Completed last Friday (20 July), the acquisition will expand Absolute DM’s data and content-driven marketing services and boost its offering to clients.

“I’ve known the previous owners of Telescope for a number of years. I used to work at Garnett Dickinson and used to partner with them,” said Absolute DM owner Carl Garnett.

“We kept in touch and we were looking at partnering with them on a few projects and discussions went from there.”

He added: “I believe this acquisition will bring an additional level of added value to our current services, allowing us to immediately offer our clients more effective marketing campaign support.

“I believe the pre-media part of what we do is vital. These days, with multi-channel output, holding accurate assets and consistent quality at the front end is really important and I think data and asset management is intrinsically linked.

“We hold some databases for some customers but we’re more of a production-based business so this essentially bolts on the front end of what we do but enhances what we already have as well, so it’s a strong addition to the group.”

Telescope’s service offering includes a specifically developed software that ensures digital and printed media channels are seamlessly synchronised and that communications are consistently high quality.

“This acquisition will enable us to provide brand owners with improved, technically led production workflows for their web and design for print requirements,” said Telescope managing director Ian Leach.

Telescope’s 19 staff have joined Absolute DM’s four staff in the now 23-strong group.

Both businesses will remain based at their own leased sites, at least for the time being, and Telescope will retain its branding.

Absolute DM achieved a turnover of £3m last year and is on track to achieve £3.5m this year, while Telescope has a turnover of £1.5m, taking the combined group to a circa-£5m entity.

Working with clients in sectors including travel, mail order, direct marketing, education and retail, Absolute DM outsources print to a roster of trusted suppliers and partners.