Freshwater placing shares after buying lifestyle agency

The firm, which has offices in Leeds and Sheffield, acquired Edinburgh-based Profile Plus, which will strengthen its operations in Scotland.

Freshwater has launched a 600,000 share placing to fund the acquisition and increase its working capital, with shareholder Hillco Investments already agreeing to buy 400,000-worth of shares.

Profile Plus specialises in the leisure and lifestyle sectors with clients including Turnberry, A Luxury Collection Resort, Scotland, Sheraton Grand Hotel & Spa, Drambuie Liqueur Company, Ian Macleod Distillers, and Tourism Ireland.

Steve Howell, chief executive of Freshwater, said: "The acquisition of Profile Plus is another positive step forward that strengthens our presence in the Scottish market, while also strengthening our market position in the UK leisure and lifestyle sector.

"The acquisition comes at a time when Freshwater is well placed to deliver a strong second half as the group benefits fully from cost savings already implemented and revenue continues to improve."

Profile Plus's team of six will complement the existing Freshwater team based in Glasgow.

Freshwater's clients include National Grid, Environment Agency, E.ON and the John Lewis Partnership,

In November Freshwater said its order book in the year to August 31 2009 suffered from the recession with pre-tax profit down to 240,000 from 1.17m the previous year. Revenue declined 11 per cent to 6.7m from 7.51m.