London, 26 October 2009: Durrants, the leading provider of media planning, monitoring and analysis services, announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire Metrica, the award-winning, global media analysis and evaluation company.

Media evaluation is a key aspect of the Durrants' proposition. Its award winning PR Platform already enables communication professionals to understand the effectiveness of media activity. It's acquisition of Metrica extends that capacity to include top tier, consultancy-led evaluation, social media analysis and ROI metrics.

Established in 1993, Metrica has maintained its position as a world leader in media analysis by delivering exceptional PR measurement products, services and consultancy to organisations across all sectors around the world. With over 35 industry awards, Metrica is recognised by industry bodies and communication professionals for excellence, innovation and leadership.

Jeremy Thompson, Durrants Managing Director, comments: "This acquisition cements Durrants position as the leading provider of media intelligence services to the communications industry. We have seen significant growth in the demand for media evaluation over the last 12 months and invested heavily in our products and services.

"Both Durrants and Metrica have built their reputations by delivering market leading solutions backed up by exceptional customer support. By bringing together the strengths and expertise of these complementary businesses, we will be able to provide our customers with an enhanced and unrivalled range of evaluation products and services."

Richard Bagnall, Metrica Managing Director, said: "This is a significant development for Metrica as we continue to develop our business. The synergies created by the Durrants acquisition provide us the opportunity to grow our customer base and offer our services to a wider market.

"The combination of Metrica and Durrants is a powerful one: Metrica is an established business with a reputation for excellence and innovation, which will add an exciting new dimension to Durrants' proposition".

About Durrants:
Durrants has been providing an invaluable service to communications and PR specialists for over 125 years. Having pioneered the industry, it continues to lead the market through product innovation and customer service and, as a result, remains the industry's preferred supplier. Combining technology with the expertise of in-house editorial, analysis and account management teams, Durrants helps organisations across all sectors of the UK economy including FTSE 250 companies, private companies, government departments, PR agencies and charities, to better manage their reputations.

Durrants supports each stage of the PR process with specialist data and applications that permit journalist identification, press release distribution, media monitoring and evaluation. The award winning service provides access to a 40,000 record journalist database, monitoring from more than 11,000 UK print and web news sources as well as media evaluation options that are within the budget of every customer. Durrants is a private company, backed by Exponent Private Equity.

About Metrica:
Metrica is an expert, award-winning, global media analysis and evaluation company. Established in 1993 the company was one of the first specialist agencies in the world and maintains a reputation for excellence, innovation and leadership in the industry.

Through the provision of flexible, cost-effective analysis, tailored to individual clients needs, Metrica strives to deliver actionable data which adds value at every stage of the PR lifecycle.

The company's portfolio of offerings includes tools such as market research services and a journalist management system, which help make sure what is learnt in the analysis process can be effectively applied back into PR activity and planning.

For more information please contact:
Richard Bagnall
Managing Director, Metrica
Tel: +44 (0) 207 922 1670
Email: richard.bagnall@metrica.net