Next 15 agrees to sell majority holdings in Blueshirt firms

(Sharecast News) - Next 15 Group announced on Tuesday that it has agreed to sell its majority holdings in the Blueshirt Group and Blueshirt Capital Advisors (BCA) to the founders and senior management teams of the two US-based capital markets advisory businesses, as part of its plan to simplify its portfolio and focus on core growth areas.

The AIM-traded tech and data-driven consultancy said it would retain a minority stake in both businesses, and had been granted put options allowing it to sell its remaining interests to Blueshirt management in the future.

Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed.

Next 15 said the sale aligned with its strategic focus on businesses where it can "leverage its capabilities to drive long-term value creation," while redeploying capital into its key growth segments centred on technology, data and activation.

"The divestment of the Blueshirt Group and BCA demonstrate our disciplined approach to portfolio management. We continue to focus the group on the businesses that best fit within a portfolio geared towards technology, data and activation," said chief executive Sam Knights.

"We believe this is a positive outcome for all parties.

"It enables Blueshirt to maintain its founder-led approach and reflects the progress we are making in executing our strategy to build a simpler, more focused Next 15."

At 1400 GMT, shares in Next 15 Groupwere down 1.41% at 385.5p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.