LONDON — The PHA Group has made its first acquisition, buying digital agency Red Hot Penny for an undisclosed sum.

Red Hot Penny was founded in 2015 and specialises in SEO, pay-per-click and digital analytics, with clients including La Perla, Megabus and Skatehut.

The agency will be integrated into The PHA Group to establish a new digital division, led by Red Hot Penny’s former managing director, David Schulhof. He will report into PHA’s group managing directors Shelley Frosdick (pictured, left) and Stuart Skinner (right), who were promoted into the roles in 2020 when CEO Mark Gregory retired.

Red Hot Penny’s former client services director Jodie Wheeler will become associate director in the new digital division. In total, 13 employees have joined from Red Hot Penny, bringing The PHA Group team to 117.

Frosdick said PHA had grown by 20% in the past year, increasing its fee income past £10 million, with further UK regional growth planned to build on the agency’s presence in London and Manchester.

She said: “It has been great to get to know David and his team; they are an impressive group with complementary skills and a shared cultural approach focused on the highest quality work. We fully expect the digital team to become another driver for growth and opportunity.”

Schulhof added: “Our desire to provide clients with the best possible support, as well as offer our employees continual development opportunities, meant that we needed to evolve as an agency. Becoming part of The PHA Group ticks all these boxes and together we will deliver an industry-leading proposition.”