Recruitment group expands with European funding
Healthcare specialist Castlerock Recruitment Group says its turnover will rise by 40% from £15m to £21m following investment in February from the North West Fund for Development Capital, managed by YFM Equity Partners.
St Helens-based Castlerock provides permanent and temporary staff to clients including the Ministry of Defence, NHS and HM Prisons.
The firm has 11 offices across the UK, with the latest additions in Cumbria and Stoke-on-Trent. The business has grown from 88 staff to 110 in the past six months.
The North West Fund for Development Capital is a sub-fund of the £170m North West Fund, which is financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the European Investment Bank. The North West Fund for Development Capital provides finance from £100,000 to £2m. In return, the fund manager takes an equity stake in the business. The terms of the Castlerock deal were not disclosed.
Ian McDougall, director of Castlerock, said: "The funding has enabled us to grow at a much faster rate and has provided us with a fantastic resource to increase the size of our team and boost the company's turnover. Importantly, we also now have the support and infrastructure in place to continue to prosper."
Joseph Bergin head of YFM Equity Partners in the North West, which manages The North West Fund for Development Capital, said: "The difference the funding has made to Castlerock in such a short period of time has been extremely impressive. The business has transformed into one of the UK's leading healthcare recruitment specialists that provides medical locums of the very highest calibre through an efficient, effective and friendly healthcare recruitment service."
