Now Recruitment, headquartered in Birmingham, has acquired Breeze Resources Limited for an undisclosed sum from Dragon’s Den star James Caan. The acquisition excludes the company’s City Division, which is now owned by a new company called Breeze City Limited.
The funding for the deal was provided by the Recruitment Finance Division of Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance and Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets. It forms part of a working capital package designed to give the company headroom for further growth.
The purchase is the latest by Now Recruitment’s managing director Gary Redman who has expanded the business through organic growth and by acquisition since he started the company 15 years ago.
Originally called Skillman Contract Services, Now Recruitment’s first office was above a local Birmingham nightclub. Since then, Now has expanded its operations to Newcastle, Nottingham, Edinburgh, Cardiff, London and Sydney in Australia.
Gary says: “The funding has allowed us to push forward with our growth strategy whilst giving us the working capital to pay our temps on a weekly basis, which is crucial for any recruitment business.
“Despite the doom and gloom being reported, we have exceeded our forecast for the first quarter and remain optimistic. We’ll continue to look at expanding the business and are currently exploring the market in Dubai.”
Mark Parsons, Regional Manager for Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance structured the deal with Richard Smith, Relationship Director from Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets. The overall package was worth £9 million and included £7 million advanced from invoice discounting.
This deal is the latest undertaken by the specialist Recruitment Finance Division of Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance. The ambitious Division aims to secure nine percent of the recruitment market’s value by the end of 2008. The Now Recruitment deal will help achieve this.
Mark comments: “We’ve been talking to Gary for some time and are pleased we were able to deliver a flexible, tailored solution that helped him achieve the business objectives. We’re looking forward to working in partnership with him to take the company forward.”
“At the end of the day Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance and Lloyds TSB Corporate Markets offered me business solutions, not problems. That’s what made all the difference,” Gary concluded.
7 May 2008