The group chief executive of industrial outsourcing and staffing business Staffline Group says he has turned down two opportunities to buy failed industrial recruiters in the last month.
At yesterday’s group Annual General Meeting (AGM), Hogarth reiterated that selective bolt-on acquisitions continue to play an important role in Staffline’s growth strategy.
However, following the AGM, Hogarth told Recruiter that he recently turned down two possible acquisitions.
“A couple of receivers approached us with businesses for sale,” said Hogarth. Both companies were industrial/blue collar recruiters, with a turnover of around £6m, he added.
Hogarth said Staffline had put in an offer for both companies, but that other people, in both case the existing management team, had offered more.
Last year, Staffline made a number of acquisitions, including Kelburn Industrial in January 2011, FourstaR Employment & Skills in April 2011 and Taskforce in September 2011, companies that made a major contribution to a 40% increase in Staffline Group revenue to £288.3m in 2011.
Hogarth told the AGM that the company had made a good start to the financial year and that demand for its services had been steady.
However, he warned that against the backdrop of “a weakening UK economy” it was “too early to draw firm conclusions about the financial year as a whole”.
