Rexonline makes major acquisition

Hot directors to take board control of Enlarged Group which is to be renamed hot group plc

Complementary business offerings and management expertise

The Enlarged Group estimated to be in the top five of online recruitment service providers*

Opportunity to rationalise central overheads resulting in significant cost savings.Commenting, Tony Reeves, Executive Chairman of The Hot Group said: The combination of these two online recruitment businesses is excellent news for shareholders and customers alike. Online recruitment has fast become a cornerstone of internet use and the critical mass, combined offering and economies of scale will ensure that the merger positions us as one of the top five players* in the UK online recruitment industry.

The future of online recruitment lies in offering tailored services to niche markets and in that respect the hot group will capitalise on the market''s rapid growth.

* Online Recruitment Magazine, Top 100 Online recruitment Sites, Top 20 Turnover, Published March 2002

Dorian Marks, Executive Chairman of RexOnline said:

The acquisition of Hot will complement the company''s core offering by adding the temporary and Hospitality/retail/travel and leisure markets to our existing business which is based around permanent recruitment. Synergies should enable us to quickly improve the financial performance of the individual businesses.

Following the announcement made on 10 May 2002 of a proposed reverse acquisition, the Board of RexOnline plc (RexOnline or the Group) announces that it has conditionally agreed to acquire the entire issued share capital of The Hot Group Limited (Hot), an online recruitment business, for a consideration to be satisfied by the issue of the Consideration Shares, which will represent approximately 47 per cent of the Enlarged Issued Ordinary Share Capital of RexOnline on Admission. Based on the mid-market price of an Existing Ordinary Share at the close of business on 10 May 2002, being the date on which the Existing Ordinary Shares were suspended from trading on AIM, the Consideration Shares value hot at 5.9 million and the Enlarged Issued Ordinary Share Capital at approximately 12.7 million.

Read the full story in the June edition of online recruitment Magazine.