All Things Considered [AQSE:ATC] is a London-based, Aquis-listed independent music company that provides a multi-service offering to the music industry, including talent management, live agency, touring services and live streaming.
The company started life in 1996 as a ticketing agency before moving into the management of music artists targeting music agents looking for an ‘artist-focussed’ representation for their clients.
- Ormonde Mining wagering on Newfoundland gold rush
- Voyager Life looks from pharmacies to pets to continue growing
- BWA exploring mineral resources in Cameroon and Canada
ATC represents artists, including Nick Cave of Bad Seeds fame and Sister Bliss formerly of Faithless, and through ATC Live supports artists’ touring plans. Additionally, Driift, ATC’s producer and promoter platform, offers livestreaming services.
Expansion across the Atlantic
The company has grown substantially over the past few years, especially through its expansion across the Atlantic, headquartered in London, ATC has offices in Los Angeles and Copenhagen. The company is keen to grow by acquisition as well as organically. In February ATC bought 50% of Sussex-based Mckeown Asset Limited (MAL), a multi-faceted music promotions business that incorporates shareholdings in festival management, an independent record label and entertainment venue in Brighton for GBP475,000.
The investment allows ATC further inroads into the festivals market and access to a live venue in a popular British city, with the opportunity to cross-sell its clients Mckeown’s propositions. Mckeown’s profit before tax to end-2023 was GBP260,000.
At the time, ATC’s CEO, Adam Driscoll said: “Following on from our recent acquisition of merchandising services business, Sandbag, this investment in MAL marks another important step forward in our growth strategy as we build out our end-to-end artist commerce business. This partnership adds brand-new revenue streams to our group in the areas of live promotions, festival management and music venue ownership, and we see huge potential to enhance our joint operations through added scale and leveraged market insight across multiple business verticals.”
The Sandbag transaction completed last July, and saw ATC acquire 60% of the full-service merchandise company for an initial consideration of GBP2.42m, a valuation of 3.18x Sandbag’s adjusted profit for the unaudited year to end-March 2023, with a put-and-call option secured for the remaining 40%.
All Things Considered revenue up 40%
In its last results, for 1H23, published in September, ATC reported a 40% increase in group revenue to GBP3.4m which include an 84% growth in revenue for ATC Management, to GBP1.8m. That said, ATC was still in loss-making territory, losing GBP700,000, which on the upside was a 10% improvement year-on-year. The company has nearly GBP900,000 in short-term debt, a reversal from a GBP3m cash position in June 2022, which encompassed GBP1.6m related investments made by subsidiary Driift.
ATC completed a placing in July 2023, raising almost GBP4.2m to fund the Sandbag transaction and provide further capital for organic growth and future acquisitions (including Mckeown).
All Things Considered’s share price opened the week (29th April) at 115p and has increased 24.3% over one-year and up 9.5% year-to-date ranging between 77.5p and 120p over a 52-week period. The entertainments company has a market capitalisation of GBP18.8m.
The music industry is in a period of rapid change. The past few years have seen a significant growth in livestreaming allowing artists to reach millions of new potential fans from the comfort of their own home (studio). Moreover, after the pandemic, the demand from artists and fans for live performance and touring has surged, and artists are seeking out independent labels that will give them a more equitable share in revenues than the traditional mainstream labels. Moreover established artists now expect a more bespoke service from their agents and promoters, forcing the industry to become more flexible and adaptable.
ATC is at the vanguard of these trends and perhaps its time for the Aquis listed company to take the mic.
