Empresaria Group Regulatory News (EMR)

20 Sep 2005 07:02

Empresaria Group PLC20 September 2005 Empresaria Group plc ("Empresaria" or "the Group") Acquisition Following shareholder approval at the Annual General Meeting held on 9 June2005, Empresaria is pleased to announce that on 19 September 2005 the Groupacquired Tony Martin's, the Group's Chairman, 50 per cent. holding in InterimManagement International Limited ("IMI") for a consideration of £345,000. Theconsideration was satisfied by the issue of 526,717 Empresaria ordinary sharesof 5 pence each at a price of 65.5 pence per share (the "Consideration Shares").The price per ordinary share is the average mid-market closing price of ordinaryshares over the previous five business days. The acquisition takes Empresaria's shareholding in IMI to 100 per cent.. IMIholds 90 per cent. of Skillhouse Staffing kk ("SKS"), the Group's Japanesestaffing operation, with the balance of the shares being held by management. Commenting on the acquisition, Miles Hunt, the Group's Chief Executive said: "The Group's early acquisition of Tony's holding in SKS reflects the excellentperformance of the business in its first few months of trading, which hasconfirmed our belief that the Japanese staffing market offers a significantopportunity for growth. We expect SKS to trade significantly ahead of ourexpectations in 2006 and our 90 per cent. holding in it will allow us toconsolidate its results for the first time." Following the issue of the Consideration Shares, Tony Martin holds 1,652,807ordinary shares in the Group, representing 7.75 per cent. of the Group'senlarged issued share capital. Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange to admitthe Consideration Shares to trading on AIM. The Consideration Shares will rankpari passu in all respects with the existing issued shares and trading isexpected to commence on 23 September 2005. For further enquiries please contact: Empresaria Group Plc 01293 649 900Miles Hunt, Chief ExecutiveNick Hall-Palmer, Finance Director This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange