European Web agency
Fi SYSTEM Group announced
Wednesday that it has acquired a controlling stake in
Manchester-based direct marketing specialist GCP.
The terms
of the acquisition were not disclosed.
GCP’s Managing Director Geoff Cotton said the move
represented a major strategic development for GCP.
“The Web is one of the critical enablers for the future
of customer relationship marketing and becoming part of
Fi System will enable us to deliver excellence in direct
marketing to our clients and to use the corporate might
of our parent to deliver leading edge integrated web and
e-commerce solutions,” said Cotton.
Pascal Josselin, director of Fi SYSTEM’s New Media
Agency Europe, said the latest acquisition would enable
the group to widen the scope of its activities in new
media and develop its services on the European Internet
market.
“Fi SYSTEM will be boosted by GCP’s operational marketing
skills in customer relationship marketing. Thanks to these
skills, Fi SYSTEM’s CRM know-how will be greatly extended,
and the group as a whole will be able to respond more
efficiently to one-to-one marketing issues,” said Josselin.
The acquisition of GCP brings a team of 27 people to
Fi SYSTEM, split into three distinct services: mail-order,
direct marketing and consumer database management. Its
clients include some major high street names in the UK, such as
Argos, Homebase, Marshall Ward, and Woolworths.
GCP turnover for the year to June 1999 was just over
£1.1 million ($1.8 million).
European Web design and consultancy firm Fi SYSTEM originated in France in 1992 and has teams in
many parts of the country, including Paris, Rhone-Alpes,
and Mediterranean regions. It also has a UK company,
Fi SYSTEM UK Plc, and a presence in Spain. It
is listed on the Nouveau Marche of the Paris Stock Exchange.
