Chime Communications plc : Chime Communications Establishes 'Essentially France'

Chime Communications PLC, a leading marketing services group and Essentially Group Limited (Essentially), announce the acquisition of 85% of the share capital of Essentially France.

Essentially France was established by Chime, specifically to acquire the Rugby player agency businesses of Pascal Forni, Miguel Fernandez, Laurent Laffitte and Nigel Geany (the 'founders'). France is the largest player management market in world Rugby and Essentially France is now the leading Rugby player agency in France.

The new business will trade as Essentially France and is a subsidiary of Essentially Group Limited, itself a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chime. Essentially France represented 14 of the 2011 Rugby World Cup squad for France. In addition, the company represents such luminaries of the game as Sebastien Chabal, the new France coach Philippe Saint-Andre and has a strong presence in Argentina where their clients include Captain Felipe Contemponi.

Bart Campbell, CEO of Essentially said, "We are delighted to welcome this quality team into Essentially and Chime respectively. They have been our preferred partners in France for a number of years and it will further enhance our offering having them as part of the Group. The founders have assisted in the past with the contracts in France for Essentially clients such as Dan Carter's move to USAP (Perpignan), Francois Steyn's move to Racing Metro, Bakkies Botha and Carl Hayman to Toulon amongst others.

We look forward to working with them in building a broader business for Essentially France over the coming years. France is a hugely important Rugby market, and this will complement our existing Rugby offices in the UK, NZ, SA and Australia".

Ends

For further information, please contact:

Bart Campbell
CEO, Essentially
Tel: [phone]
Email: [e-mail]

Notes to editors

ESSENTIALLY is a wholly-owned subsidiary of FTSE-quoted Chime Communications Plc and is a leading sports marketing, media and management agency.

The business is split into two divisions: sports marketing, comprising rights sales, consultancy and events management; and athlete management.

Essentially has a strong and focused positioning in its core sports of expertise including cricket, rugby union and rugby league, providing a strategic platform for growth and market expertise.