Acquisition

Tribal Group PLC 22 January 2004 For release at 7.00 a.m. on 22 January 2004 Tribal Group plc Acquisition of Succession Planning Associates Limited Tribal Group plc ('Tribal Group'), the provider of professional support services to the UK public sector, is pleased to announce that it has completed the acquisition of Succession Planning Associates Limited ('SPA') for a total consideration of up to £3.1 million. SPA is a leading executive search and selection company specialising in the placement of senior staff in Central Government departments. The company predominantly operates under a framework agreement with the Cabinet Office which oversees recruitment of senior staff within Central Government. Specific Central Government clients include the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Department for Transport and Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The framework agreement runs until September 2005 but can be extended by mutual agreement for a further two years. SPA will operate as part of Tribal HR and will complement Tribal's existing search and selection services. Currently, Tribal HR has particular strengths in recruiting senior staff in local government, education and the NHS. The acquisition of SPA will provide Tribal HR with a leading position in Central Government recruitment and will allow SPA to provide its clients with a broader range of services. The consideration for the entire issued share capital of SPA will be up to £3.1 million of which £1.7 million was paid on completion with deferred consideration of up to £1.4 million payable based on the growth in operating profit of SPA in the three years ending 31 March 2007. The deferred consideration will be satisfied by the issue of new Tribal Group shares or, at Tribal Group's option, loan notes. The initial consideration of £1.7 million has been satisfied by: • £1.4 million in cash; and • the issue of 90,206 new ordinary shares of 5p each in Tribal Group plc Of the cash consideration paid on completion, £0.5 million related to a freehold property which, immediately following completion, was the subject of a sale and leaseback with the SPA vendor. In the 12 months ended 31 December 2003, SPA had a normalised operating profit of £296,000 on turnover of £865,000. Net assets at 31 December 2003 were £346,000. Application will be made for admission of the 90,206 shares to be issued as initial consideration to trading on the Official List of the London Stock Exchange. It is expected that these shares will be admitted to the Official List on 28 January 2004. The shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares of 5p each in Tribal Group. The SPA vendor has given an undertaking not to sell the shares issued as part of the initial consideration for a period of 12 months. Commenting on the announcement, Henry Pitman, Chief Executive of Tribal Group, said: 'We are delighted that SPA has agreed to join Tribal Group. SPA is highly regarded in its field and will provide the Group's HR business with an excellent entry point into the Central Government market. The acquisition of SPA is an important step in our plan to develop the leading search and selection business operating across the public sector.' For further information contact: Henry Pitman, Chief Executive, Tribal Group plc Tel:01285 886020 End This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange CQDGGZMLMVGDZM

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Tribal Group (TRB)
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