Norman Broadbent PLC acquires outstanding interest in Norman

() said it has agreed to acquire the outstanding minority interest of 25% of Norman Broadbent Interim Management Limited (NBIM).

The professional services firm is buying the stake from Angela Hickmore, managing director at NBIM and Norman Broadbent Solutions, for £135,000 to be paid via an initial cash consideration of £65,000 at completion and the issue of consideration shares to the value of £70,000.

READ: Norman Broadbent maintains positive earnings despite coronavirus disruption

For the year ended December 341, 2019, NBIM generated net fee income (after interim costs) of £2.2mln, up from £191,000 in 2016, and a resulting profit of £248,000, up from £60,000 in 2016, the company said.

Following the appointment of Mike Brennan as Norman Broadbent’s Group chief executive in April 2016, NBIM was relaunched as part of a new strategy.

NBIM is now established in the group’s key areas of market and functional specialisations and has successfully leveraged the heritage/high-end Norman Broadbent brand, the AIM-listed firm said.

It is focused on securing the talents of senior-level interim professionals to meet short-term highly specialised needs and does not focus on the transactional/commoditised low margin end of the market like many of its peers.

In a statement, Brennan noted that Hickmore has played “a pivotal role in taking NBIM from being moribund, to something of substance”.

“Under her leadership, NBIM has grown and impacted positively on the wider Group financially and – critically – in terms of our client proposition,” he added.

“As we streamline the Group and create multi-service, client focussed ‘Hubs’, the acquisition of this minority interest fully aligns NBIM with the group. The acquisition also enables Angela, and other senior members of our wider team, to take on more responsibilities across the group as we move firmly into the next phase of growth.”