Brave Bison sells marketing services, marketing training and online media to some of the world's largest advertisers. Management has grown it from £4m of net revenue in 2020 to £34m in 2025, mostly by buying other businesses. It is now trying to take over System1, a marketing-research company in which it already holds 28%. System1's board has rejected five offers, and the offer closes on 26 October 2026.
Marketing services, training and YouTube media for big brands
The group has about 350 staff in eight countries, with hubs in the UK, US, India, Egypt and Australia. It has three divisions. Consultancy & Marketing Services runs social and digital campaigns for brands such as New Balance, Primark and Google. Sport & Entertainment helps rights holders such as PGA Tour, US Open and Real Madrid earn money from YouTube content. Marketing Skills & Capabilities is MiniMBA, an online MBA-level marketing course sold to companies such as Nestlé, Carlsberg and Salesforce.
Most of the money comes from fees and contracts. In the first half of 2026, platform-based products such as MiniMBA produced 32% of net revenue and 41% of divisional EBITDA (operating profit before depreciation and similar items). MiniMBA's course calendar runs April to July and September to December, so the second half is the heavier one. The group also owns a 28% stake in System1, which tests advertising for clients such as TikTok, Pfizer and Ikea. 26 Aug 2026 9 Oct 2026 30 Apr 2026
Buying and building, and a bid that failed
The current management team took over about five years before April 2025. Net revenue rose from £4.0m in 2020 to £20.9m in 2023. The 2023 purchase of SocialChain, a social-media and influencer agency, was funded by a £4.8m share placing. The input does not say how the company began or when it listed.
In May 2024 Brave Bison made an all-share approach for The Mission Group, a much larger agency group. Mission's board rejected it. A raised proposal at 35.1p a share was also turned down, and Brave Bison withdrew on 10 June 2024. The abandoned deal cost £33k. The shares traded in a 46p to 54p range through 2024. 22 Apr 2024 13 May 2024 10 Jun 2024 9 Sep 2024
2025: five deals in one year
Deals came quickly from December 2024. Engage (sports marketing) came first, followed by Builtvisible (search marketing) and The Fifth (influencer marketing, bought from News UK, which became a top-10 shareholder). In June 2025 the group bought MiniMBA for £19m, financed by new shares at 49p, with Mark Ritson, MiniMBA's founder, investing personally. MTM, a strategy consultancy, followed in September.
The deals lifted FY25 net revenue 60% to £34.1m. They also cost money. Engage and The Fifth were loss-making when bought, so adjusted EBITDA margin slipped from 21.0% to 19.9%. Acquisition and restructuring costs of £3.3m cut statutory profit before tax from £2.0m to £0.7m. Net cash fell from £7.5m to £4.3m. The shares rose from 52p in May 2025 to 80.5p in September. 9 Dec 2024 27 Mar 2025 10 Apr 2025 25 Jun 2025 11 Sep 2025 30 Apr 2026
The System1 stake and a hostile bid
On 2 March 2026 Brave Bison bought about 28% of System1. It paid £1.3m in cash, plus 9.76m new Brave Bison shares to System1 founder John Kearon, and became System1's largest shareholder. On 13 July it announced a possible offer for the rest at 327p a share, and a firm offer followed on 30 July. System1's board rejected each version, including the last. The offer rose to 360p on 14 September.
On 7 October Brave Bison raised it to 180p cash plus 2.394 new Brave Bison shares, plus a contingent value right (CVR) worth 20p. It called these terms final. The share part moves with Brave Bison's price. Brave Bison valued the offer at 405p using a 94p share price. System1's board put it at 360.75p using the 6 October price of 75.5p, and rejected it on 15 October, citing 31.4% of System1 holders opposed. 2 Mar 2026 13 Jul 2026 30 Jul 2026 14 Sep 2026 7 Oct 2026 15 Oct 2026
Growth bought, profit still catching up
The record shows one main driver: acquisitions. They produced the revenue growth, but also the gap between adjusted and statutory profit. In H1 2026 adjusted profit before tax was £4.1m against statutory £2.1m, mainly because of £1.4m amortisation of acquired intangibles and £0.6m of deal and restructuring costs. Margins held near 19-21% across the period. The Mission failure shows the limit of an all-share approach to a bigger target that does not want to sell. The System1 bid is a second hostile approach. 26 Aug 2026 30 Apr 2026 10 Jun 2024 28 Aug 2026
Family-led board, shareholder friction and cash discipline
Oliver Green is executive chairman and Theo Green chief growth officer. Together they hold 16.9%. In September 2025 they exercised long-term incentive options and received 6.4m shares. A new incentive plan proposed in June 2026 uses an 80p baseline, a 150p minimum exercise price and a 12% share of value created. In September 2025 representatives of Lord Ashcroft asked to appoint a director. The board advised shareholders to vote against, and the input does not give the vote result. Michael Ashcroft's disclosed stake rose from about 20% to 24% between 2024 and June 2026.
The group began paying dividends in April 2025 and raised the payout 10% to 0.44p for FY25. It repaid £2.6m of bank loans in H1 2026 and £1.5m more in July. It added a former FTSE-250 finance chief, Yvonne Monaghan, as audit chair, and hired a product and technology head from WPP. It proposed buying M+C Saatchi Performance for £50m in November 2025. The company has not reported an outcome. 25 Sep 2025 1 Jun 2026 26 Sep 2025 6 Oct 2025 10 Apr 2025 30 Apr 2026 26 Aug 2026 3 Nov 2025
Strong first half, offer still unaccepted
H1 2026 net revenue nearly doubled to £23.9m, and adjusted EBITDA reached £4.5m, a 19% margin. MiniMBA grew organically by double digits and signed a multi-year agreement with Omnicom. Net cash excluding leases was £4.7m at 30 June. Mark Ritson exercised an option to invest £2m at 49p, lifting his stake to 7%.
On the offer, as of 8 October Brave Bison had received no acceptances. It owns 27.85% of System1 and holds irrevocable undertakings for 10.73% and letters of intent for 1.09%, a total of 39.67%. The shares closed at 86.5p in August and 75.5p in September. The latest close, on 15 October, was 76.5p. 26 Aug 2026 15 Jun 2026 9 Oct 2026 15 Oct 2026
Debt gone by year-end, and a deadline on 26 October
Management said in January 2026 that it expected to repay all bank debt before the end of 2026. In April it said FY26 net revenue and adjusted EBITDA would exceed consensus, and that MiniMBA would grow organically by over 18%. In August it said trading was in line with its expectations and weighted to the second half. It also expects higher acquisition costs in H2.
The offer closes at 1.00 p.m. on 26 October, with a long-stop date of 31 December 2026. The CVR pays 20p if Brave Bison's 60-day average share price after its FY27 results is 94p or lower, with the outcome set in July 2028. The open questions are whether System1 holders accept, whether Brave Bison can pay the cash portion while repaying debt, and how many new shares it would issue. The company has not given a cash-funding plan in these documents. 13 Jan 2026 30 Apr 2026 26 Aug 2026 9 Oct 2026 7 Oct 2026
“the Board now expects to be in a position to repay all outstanding bank debt prior to the end of 2026” 13 Jan 2026
Written by AI from Brave Bison Group's own announcements since Oct 2023 · every paragraph links to its sources