Active Display Group grows to 400 staff by acquiring Adval from Eye Corp

POS and display printer Active Display Group has grown from 320 to nearly 400 staff by acquiring retail specialist Adval from outdoor giant Eye Corp.

The acquisition was finalised last Friday (29 October), according to Active founder Jeff Gittus.

"We've been actively looking for acquisitions for the past 12 months, and we've actually had discussions with Adval a number of times over the past eight years," Gittus told ProPrint.

"They're such a strong brand, they're well run and they've got a strong customer base. It's a solid business. It's obviously not a core business for Eye Corp, so they were interested in talking."

Adval had been a fully owned subsidiary of Eye Corp for the past 10 years.

The acquisition will give Active its fourth manufacturing site in Melbourne, as well as opening up the Queensland market with Adval's Brisbane sales office. Meanwhile, Adval's Sydney sales office will relocate from Eye Corp's base at Pyrmont to Active's offices at Rozelle.

The addition of Adval's 75 staff takes Active's full-time headcount to 395.

Gittus said that because the deal comprised a "blind due diligence" process, the company had yet to fully decide how Adval would be incorporated into its operations.

"At this stage, Adval is a standalone business. We'll review that over time to see how best to make the synergies come together," he said.

"We only walked in the doors for the first time yesterday, so we'll work together closely to work out the best outcomes."

Gittus estimated that the incorporation of Adval would double Active's printing capacity, which will be further bolstered by the arrival of an Agfa M:Press Tiger in January.

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