With the ink barely dry on the OFT's formal approval of Durrants' acquisition of elements of its former closest rival, the media planning and monitoring firm has this week announced the acquisition of Metrica, one of the world's leading media analysis and evaluation companies.

Jeremy Thompson, Durrants Managing Director, comments: "This acquisition cements Durrants' position as the leading provider of media intelligence services to the communications industry. We have seen significant growth in the demand for media evaluation over the last 12 months and invested heavily in our products and services."

Richard Bagnall, Metrica Managing Director, added ""The combination of Metrica and Durrants is a powerful one: Metrica is an established business with a reputation for excellence and innovation, which will add an exciting new dimension to Durrants' proposition".

Durrant's had only recently acquired the print monitoring business of former rival, and now channel partner, Cision (Takeover Tales - Communicate magazine 29th July).

Ironically, both Durrants and Metrica are shortlisted for the same category at this year's media measurement and evaluation awards, organised by the industry body AMEC. The awards take place on the 18th November, and the shortlist was announced here last month.