To Affinity and beyond for Breathe.com
Affinity International has acquired internet service provider Breathe.com in a £1.75m deal.
Assets gained in the takeover include hardware, software, trade names and other rights which allow Affinity to operate the business. The assets cover a total value of Pounds 450,000 and a goodwill sum of Pounds 1.3m.
Wayne Locher, chief executive at Affinity, said: ‘Breathe represents a very exciting brand in portal delivery. It has considerable potential in its own right. Because of our new e-CRM [customer relationship management] platform, we will be able to operate the Breathe service at a significantly lower cost than a standalone business, and will also be able to offer Breathe customers a significantly enhanced service through the provision of personalised content.’
Breathe has over 600,000 up-to-date users and gets roughly 20 million page impressions every month. However, unaudited management figures for the three months to 31 March 2000 show the business to have made a loss of Pounds 1.7m.
Affinity has supplied virtual ISP services for two years under the Breathe brand, and currently has in excess of 50,000 customers.
The company is also in the process of launching its own e-CRM platform which is aimed at bringing one-to-one marketing and CRM to the ecommerce offerings of its major branded clients.
Yesterday, the ICAEW urged its members to seek an alternative ISP, following news that Breathe.com was up for sale.
‘When we were notified by Breathe that the company had been put up for sale by Great Universal Stores the institute advised any member who is currently using the breathe isp to look for an alternative service immediately. We continue to offer this advice,’ said Sarah Alder, head of digital communications at the ICAEW.
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Breathe sold to GUS for Pounds 1.4m