The deal means DigiCom, Goddard’s outdoor business, will take on responsibility for the sales and marketing for the 3,500 screens currently managed by Amscreen.
The 15 staff in Amscreen’s media division will now be employees of DigiCom, which Goddard runs as executive chairman.
Amscreen will continue to provide technology and services for the outdoor networks, including the screens in Shell garages. Sugar is the chairman of Amscreen and his son Simon is the chief executive.
The arrangement, the value of which has not been disclosed, is a reversal of sorts of the previous agreement, which involved Amscreen buying Goddard’s previous sales and sales operation in 2011. Goddard’s other company was also called Digicom.
Amscreen entered a ground-breaking technology partnership in February with outdoor media giant Clear Channel UK to install outdoor, sunlight-visible digital screens across the UK.
Amscreen provide affordable and state of the art digital signage screens that are visible in sunlight, making them ideal for outdoor use and will be deployed as Clear Channel’s Adshel Live units at bus stops and various other outdoor locations.
Goddard said: “Digital out-of-home is undoubtedly one of the fastest growing and most exciting sectors to be in – the Amscreen media network acquisition offers DigiCom a huge foot print across the UK and access to an excellent product powered by Amscreen.
“We look forward to bringing a range of new opportunities and offerings to the market in the coming months.”
In May the managing director of Amscreen, Jamie Lindsay, left the company following a review of the business. The plan at that time was to restructure the division as a stand-alone entity and explore investment options.
