Tuesday, September 21, 2010

SPAR Group Completes Acquisition of Wings & Ink & National Marketing Services

http://www.wingsink.com/announcement.html

April 2010
SPAR Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:SGRP) (the "Company" or "SPAR"), a leading supplier of retail merchandising and other marketing services throughout the United States and internationally, today announced it has completed the acquisition of Wings & Ink, a leading marketing and merchandising company serving customers throughout Canada. The transaction is expected to generate at least $3 million in annualized revenues.

Wings & Ink marks the second acquisition, including National Marketing Services, which SPAR has made within the last 4 months. The combined acquisitions will add approximately $9 million in total revenue on an annualized basis. The Wings & Ink transaction is in line with the Company's previously announced growth strategy of acquiring synergistic businesses that can be immediately implemented into the Company's core marketing and merchandising business. This acquisition is being funded with existing working capital and a portion of existing debt. The final purchase price of the acquisition is based on a twenty-four month earn out agreement.

Wings & Ink further enhances SPAR's existing presence in Canada through its subsidiary, SPAR Canada. Wings & Ink operates in a similar fashion to SPAR through two divisions, marketing and merchandising services. Wings & Ink was founded in 1994 and has built a reputation and brand name as a quality company in the industry, providing excellent customer service. The transaction adds many new clients to SPAR Canada's customer base which are well known retailers and consumer package goods manufacturers. SPAR Canada welcomes Wings & Ink's core management team, including the managing director, to the SPAR Canada team. The new management team's experience in operating within the merchandising industry in Canada is expected to help grow SPAR's business through new customer relationships and cross selling opportunities."Operating in the niche business of marketing and merchandising services and being an industry leader has presented SPAR with the fortunate opportunity to acquire valuable assets at attractive valuations to help fuel the growth of our business," stated Gary Raymond, President and CEO of SPAR Group Inc.

"Today SPAR Canada is operating successfully on a national and multi-lingual basis in Canada and continues to enjoy a strong recurring business with existing customers. Wings & Ink not only adds a new retail and manufacturing customer base, but also helps us enhance our market penetration in all geographical regions of Canada through the added workforce and reach of Wings & Ink. We believe the combination of our proprietary technology, the Wings and Ink team and their great customer service is a winning platform for growth and margin improvements. Although the transaction closed on April 1, 2010 both teams have been working diligently over the past several months to ensure that the finalized combination of SPAR Canada and Wings & Ink would make a seamless transition. Going forward we will continue to aggressively evaluate acquisition opportunities such as Wings & Ink and National Marketing Services to help grow our business and further cement ourselves as an industry leader."