Staffline : Acquisition of Grafton's Ireland businesses

RNS Number : 3634V Staffline Group PLC

20 July 2018

For immediate release

20 July 2018

STAFFLINE GROUP PLC

("Staffline")

Acquisition of Grafton Recruitment's Ireland businesses ("Grafton")

Staffline, the Recruitment and Training group, announces today that it has completed the acquisi#on of two subsidiaries of Gra'on Recruitment Ireland Holdings Limited, Gra'on Recruitment Limited (Northern Ireland) and Gra'on Recruitment Limited (Republic of Ireland), together "Gra'on". Gra'on is a leading provider of recruitment and employment services in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, with over 30 years of experience. Based on the latest publicly available audited annual accounts to 31 March 2017, annual turnover of the two companies combined is £74m, pre-tax profit is £0.7m and net assets total £2.5m.

The acquisi#on supports Staffline's strategic goal to build and develop the largest, most reliable workforce across the UK and Ireland. The addi#on of Gra'on to Staffline's Ireland division will significantly increase the Group's scale and presence in the Irish market. Following this acquisi#on, Staffline will be the clear market leader in Northern Ireland and the second largest recruitment business across the island of Ireland. Tina McKenzie, Staffline's Group Managing Director in Ireland, will take responsibility for the Gra'on business, in addi#on to overseeing Staffline's exis#ng businesses across the island.

The acquisition is being funded out of Staffline's existing resources.

Chris Pullen, Chief Executive Officer of Staffline, commented:

"We are delighted to announce this strategic acquisi#on of Gra'on which will bring an extensive network of connec#ons and resources in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to the Staffline group. It will further strengthen our Ireland division, cemen#ng Staffline's posi#on as a leading recruitment business in the Irish market. With a number of large blue-chip clients, and as a respected brand amongst both employers and candidates across the island of Ireland, Grafton is an exciting addition to the Staffline network".

For further information, please contact:

Staffline Group plc

www.stafflinegroupplc.co.uk

Chris Pullen, Chief Executive OfficerMichael Watts, Group Chief Financial Officerinvestors@staffline.co.uk

07786 265344 07970 215262

Liberum NOMAD and Joint Broker Steve Pearce / Joshua Hughes

www.liberum.com 020 3100 2222

Berenberg Joint Broker

Chris Bowman / Toby Flaux

www.berenberg.com 020 3207 7800

Buchanan PR and Communicationswww.buchanan.uk.com Richard Oldworth / Jamie Hooper / Madeleine Seacombestaffline@buchanan.uk.com

020 7466 5000

About Staffline - Recruitment, Training and Support

Enabling the Future of Work™

Staffline is the UK's market leading Recruitment and Training group. It has two divisions:

Recruitment Division

The UK's leading provider of flexible blue-collar workers, supplying over 60,000 staff per day to c. 1,500 private sector clients, across a wide range of industries including agriculture, drinks, driving, food processing, logis#cs and manufacturing. It operates from over 400 locations in UK, Eire and Poland.

Its world leading Customer Experience plaLorm provides op#mised customer-based staffing management solu#ons whilst providing market-leading levels of job satisfaction for workers.

PeoplePlus Division

The leading adult skills and training provider in the UK, delivering appren#ceships, adult educa#on, prison educa#on and skills-based employability programmes across the country.

Education and Training - market leading provider of training courses for private sector Appren#ceships (both Levy and non-Levy) and Government funded Adult Skills programmes.

Employability - top quar#le performer, suppor#ng Government programmes providing back-to-work educa#on and support services to the unemployed.

Justice and Community - education and training services for prisoners and probationers, as well as individual support services for carers and people with disabilities, both at home and in the work place

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