Ann: PRG: Proposed merger of equals with Skilled Group, page-12

This is an opportunistic offer to say the least, I think the shorting was part of a controlled ramp down on the share price to make the bid seem attractive. Nothing appears to have changed in the SKE fundamentals and they have a clear strategy path that's working for them. Labour hire as an industry is clearly not in a good place in the current market, but SKE have positioned themselves to earn away from this market with their recent acquisitions. So the question is what's in it for the SKE & their shareholders?

If you look at the +ve's PRG have listed it's all upside for their business by where the can make use of what SKE is already better at than them, they get the CEO role & they load up the combined entity up with debt. It'll be interesting to see the SKE formal response, particularly given one of their directors (Max Findlay) was MD of the Programmed FM business when it merged up with Integrated a couple of years ago.