Leeds recruitment group XCE completes first acquisition

The Aquis-listed, Leeds-based group has bought construction and engineering recruiter James Gray, the first step in a plan to build a larger listed recruitment business.

A Leeds recruitment group has completed its first acquisition as it sets out to build a larger listed business by buying up smaller firms. Connecting Excellence Group (XCE), the Aquis-listed company based in Leeds city centre, has bought James Gray Recruitment, a specialist construction and engineering recruiter, along with sister firm James Gray Engineering. The deal, completed on 5 October, adds unaudited revenue of £1.79m – and EBITDA of £431,000 to the group. It is the first in what XCE says is a pipeline of potential deals.

Why This Matters For Leeds

A home-grown, listed recruiter trying to roll up dozens of owner-managed firms into one group run from the city is a good story for the city. The Bitcoin treasury potentially adds risk, but one to watch. But if the buy-and-build strategy delivers, it could grow a modest Aquis-listed business into a more substantial Leeds employer and acquirer, so more consolidation run locally keeps decisions, and value, in Leeds.

What the Leeds recruitment group has bought

Founded in 2006, James Gray Recruitment places technical, management and leadership staff for construction and engineering clients across the UK, US and further afield. Under XCE’s ‘decentralised’ model, it keeps its own brand, management and day-to-day independence, while gaining access to the capital and listed platform of its new parent. XCE paid an initial £575,000, much of it settled against money the sellers already owed the business. Further payments run to 2029 and are tied to the profits James Gray delivers, so most of the cost is paid only if the business keeps growing. The group says it sees up to 1,000 owner-managed recruitment firms in the UK as potential targets for the same approach.

“Joining XCE gives us greater firepower to invest in our team, expand into new markets and build on the opportunities we’re already seeing across the UK and US.”

— Richard Samuels, Managing Director, James Gray Recruitment

An unusual twist: a Bitcoin treasury

What sets this Leeds recruitment group apart from its peers is how it manages its money. XCE holds Bitcoin as a long-term treasury reserve, describing itself as a ‘Bitcoin-powered’ recruiter, and its holding rose to just over 81 Bitcoin – worth around £5.25m at early-October prices – after the James Gray deal. The strategy is unusual and carries risk: Bitcoin is unregulated in the UK, its value can swing sharply, and the Financial Conduct Authority classes it as high-risk, as XCE itself acknowledges. Part of the acquisition was funded through a new credit facility secured against the group’s Bitcoin. For now, the clearer story is the operating one: a Leeds-listed group beginning to consolidate a fragmented recruitment market.