Cheshire recruitment company may be put on the market

NES Group, the Cheshire-based recruitment company, might be put up for sale for an estimated £150m by its private equity owners Graphite Capital, who are understood to be examining strategic options.

The recruitment business provides engineering and technology staff on temporary and permanent contracts to mainly large energy and infrastructure clients including Exxon, Mobil, Shell BP, Chevron, Total and Siemens.

NES has expanded into 40 countries in recent years and has just announced an increase in annual profits to £12.6m for the 12 months to 31 October, 2010, up from £12.02m the previous year. Sales climbed from £278.2m to £284.7m.

In 2006, Graphite Capital backed the management buy-out led by the highly experienced Neil Tregarthen (still the NES chief executive), from Bridgepoint Capital in an £86m deal. Bridgepoint itself had backed a previous £32m MBO deal in 1999. Since Tregarthen’s appointment in 2004, NES has steadily grown its revenues and profits each year.

NES has 330 staff in total, with 110 based in its Altrincham office. The company forecasts even stronger growth in 2011, targeting sales of £320m. The firm recently announced that first quarter sales for the current year are already up 20 per cent.



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