What DM Plc. does

DM plc (legally DM Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 04020844) is a UK-based marketing and database management group that operates two core divisions. Its Customer Recruitment Division designs, promotes, and distributes a proprietary range of response-orientated online and telephone surveys that bring new customers into the group's database for profitable communication. Its Database Management Division maintains a response-driven database of over 20 million customers, which the company describes as the largest response database in the UK in its market sector, combined with one of the largest UK lifestyle databases to provide access to telephone and email data for marketing campaigns across post, phone, mobile, email, and internet channels.

The group's data assets were assembled through a series of acquisitions: Data Locator Group Ltd (November 2008), PDV Ltd (April 2009), Accolade Publishing Ltd (2015, bringing The Prize Finder and Compers News competition websites), and the Transactis datapool (July 2017, adding transactional data from major UK mail-order businesses). Other subsidiaries include Database Holdings Ltd and My Offers 2019 Ltd. The company also references "Everyone - The Smart Consumer Data Platform" as a product offering within its announcements portfolio. The group is founder-led, with Adrian John Williams serving as Chairman and controlling shareholder following the Scheme of Arrangement that returned DM plc to private status effective 26 January 2012; Mark Winter (KPMG-trained chartered accountant, appointed 17 June 2005) serves as Finance Director.

DM plc serves Blue Chip companies and marketing/advertising organisations requiring compliance-focused consumer data and lead generation services, distributing exclusively through direct sales within a UK-only geographic footprint from its headquarters in Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire. Pricing is not publicly disclosed. Revenue is not reported; the only disclosed profit indicators are £837k (year ended 31 December 2014) and £344k (year ended 31 December 2015), with the chairman reporting a strong net cash position and attributing earlier weakness to OFT regulatory proceedings and difficult market conditions. No subsequent financial figures are publicly disclosed despite annual chairman reports continuing through year-end 31 December 2024.

Name

DM Plc.

Legal name

DM Ltd

Website

https://dmplc.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

DM plc is a UK-based, founder-owned marketing and database management group operating a 20-million-record response database and one of the UK's largest lifestyle databases, supplying consumer data and lead generation to Blue Chip companies and marketing organisations across multiple channels.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Marketing Data Services

NAICS

Direct Mail Advertising (54186), Direct Mail Advertising (541860), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182), Marketing Research and Public Opinion Polling (541910)

SIC

Services-Direct Mail Advertising Services (7331), Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370), Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation (7374)

akta.pro primary industry

Enterprise Application Data Migration & Master Data Management Services (BPAEAGAJ)

Keywords

• Consumer data services
• Database marketing solutions
• Lead generation services
• Customer recruitment surveys
• Lifestyle data provision

Headquarters

HQ city

Ross On Wye

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Others

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

DM plc is a UK marketing and database management company operating two core divisions: a Customer Recruitment Division that designs and distributes proprietary response-orientated online and telephone surveys to bring new customers into the group's database, and a Database Management Division that maintains a response-driven database of over 20 million customers combined with one of the UK's largest lifestyle databases, providing access to telephone and email data for marketing campaigns across post, phone, mobile, email and internet channels.

Product overview

DM plc operates as a marketing and database management company with two core divisions: Customer Recruitment Division and Database Management Division. The company offers a portfolio of products including proprietary online and telephone survey tools, a database management platform managing over 20 million customers, and multiple acquired brands including Data Locator Group (DLG), PDV Ltd, Accolade Publishing, and Transactis. The group provides consumer lifestyle data services across marketing channels including post, phone, mobile, email, and internet, serving blue chip companies with data and lead generation needs. Notable sub-brands include The Prize Finder and Compers News competition websites, and the DM Response transactional database broker.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• The Prize Finder: Online competition website operated by Accolade Publishing Ltd, one of the largest online comping websites in the UK
• Compersnews

Products and services

• Customer Recruitment Division

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• PartyGaming PlcminorOthers · 9 March 2009DM plc signed a bingo and casino agreement with PartyGaming Plc in March 2009. This was one of several commercial partnerships during the company's growth phase.
• Cornhill DirectminorOthers · 4 October 2005DM plc won a contract with Cornhill Direct in October 2005 to supply data for up to five years. This represents a client/vendor relationship for data supply.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Experian plc: Experian is a global information services giant offering consumer and marketing data alongside credit services. Comparable as a broad incumbent in UK consumer data, though DM plc operates at a much smaller scale and is more narrowly focused on response-driven marketing data.
• Kantar: Kantar is WPP's market research and consumer insights arm providing large-scale consumer panel and audience data. Comparable to DM plc in monetizing consumer data for marketing decisioning, but as a much larger, broader incumbent with global reach.
• Dunnhumby: Dunnhumby is a UK-founded customer data science firm (Tesco heritage) providing consumer insight and loyalty data services to retailers and brands. Comparable as a UK-headquartered consumer data analytics specialist but operating at larger scale and broader scope than DM plc.
• IRI (now Circana): Circana (formerly IRI) is a global market research and consumer purchase data firm specializing in retail and FMCG point-of-sale data. Comparable to DM plc in monetizing transactional and consumer purchase data for CPG/retail advertisers, though at much larger scale.

Direct peers

• Cision: Cision is a global PR, media intelligence and marketing data platform providing audience and contact data to communicators and marketers. Comparable to DM plc as a B2B data provider monetizing opt-in marketing databases for enterprise buyers.
• Acxiom (LiveRamp): LiveRamp (formerly Acxiom) is a global data connectivity and marketing data platform, historically one of the largest consumer data brokers. Comparable to DM plc as a competitor in the consumer response/lifestyle data category serving large enterprise advertisers.
• GBG Group plc: GBG is an AIM-listed UK identity verification and consumer data provider serving enterprises with compliant data assets. Comparable to DM plc as a UK-listed data services firm monetizing verified consumer data for regulated enterprise customers.
• Whistl (formerly Royal Mail Data Services): Whistl is a major UK direct mail and door-drop marketing services provider with proprietary data and targeting capabilities. Comparable to DM plc because both serve UK advertisers with direct mail campaign execution and supporting consumer data assets.
• CACI Limited: CACI is a UK-headquartered consumer and location data analytics firm providing marketing data, customer insight and Acorn segmentation to UK enterprises. Directly comparable to DM plc as a B2B UK consumer data provider targeting enterprise marketing buyers.

Others

• Royal Mail Group: Royal Mail operates the UK postal infrastructure underpinning direct mail delivery. Comparable to DM plc as an ecosystem participant and adjacent infrastructure provider for the same direct mail channel that DM plc's data assets support.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/dm-plc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A4 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about DM Plc.