GP Strategies Acquires Ultra Training
Ultra generated annualised revenue of $4.5 million for the year ending July 2010, and GP anticipates that the acquired business will be accretive to earnings-per-share in 2011. Established in 1986, with a staff of 65 full- and part-time employees, Ultra is a Grade 2 "Good" provider of training as determined by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted), the UK regulator of government-funded training providers.
Based in Bodmin, Cornwall with other training centres in Penzance, Bideford, Exeter, and Bristol, Ultra provides apprenticeship and private training to over 1,000 learners at any one time in the following occupational areas: administration, management and professional; retailing, customer service, hospitality, hairdressing and beauty therapy; health and social care and childcare.
Ultra is contracted to provide training through the Skills Funding Agency, a government agency of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, which funds and regulates adult further education and skills training in England.
Scott Greenberg, Chief Executive Officer of GP Strategies, comments, "Ultra prides itself on the quality of training it provides to learners and the high success rates that its learners achieve. This acquisition further expands our capabilities in the South West region of England, helping people and businesses to access the skills training they need to succeed. The acquisition of Ultra increases GP's 2011-2012 maximum contract value to $15 million per year and places GP in a much stronger strategic position relative to the introduction of minimum contract levels during 2011."