Berkeley Scott Announces Intention to Float

Berkeley Scott Group Plc, a provider of resourcing solutions to the hospitality and leisure sector, today announces its intention to seek a listing on the AlM market.


Group Overview

Berkeley Scott has been developing and implementing comprehensive resourcing solutions for twenty years. The company specialises in all forms of recruitment including executive search, management recruitment, temporary recruitment, recruitment management systems and solutions, recruitment outsourcing, and recruitment advertising and communications. Organised into two business groups, Resourcing and Consulting, it seeks to provide broad-based ëpeople-solutionsí rather than pure recruitment.

The Group is focused on the hospitality and leisure sector which employs 1 in 10 of the UKís workforce, and experiences very high staff turnover (typically twice the national average). For the financial year 2003/4 the company filled over 150,000 vacant positions within the hospitality and leisure sector on both permanent and temporary contracts.

The Group is able to meet the resourcing requirements of its blue chip client base, through a 15 strong branch network located in principal cities across the UK. Major clients include: Compass Group, Sodexho, Hilton Hotels and InterContinental Hotels.

Over the past 2 years, in anticipation of the current upturn in the hospitality and leisure sector, the Group has invested significantly in developing its infrastructure to create an enhanced platform for growth.

For the 12 months ended 30 September 2004, it is estimated that Group sales have increased by 15% to 16.1m (2003: 14.5m).


Growth Strategy

Whilst continuing to extend its position as a market leading provider of resourcing solutions to the hospitality and leisure sector, Berkeley Scott is now planning to expand into a broader range of consumer focused, service orientated sectors including retail, FMCG, facilities management, travel and tourism.

The principal elements to the Groupís growth strategy are:

Strategic acquisitions to gain entry into related consumer markets.

Extend the Groupís national coverage by opening 5 new branches in: Belfast, Newcastle, Guildford, Dublin and Liverpool.

Benefit from improvements within the hotel and restaurant sector underpinned by signs of a return of the US visitors market to UK hotels.

Benefit from several factors driving change in the employment marketplace, namely; the increase in the European labour market following the expansion of the European Union in May 2004; the acute skills shortage in the hospitality sector and growing, complex employment related legislation.

IPO highlights

The Initial Public Offer (ìIPOî) will be effected by means of a Placing to institutional investors

The proceeds from the new ordinary shares to be issued by Berkeley Scott will be used to strengthen the balance sheet of the Group, as well as funding general working capital requirements

The management believes that the IPO will broaden awareness of the Group, incentivise staff and facilitate the Groupís strategy of expansion by acquisition and organic growth

Nominated Adviser and Broker to the issue is Evolution Securities Ltd

Roddy Watt, Berkeley Scottís Chief Executive, said:

ìBerkeley Scott has established its credentials within the leisure and hospitality sector as a management and temporary recruitment business, and is now well placed to replicate its ëpeople solutionsí resourcing model into new areas. The flotation will increase our visibility in the marketplace and enable us to seek out suitable acquisition opportunities within the retail, FMCG, facilities management, travel and tourism sectors.

As part of the IPO, Jeremy Hamer has been appointed as Chairman of Berkeley Scott after 4 years as a non executive Director. Jeremy has considerable public company experience, including non executive directorships with Glisten plc and Inter Link Foods plc, and is therefore ideally positioned to guide us through the transition into a public company and beyond.î