Occam is a data-driven direct marketing and data management company, specialising in consultancy, tactical planning and analysis. According to St Ives, its acquisition will boost the group's Direct operation by adding a raft of high-end data services.

St Ives chief executive Patrick Martell said:  "We are now one step closer to offering an end-to-end process of campaign delivery – no matter what the technology used.

"Of course, print remains a fundamental part of the St Ives offering, but we want to make a real difference for our clients and these new services complement our offerings in publishing, direct mail, display and point-of-sale, and enhance our ability to build strong mutually beneficial client partnerships."

The £8m-turnover Radstock, Somerset-based company was named by research firm Forrester as one of the UK's leading database marketing services providers. Its blue-chip client base includes Eurostar, Kia Motors, The Royal Bank of Scotland and the British Army.

The initial debt-free £12m sale price, a mixture of cash and St Ives shares, could be increased to a capped £12.6m, depending on Occam's year-end EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation).

In its last year-end, the company recorded an EBITDA of £1m on sales of £8.2m – logging a pre-tax loss of £1.5m, which was blamed on "non-recurring items and reduced activity". However, according to St Ives, Occam is expected to generate an EBITDA of £2m on sales of £8.3m in its current financial year, which closed on 31 May.

As a result of the deal, Occam will become a wholly owned subsidiary of St Ives. Its management team, including managing director James Bagan, will remain at the 80-staff company.

The Occam deal was revealed in St Ives's interim management statement, in which the print group said that it expected its results for the year ending 30 July to be "ahead of management's previous expectations".

At the time of writing, the group's share price had risen 3.5% to 66.5p on the news. For more, see Friday's issue of PrintWeek.