Nottingham-based recruitment firm Staffline (STAF: LSE) announced yesterday that it has conditionally agreed to acquire Avanta Enterprise Limited, a provider of Welfare to Work and skills training services across the UK, for £65.45 million.

According to Staffline, the key strategic drivers for the acquisition include:

• The creation of the UK’s third largest Welfare to Work provider which the Directors believe will greatly enhance Staffline’s position for bidding future contracts
• The enlarged Welfare to Work division will provide complimentary scale and cross selling opportunities to Staffline’s existing Onsite operations, which are particularly strong in the East Midlands and North-West of England
• Profits of the enlarged group will become more evenly balanced between Welfare to Work and Staffline’s broader recruitment services on completion of the Acquisition
• Bringing Avanta’s experienced management team into Staffline, alongside EOS’ existing team, to accelerate the Company’s strategic goal of becoming the leading Welfare to Work provider

Andy Hogarth, Chief Executive of Staffline commented: “We are delighted to be announcing the conditional acquisition of Avanta today, which will represent a new and exciting chapter in the ongoing development of our business.  Welfare to Work has become an important growth driver for the Company and the opportunity to accelerate and expand our ongoing activities signals a significant step change for Staffline.”

“The combination of Avanta and EOS, our top performing Welfare to Work operation, will create a significant opportunity from which to deliver outstanding service to our clients whilst leveraging the competences and skillsets from our core recruitment services,” he concluded.