale printing 37m m [26]
2010 Occam Digital marketing and data 12m m [27]
2011 Response One Data marketing 19m m [28] [29]
2011 Pragma Consulting 6m m [30]
2012 Incite Research consulting 17m m [31]
2013 Amaze Digital marketing 25m m [32]
2013 Branded3 Search and digital 25m m [33]
2014 Realise Digital marketing 40m m [34]
2015 Solstice Mobile Consulting 23m m [35]
2016 The App Business Mobile 50m m [36]
2019 Spire Digital Software development 12m m [37]
2020 Cascade Data Labs Data science 22m m [38]
2021 Octain Artificial intelligence [39]
2022 Loop Integration E-commerce [40]
2022 Melon Digital transformation 24m [41]
2023 Forecast Data Data services 3m [42]

Culture

Kin + Carta describes its purpose as "to make the world work better for everyone", and to this end has adopted a triple bottom line strategy. In 2021 it became the first company traded on the London Stock Exchange to be certified as a B Corporation,[17] and in 2022 became one of the 50 companies participating in the environmentalism initiative Vision 2045.[43] Kin + Carta also became a member of the MACH Alliance in 2022, advocating for accessibility, inclusivity, and sustainability in the digital space.[44]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Barker . Nicolas . Lord Gavron of Highgate: Printing tycoon with keen sense of social justice whose support for Labour was rewarded with a peerage . independent.co.uk . 21 September 2022.
  2. Web site: Kelly Manthey succeeds J Schwan as CEO of Kin + Carta . Consulting.us . 21 September 2022.
  3. Web site: Annual Results 2023. Kin + Carta. 6 February 2024.
  4. Web site: Hamilton . Annette . Elcograf S.p.A. to acquire Clays Ltd . MetaPrintArt . 21 September 2023 . 7 May 2018.
  5. Web site: ST. IVES INC. AVANTI HISTORY . Zippia . 17 August 2023.
  6. Web site: Faulkner . Doug . Printer Clays which produced Harry Potter series sold to European group . Eastern Daily Press . 17 August 2023 . 1 May 2018.
  7. Web site: Burgess . Kate . Stock market loses patience with St Ives . Financial Times . 17 August 2023 . 12 February 2017.
  8. Web site: St Ives ditches print heritage to rebrand as Kin + Carta . Decision Marketing . 21 September 2022.
  9. Web site: Francis . Jo . St Ives posts first loss in its stock exchange history . Printweek . 17 August 2023 . 19 October 2009.
  10. Web site: Danielli . Darryl . St Ives boosts direct marketing offering with 12m Occam deal . Printweek . 21 March 2023 . 1 June 2010.
  11. Web site: Pletz . John . Sun shines on Solstice in $35 million acquisition . Chicago Business . Crain's . 21 March 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200918203312/https://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20150317/BLOGS11/150319805/sun-shines-on-solstice-in-25-million-acquisition . 18 September 2020 . 17 March 2015 . live.
  12. Web site: Solstice Mobile Recognized for Innovation and Entrepreneurship; Expands Leadership Team . Business Wire . Berkshire Hathaway . 21 March 2023 . 4 April 2013.
  13. Web site: Sentance . Rebecca . A day in the life of… CEO at Kin + Carta . Econsultancy . 21 March 2023 . 6 November 2018.
  14. Web site: Founder of Solstice, J Schwan, Named St Ives New CEO . PR Newswire . Cision . 21 March 2023 . 1 August 2018.
  15. Web site: Francis . Jo . End of printing era for St Ives as Clays is sold . Printweek . 17 August 2023 . 1 May 2018.
  16. Web site: Bainbridge . Jane . ST IVES RENAMES TO KIN + CARTA . Research Live . 21 September 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220921170216/https://www.research-live.com/article/news/st-ives-renames-to-kin--carta/id/5044252 . 21 September 2022 . dead.
  17. Web site: Kin + Carta becomes first B Corp accredited LSE business . Consultancy.uk . 21 September 2022.
  18. Web site: Symcox . Jonathan . 2023-10-18 . £203m private equity takeover at Kin and Carta plc . 2023-10-19 . BusinessCloud . en.
  19. Web site: Kirkland Steers PE Giant Apax's £203M Bid For UK Tech Firm - Law360 . 2023-10-19 . www.law360.com . en.
  20. Web site: Valtech buys experience agency Kin +Carta for £239m. 29 April 2024. More About Advertising. 29 April 2024.
  21. Web site: Valtech completes acquisition of Kin + Carta. Valtech. 2024-05-22. en.
  22. Web site: Francis . Jo . So long, St Ives . Printweek . 21 September 2023 . 23 July 2018.
  23. News: The sorry tale of global MP comes to an ignominious end. Print Weekly. 6 February 2024.
  24. Web site: Company Results: ST IVES - Printer - FAIRLY PRICED - SIV . Investors' Chronicle . 21 September 2023 . 19 April 2001.
  25. Web site: Cagle . Erik . ST IVES' U.S. DIVISION -- Adding to the Equation . Printing Impressions . 21 September 2023 . 1 November 2001.
  26. Web site: Francis . Jo . St Ives snaps up SP Group . Printweek . 21 September 2023 . 13 September 2004.
  27. Web site: Danielli . Darryl . St Ives boosts direct marketing offering with 12m Occam deal . Printweek . 21 March 2023 . 1 June 2010.
  28. Web site: Response One takeover completed by St Ives . The Drum . 11 August 2023 . 15 September 2011.
  29. Web site: Nias . Simon . St Ives extends data offering with Response One buy . 29 August 2023 . 14 September 2011.
  30. Web site: ST IVES GROUP ACQUIRES INSIGHT AGENCY PRAGMA . Research Live . 29 August 2023 . 25 September 2011.
  31. Web site: Hooker . Adam . St Ives announces Incite acquisition . Printweek . 21 September 2023 . 29 February 2012.
  32. Web site: Francis . Jo . St Ives in 25m digital marketing buy . 29 August 2023 . 11 March 2013.
  33. Web site: Branded3 acquired by St Ives Group . 29 August 2023.
  34. Web site: Jordan . Hannah . St Ives announces £40m digital marketing acquisition . Printweek . 11 August 2023 . 3 March 2014.
  35. Web site: Pletz . John . Sun shines on Solstice in $35 million acquisition . Chicago Business . Crain's . 21 March 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200918203312/https://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20150317/BLOGS11/150319805/sun-shines-on-solstice-in-25-million-acquisition . 18 September 2020 . 17 March 2015 . live.
  36. Web site: St Ives goes mobile once more in £50m acquisition . Decision Marketing . 21 September 2023 . 1 February 2016.
  37. Web site: Kin + Carta gets back in the saddle with $15m US deal . Decision Marketing . 11 August 2023 . 25 November 2019.
  38. Web site: Acquisition of Cascade Data Labs . Financial Times . 21 September 2023 . 23 December 2020.
  39. News: Kin + Carta Acquires AI Solution Octain. Global Newswire. 6 February 2024.
  40. News: Flurry of Kin + Carta acquisitions power growth on both sides of the Atlantic . The Drum. 22 February 2022. 6 February 2024.
  41. Web site: Kin and Carta plc completed the acquisition of Melon, Inc. from management of Melon and other investors. . Market Screener . 29 August 2023 . 9 May 2022.
  42. Web site: Gooding . Matthew . Kin + Carta snaps up data services provider Forecast Data . Tech Monitor . 29 August 2023 . 9 May 2023.
  43. Web site: Momentum grows around the Vision 2045 campaign for cleaner business . Bloomberg . 11 August 2023 . 20 April 2022.
  44. Web site: MACH Alliance Nears 60 Members with Latest Wave of New Joiners . MACH Alliance . 11 August 2023 . 15 May 2022.

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