AIM stock market rivals join forces

AIM stock market listed engineering recruiter Matchtech has agreed to acquire rival AIM stock market listed recruiter Networkers International plc. Established in 1984 and AIM listed in 2006,  Matchtech have become one of the UK’s top specialist recruitment companies with revenue in excess of £450m.

The boards of both companies agreed engineering specialist Matchtech could acquire telecoms- and technology-focused Networkers for 34p per share in cash plus Matchtech shares, which values Networkers at £57.9m and 67.4p per share on a fully diluted basis.

Commenting, John Holland from Holland Bendelow said ‘‘The purchase of Networkers International plc scales up Matchtech in the UK and internationally, increasing the company focus on niche markets in the white collar recruitment space’’.

Matchtech’s net fee income in the six months to 31 January 2015 was up 2% compared to the same period last year, with engineering up 6%. A trading update from Networkers confirmed trading activity during its second half was “much improved” compared with the first. This was driven by improved market conditions in the group’s telecoms division as well as continued strong growth in the energy and engineering division. The second half of the year’s trading also showed an improvement compared to the second half last year.