Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire-based F I Group Plc, better known as F International or Steve Shirley’s company, and famed for its flexible business approach which includes telecommuting, has acquired AMP Recruitment for an undisclosed sum. The move heralds a new strategy for F I which now intends to pursue an aggressive acquisition policy. F I chief Hilary Cropper said that the company had been looking at a number of placement and agency companies that would be complementary to F I, and had come across AMP Recruitment and liked it. So the parent company AMP Group Ltd was approached and was disposed to sell the UKP3.3m turnover business. AMP Recruitment will continue to be based in Teddington, Middlesex and will operate independently – there will be no change in staffing levels or market approach. There is some overlap between the two companies in terms of the three vertical markets in which F I operates – these being the financial, commercial and public sectors. However, Cropper says that there is not much overlap in client base so that the acquisition should bring new clients to both parties. Other acquisitions are likely to follow in the support and maintenance and training fields. This move towards an acquisitive strategy has been encouraged by F I’s new chairman Sir Peter Thompson famed for leading National Freight’s employee buyout. Indeed, F I is no longer considering a flotation on the stock market because of adverse market conditions. Instead it looks likely that Sir Peter will lead some kind of workforce buyout of the company’s shares from the institutional investors that hold them.
