Staffline Regulatory News (STAF)

STAFFLINE GROUP PLC

("Staffline" or "the Group")

ACQUISITION OF SOFTMIST LIMITED

Staffline Group, the national outsourcing organisation providing people and operational expertise to industry and Welfare to Work services in the UK, today announces the acquisition of of Softmist Limited, based in Leicester, which trades as 'Skillspoint'.

Skillspoint is a training procurement consultancy, specialising in government-funded work-based training. By sourcing potential providers from its network of quality assured partners Skillspoint uses its expertise to access government funding to subsidise the cost of clients' training programmes as well as offering its own training services.

Following the acquisition in May 2014 of Avanta Enterprise, a leading provider of skills training services across the UK, the acquisition of Skillspoint further enhances Staffline's position in the training sector, which also forms part of Staffline's longer term strategy of expanding its activities in the Welfare to Work arena.

The acquisition will be earnings neutral in the current financial year and is being funded from the Group's existing bank facility.

Andy Hogarth, Chief Executive of Staffline, commented:

"This acquisition further demonstrates our strategy of selective bolt-on acquisitions and supports our increasing focus on the Welfare to Work and training sectors. Skillspoint have demonstrated excellent knowledge in this area, we are delighted to welcome them to Staffline and look forward to using their skillsbase as we grow not only in this sector but also in our core recruitment business."

About Staffline

Staffline Group plc was historically a recruitment organisation specialising in food processing, manufacturing, e-retail, driving and logistics. Over recent years the Company has grown to also become a significant welfare to work and skills provider in the UK. 

We provide and manage industrial workforces and use training and business improvement techniques to ensure increased levels of efficiency to give our clients a significant commercial advantage. Our recruitment business now operates from well over 200 locations in the UK, Ireland and Poland, supplying up to 33,000 temporary workers each day. 

Our recruitment brands now include Select Appointments, providing white collar office staff and Staffline Express, providing blue collar staff, both High Street branch operations. Staffline OnSite is based on clients' premises and also provides both blue collar and white collar temporary staff, Driving Plus provides HGV drivers, Staffline Agriculture provides workers to the UK farming and growing sectors, while Resourcing Plus offers cost effective permanent recruitment solutions.

Our other areas of operation include Elpis, a national training and consultancy organisation, OSP, a specialist volume recruitment call centre and Avanta (which includes Staffline's original EOS), a provider of Welfare to Work and skills training services across the UK helping the long term unemployed back in to work. We expanded our training capabilities in 2013 with Learning Plus, a technologically advanced e-learning platform designed to deliver extremely cost effective work-based skills training.