Tarsus sells French division to Magellan VI

Media company Tarsus Group has reached an agreement to sell its French business to Magellan VI SAS for €9.2m (£6.6m).

The London-listed company said the sale of Tarsus France Holdings was in line with the group's strategy focused on accelerating financial returns to shareholders and targeting of faster growing economies.

Tarsus said it will receive £5.2m upon completion of the deal with a further £1.6m to be received by 31 December 2016.

Tarsus’s French division, which owns a broad portfolio of exhibitions and conferences in France covering sectors including education, marketing, IT and the events and meetings industry, generated a profit before tax for the year ended 31 December 2014 of €0.9m and had gross assets of €24.7m.

“Our strategy has seen us increasingly focus on economies we believe offer the best opportunity for growth,” said group managing director Douglas Emslie.

“The disposal of our French business will allow us to recycle capital and continue to invest in these higher growth economies."

Tarsus shares were up 1.24% to 204.50p at 15:35 on Monday.