Acquisition of Diamond Recruitment Group

STAFFLINE GROUP PLC

("Staffline" or "the Group")

Acquisition of Diamond Recruitment Group

Staffline, the Staffing and Employability organisation, providing people and operational expertise to industry, today announces the acquisition of Diamond Recruitment Group ("Diamond"), a leading recruitment agency based in Northern Ireland.

Diamond specialises in temporary and permanent recruitment solutions and has expertise in a number of Staffline's core business sectors. Diamond brings a number of large blue-chip clients based in Northern Ireland as well as knowledge of the local area and an excellent reputation with clients.

The acquisition is in line with Staffline's strategy to expand geographically and will accelerate the growth of the existing Staffline Ireland division opened in 2013. As one of the largest recruitment agencies in Northern Ireland, Diamond provides over 2,000 workers a day from a database of over 59,000 candidates, adding significant scale to Staffline's local presence.

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

Andy Hogarth, Chief Executive of Staffline, commented:

"This acquisition fits our strategy of selective bolt-on acquisitions and will expand our Staffline Ireland division, enhancing our reach and customer base considerably. We are delighted to welcome the Diamond team to the Group and look forward to continuing to grow our business in Northern Ireland."

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About Staffline

Staffline is a leading outsourcing organisation providing Staffing services to industry, supplying up to 36,000 workers every day to more than 1,300 clients. The Group is also a leading provider of services in to the Government funded Welfare to Work and Skills arena across the UK.

The business comprises two key areas:

Staffing Services

Specialising in providing complete labour solutions in agriculture, food processing, manufacturing, e-retail, driving and the logistics sectors, the Staffing business operates from well over 300 locations in the UK, Eire and Poland.

The Staffing brands include:

·    Staffline OnSite, based on clients' premises and providing both blue and white collar, out-sourced,   temporary workforces

·    Select Appointments, a high street branch-based operation providing white collar office staff, operated entirely on a franchised basis by independent business owners

·    Staffline Express, a high street branch based operation

·    Driving Plus, providing HGV drivers to the logistics industry

·    Staffline Agriculture, providing workers to the UK farming and growing sectors

Employability, Skills and Justice

PeoplePlus is one of the largest Prime Contractors of the Work Programme in the UK. Our Employability, Skills and Justice division has over 150 locations nationwide. Contracts include:

·    Work Programme, prime contractor in nine regions in England and four sub-contracted regions

·    Steps to Success, prime contractor in Northern Ireland

·    Skills Funding Agency - managing the Offenders Learning and Skills Service ("OLASS 4")

·    The Money Advice Service ("TMAS")

·    Independent Living Services

·    New Enterprise Allowance scheme - supporting people to become self-employed

·    Suffolk County Council MyGo centre supporting youth employment

·    Ministry of Justice Transforming Rehabilitation in Warwickshire and West Mercia

The Group also operates in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Australia and provides grade 2 training services in the UK through:

·    Elpis, a national training consultancy,

·    Learning Plus, an e-learning platform

·    Skillspoint, a procurement consultancy specialising in helping employers benefit from government funded, work-based training