Marlowe Regulatory News (MRL)

2 March 2021

Marlowe plc

Acquisitions of YouManage HR Ltd, ESP and HR Services Partnership Ltd

Marlowe plc ("Marlowe" or the "Group"), the UK leader in business critical services and software which assure safety and regulatory compliance, announces the acquisition of three businesses in the HR & Employment Law compliance space: YouManage Ltd ("YouManage"), ESP Ltd, ESP Law Ltd and ESP Safeguard Ltd (together, "ESP") and HR Services Partnership Ltd ("HRSP").

YouManage, an HR software business, was acquired for a total consideration of £1.25m, comprising a £0.75m upfront consideration and a deferred element of £0.5m. YouManage is an HR software solution, delivered as a subscription, helping businesses across the UK to manage their employees and to remain compliant with employment law. For the year to 31 December 2020, YouManage generated £0.5m of revenue and £0.25m of EBITDA.

ESP, the employment law compliance specialist, was acquired for a total consideration of £3.2m, comprising a £2.5m upfront consideration and a deferred element of £0.7m. Based in Weybridge, ESP is an SRA-regulated business providing recurring employment law advice to clients across the UK. For the year to 31 December 2020, ESP generated £1.9m of revenues and £0.5m of EBITDA.

HR compliance specialist HRSP was acquired for a total consideration of £0.7m. Located in Horsham, HRSP provides HR advisory services to businesses and charities across the UK. For the year to 31 December 2020, HRSP generated revenues of £1.2m and EBITDA of £0.25m.

All three acquisitions will be integrated into Marlowe's existing HR, Employment Law & Safety platform Ellis Whittam, reporting as part of Marlowe's Governance, Risk & Compliance division, where there is the opportunity to unlock synergies and cross-sell Marlowe's broader specialist Health & Safety services to the acquired businesses' customer base. The acquisitions will be funded from Marlowe's existing cash resources.

Alex Dacre, Chief Executive of Marlowe plc, said:

"We are pleased to announce three bolt-on acquisitions which strengthen our HR & Employment Law offering. These acquisitions are consistent with the three-year strategy recently announced at Marlowe's Capital Markets Day to deepen and broaden our presence in core markets from selective acquisitions. Additionally, the YouManage software advances our Digital software strategy and will become the Group's HR software platform offering significant synergies with Ellis Whittam, which lacked a proprietary platform to implement across its client base before today's deal."

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About Marlowe plc

Marlowe is a UK leader in business critical services and software which assure safety and regulatory compliance. The company was formed to create sustainable shareholder value through the acquisition and development of businesses that provide regulated safety and compliance services. It is focused on health & safety, compliance software, employment law & HR compliance, fire safety, security, water treatment & air hygiene and occupational health services - all of which are vital to the wellbeing of its customers operations and are invariably governed by regulation. Marlowe currently provides services to over 15% of Britain's commercial premises and is increasingly attractive to customers who require a single outsourced, nationwide, provider of a comprehensive range of regulated compliance and safety services. Our customers can be found in most office complexes, high streets & leisure facilities, manufacturing plants and industrial estates, and include thousands of SMEs, local authorities, facilities management providers, multi-site NHS trusts and FTSE 100 companies.