£16.5m just the job as recruiter sells

A 43-YEAR-OLD London recruitment consultant proved today that there is plenty of money to be made out of social work.

Paul Godfrey, who owns and runs Swiss Cottage-based Action First Recruitment Consultants, is set to scoop up to £16.5m after selling the business to acquisitive stock market new boy Public Recruitment Group (PRG), which is fast expanding its practice placing doctors, teachers and social workers.

PRG is paying £11.5m in cash, loan notes and shares for Action First, rising to £16.5m should profit targets be hit in two years' time.

Most of that is set to go to Godfrey, who set up the business 20 years ago and employs 24 people.

Placing social workers has proved good business for Godfrey. He had sales of £14.5m last year and made profits of about £1.4m before he paid himself £1.2m.

Godfrey will be contracted to stay with PRG for at least the next year. PRG chairman and chief executive Andrew Goodman has high hopes for Action First, which will give the company exposure to the market in the south for social workers. After floating in the spring, PRG has already bought up a market specialist in the north.

'As in education and healthcare, the market in social workers is candidate-driven,' said Goodman.

'There are shortages in the market, shortages caused by the shortfall in numbers training and with the problems of retaining people.'