13 November 2012
Norman Broadbent plc
("Norman Broadbent" or "the Company")
Oversubscribed Placing, Acquisition and New Business Development Ventures
Norman Broadbent is pleased to announce that it has raised
£742,560 (the "Subscription") through the issue of 2,120,600 new
ordinary shares in the capital of the Company at a price of
35 pence per share (the "Subscription
Shares") to existing institutional investors, a Director of the
Company and another investor. The Subscription, which was
oversubscribed, is conditional upon admission of the Subscription
Shares to trading on AIM ("Admission"). The net proceeds of the
Subscription, amounting to approximately £730,000, will be invested
into three new complimentary business development ventures
(detailed below), which will enlarge and diversify the Company's
product offerings in line with the stated strategy of building a
group of complimentary, separately branded human capital
businesses. The Company has also issued 319,285 new ordinary shares
as part of the consideration for the acquisition of 51 per cent. of
the issued share capital of one of the new business development
ventures ("Acquisition Shares").
Pierce Casey, a Director of the
Company, has agreed to subscribe for 533,371 Subscription Shares as
part of the Subscription. Following Admission and the issue of the
Acquisition Shares his holding in the enlarged issued share capital
of the Company will be as follows:
No. of Shareholding Percentage
Subscription following holding of
Shares Admission enlarged
issued share
capital
Pierce Casey, Executive 533,371 3,200,598 24.53
Chairman
In addition, Jon Moulton, a
substantial shareholder of the Company, has agreed to subscribe for
533,371 Subscription Shares. Following Admission, Mr Moulton will
be beneficially interested in a total of 3,200,598 ordinary shares,
equivalent to 24.53 per cent. of the enlarged issued share capital
of the Company.
Due to the fact that Pierce Casey
is a Director of the Company and the size of his shareholding, his
participation in the Subscription constitutes a related party
transaction as defined by the AIM Rules. The participation in the
Subscription by Jon Moulton is also
a related party transaction as defined by the AIM Rules due to the
size of his shareholding. The Directors of the Company other than
Mr Casey, having consulted with Merchant Securities Limited, the
Company's Nominated Adviser, consider that Mr Casey's and Mr
Moulton's participations in the Subscription are fair and
reasonable insofar as shareholders are concerned.
Application will be made for the Subscription Shares and the
Acquisition Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM. Admission is
expected to become effective on 16 November
2012. Following the admission of the Subscription Shares and
the Acquisition Shares, the Company will have 13,048,686 ordinary
shares in issue.
New Business Development Ventures
The Company is investing in three new business development
areas:
- Extending NB: Leadership Consultancy and Executive Search into
France and Benelux;
- The creation of a new mid-market recruitment business; and
- Partnership in a new social media consultancy providing direct
solutions to in-house recruiters and a personal brand consultancy
in social media profiling.
European Acquisition:
The Company is pleased to announce the acquisition of 51 per
cent. of the issued share capital of Acker
Deboeck & Company SPRL ("Acker Deboeck") for a cash
consideration of €169,000 and the issue of the Acquisition Shares;
total consideration of £250,000. Acker
Deboeck is an established, profitable, board level
leadership consulting and executive search business. Headquartered
in Brussels, Acker Deboeck has strong European client
relationships, particularly in France.
Acker Deboeck was founded by
Michel Deboeck, an occupational
psychologist and former Chief Human Resource Officer at BNP Paribas
Fortis. Michel, Managing Partner of Acker
Deboeck, will retain a 49 per cent. interest in the company,
which will be rebranded and trade as Norman Broadbent from
January 2013. Michel will work
closely with the heads of the existing offices to focus on building
Norman Broadbent's market share across core European markets.
The acquisition builds on Norman Broadbent's growing reputation
in, and commitment to, leadership consulting. This commitment is
further demonstrated by the recent appointment of Carole Bodell as Managing Director of NB:
Leadership Consulting and HADIL. Carole has 25 years consultancy
experience with one of the world's largest specialist staffing
services and human capital consultancy companies. She also founded
HRi in the UK in 2000 as a joint venture with Vedior, which then
merged with Randstad in 2008. Carole has advised professionals, at
all levels, on behalf of a broad range of businesses from FTSE 100
companies to SMEs. Having sold her remaining shares in HRi last
year Carole is now looking to drive NB: Leadership Consultancy
aggressively over the coming years.
New Business Launch for Mid-Market Recruitment:
The Company will launch a separately branded, volume recruitment
business to capitalise on the growing trend in the market place to
seek a value driven recruitment solution below board level. This
wholly owned subsidiary company will target the hiring needs of
clients for mid and junior management levels on a typically
non-retained fee basis.
The strategy of this new business will be to build strong teams
initially servicing corporates in growth markets such as
technology, telecoms, pharmaceutical, healthcare and certain areas
within financial services. This will allow the Company to service
the needs of clients who are looking to experience an extension of
the relationship they hold with the Norman Broadbent search
business, but through a distinctly different service offering. Our
Chairman Pierce Casey, who has a
successful track record in this sector, will also chair this new
brand, which will be launched under a new, experienced team in
early 2013. The new business is expected to break-even within the
second year.
New Social Media Consultancy Partnership:
The Company is also pleased to announce a new partnership led by
Adam Gordon, the founder of
`WinningWork' and `Social Media Search', two established and
respected brands in the social media industry. The Company owns 51
per cent. of a new subsidiary which will initially trade under
these two brands with Adam Gordon,
as Chief Executive, retaining a 49 per cent. interest.
WinningWork focuses on providing a bespoke consulting service to
senior executives, developing their online business profiles and
personal brands. It also enables professional service executives to
generate targeted business development opportunities using
established social media platforms. Social Media Search will answer
the rapid response needs of internal recruiters. It will provide
businesses with quick, targeted candidate lists and reference
information, through skilled media trained employees who understand
the breadth of social media and how to access and verify accurate
information.
Pierce Casey, Executive Chairman,
commenting on the successful Subscription and new business
development ventures, said:
"Investment in these new companies represents a significant step
towards our stated objective of building a group of complimentary,
human capital businesses. The Norman Broadbent executive search
brand remains core to the group, but with these investments we have
the opportunity to diversify into the upper end of the high volume
recruitment market as well as building the board level leadership
consultancy business in the UK and Europe. As a result of this diversification
into services outside of core executive search, the board will be
considering a change of name for the Company to avoid any potential
conflict or devaluing of the Norman Broadbent brand at board
level.
We are delighted to welcome Michel, Carole, Adam and their respective teams to
the group."
Contacts:
Norman Broadbent plc 020 7484 0000
Pierce Casey / Sue O'Brien / Ben Felton
Merchant Securities Limited (Nominated Advisor & 020 7628 2200
Broker)
Simon Clements / Virginia Bull / Catherine Miles
Notes to Editors
Norman Broadbent plc is a leading provider of executive search
and leadership consultancy services. It offers board and executive
search services, interim management services and leadership
consultancy services, such as executive assessment and development,
talent management, and executive coaching services.
Headquartered in London, the
group operates globally and has offices in Barcelona, Bogota, Brussels, Dublin, Limassol, Milan, Madrid, Singapore, Los
Angeles and across the Middle
East.
For further information visit www.normanbroadbent.com