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New dawn for UK recruiters It appears that in 2014 the UK economy really turned a corner, although as the year progressed this may have slowed a little as the uncertainty of an election year dawns. This was certainly our experience at Hitachi Capital Invoice Finance, as in our 20-year history of helping new starts and established recruitment companies accelerate their growth through innovative cost-effective funding, 2014 was a record year for growth within the industry. At the same time we see a few commercial issues facing our recruitment business clients, which we believe are likely to also be affecting other recruitment companies. For instance, clients are taking far longer to pay bills, resulting in cash flow issues. Anyone experiencing difficulty in this area must ensure that these issues don’t become a restraining factor in the growth of their businesses. We also note that in this fiercely competitive sector, where price is important, innovation and service are expected to move ever more into focus. Differentiation through innovative solutions is the key to profitable growth. For recruitment businesses, client retention is always important. But in this year it will be the key to accelerated growth, especially with the potential challenges an election year brings. Recruiters may also find that as the UK economy flourishes, finding great candidates to maintain growth could be harder if the economy growth slows. And also, the unpredictable business market makes workforce planning more necessary but also more difficult. Data-driven workforce planning will be key. We look forward to working with even more recruitment companies in 2015. And we are very proud to sponsor the Recruiter FAST 50. Congratulations to all those listed in the FAST 50, and we wish you all a very prosperous 2015, with continued success and growth. John Atkinson Head of commercial business Hitachi Capital Invoice Finance
Sponsored by COMPILED BY
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Recruiter FAST 50 2015 Sponsored by
Shrugging off the recession WITH A RECORD NUMBER OF NEW ENTRANTS TO THIS YEAR’S RECRUITER FAST 50, COMPILED BY BOXINGTON CORPORATE FINANCE, FIND OUT WHAT IS DRIVING THE GROWTH OF THESE RECRUITERS AND WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS FOR THE INDUSTRY
fter the carnage caused by recession of the late ‘noughties’, this year’s FAST 50 proves that the recruitment industry is finally back on track, according to leading human capital specialist mergers & acquisitions (M&A) advisers Boxington Corporate Finance, compilers for the last seven years of the Recruiter FAST 50 league table. The FAST 50 ranks the fastest-growing private recruitment businesses in the UK, according to three-year compound annual growth and based wholly on audited figures (see Methodology box). “This is the first genuinely post-recession FAST 50 we have compiled in that it measures company growth over years that are not impacted by the recession. So it’s representative of the sector’s more natural and sustainable rate of growth,” says Tim Evans, founder and managing director of Boxington, speaking of the 2015 rankings, which show an impressive average annual growth rate across the FAST 50 of 36.3%. This is a significant jump from the 26% achieved three years ago when the sector was still suffering from the effects of the downturn. This level of growth comes against a backdrop of an industry that in the 2013/14 financial year surged past its pre-recession peak, with total revenues hitting £28.7bn, according to figures from the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC).
A
New generation Reflecting on this year’s results, Mark Kingston, assistant director at Boxington, comments that with a record 31 of this year’s FAST 50 recruiters new to the list, “post-recession, we could be looking at a new generation of growth recruitment businesses”. “The high number of new entrants underlines the inherent scalability and low barriers to entry of recruitment businesses,
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RECRUITERS APPEARING IN AT LEAST FIVE CONSECUTIVE YEARS OF THE FAST 50 RANK
2011 RANKING
COMPANY
SECTOR
11 39
31 12
ID Medical Fircroft [Engineering Services ]
Healthcare Oil & gas
as well as the sector’s ability to constantly self-renew and regenerate,” he adds. Indeed, new entrants make up nine out of the top 10 companies, including the top-ranked recruiter, GatenbySanderson (69% growth), with only one of the top 10, IT recruiter People Source, remaining from last year. “Some of the new entrants just come out of nowhere, while some from previous years have virtually disappeared from our FAST 50 radar,” says Kingston. “Conversely, the volume of new entrants is a reminder that many other recruitment companies have come
and gone, and that the challenge of sustainability and longevity remains significant for the sector,” he adds. Evans comments that “FAST 50 2015 new entrants include both relatively newer brands, such as energy recruiter Spencer Ogden (2nd) and financial services recruiter Grovelands Resourcing (6th), as well as older established brands such as this year’s overall winner, public sector specialist GatenbySanderson, which has used deep sector know-how and relationships to power impressive growth”. Looking at the FAST 50 as a whole,
METHODOLOGY The Recruiter FAST 50 prepared by Boxington Corporate Finance lists the fastest-growing private recruitment businesses in the UK according to compound annual sales growth rate as measured over each entrant’s most recent three-year financial reporting period.
CRITERIA FOR INCLUSION: The FAST 50 assesses temporary and/or permanent recruitment companies which are registered in the UK as private, independent and unquoted companies. This category includes private companies that are co-owned by private equity. All companies considered for inclusion in the FAST 50 2015 must achieve a level of annual sales of £5m or above in each of their last three financial years.
EXCLUSIONS: Companies that have filed abbreviated accounts at Companies House without disclosing audited sales are excluded from the FAST 50 due to the absence of independently validated sales. Unaudited management accounts are not accepted as proof of sales. Companies that serve the recruitment sector through the provision of IT, payroll, administrative or other services also do not quality. DATA COLLECTION METHODS: Qualifying companies are identified by Boxington through several research methods including the analysis of sector information from Companies House, financial databases, press coverage and other research and proprietary knowledge. Entry submissions are not therefore required, although any firm which believes that it may not be automatically assessed in the 2016 FAST 50 may contact Boxington Corporate Finance to discuss. Please email fast50@boxington.co.uk
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COMPILED BY
30
RANK
2013 RANKING
COMPANY
SECTOR
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50
13 3 40 44 20 28 1 21 26 35 33 41 16 18 4 34 5 38 48
GatenbySanderson Spencer Ogden Service Care Solutions Huntswood Oil Consultants Grovelands Resourcing People Source Consulting STR Group Concept Recruitment Group Opus Recruitment Solutions ID Medical Group Transline Industria Personnel Services Dutton International Potensis Nurse Plus and Carer Plus Vital Recruitment NRL Group JAM Recruitment Air Energi Group Direct Medics Roc Search Kin-Tec Interact Medical Eurostaff Quanta Consultancy Services Allen Lane Resource Consulting 24/7 Recruitment Premier Group Recruitment Sanctuary Social Care Quest Energy Resources Outsource UK Pro-Force Bryant Group Maxxima gap personnel Cobalt Consulting Fircroft Eaglecliff Fusion People Independent Clinical Services Montash IRS Recruitment Faststream Human Capital Investment Group Amoria Bond Smart Solutions PPF Tulloch Recruitment
Public sector Energy Healthcare, legal Regulatory and governance resourcing Oil & gas Financial services consultancy, IT IT Technical, professional Multi-sector IT Healthcare Industrial, technical Engineering Multi-sector Construction Healthcare Multi-sector Multi-sector Engineering, IT Oil & gas Healthcare IT Technical Healthcare IT, ďŹ nance, engineering Multi-sector Finance, HR Engineering, technical Logistics IT, Engineering, Media Social care Engineering IT, technical, engineering Agricultural Oil & gas Healthcare Industrial Multi-sector Oil & gas IT Multi-sector Healthcare IT Multi-sector Oil & gas Multi-sector IT, banking, oil & gas Multi-sector Industrial, driving Engineering, industrial
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Recruiter FAST 50 2015 Sponsored by
About Boxington: Boxington Corporate Finance is an international sell-side M&A advisory house based in London and Tokyo and uniquely specialising in the human capital sector. www.boxington.co.uk
COMPOUND ANNUAL GROWTH RATE %
LATEST YEAR
REVENUE £000s
WEBSITE
69.09% 65.90% 64.53% 58.08% 57.08% 54.98% 54.86% 54.71% 49.24% 48.26% 43.91% 42.33% 39.02% 38.27% 37.70% 37.14% 36.85% 36.57% 35.88% 35.66% 34.69% 34.29% 34.24% 33.72% 32.95% 32.53% 31.26% 30.19% 30.08% 29.91% 29.49% 28.56% 28.44% 28.05% 27.92% 27.89% 27.84% 27.68% 27.67% 27.38% 27.29% 26.57% 26.37% 26.23% 24.37% 24.21% 24.07% 23.40% 23.30% 23.23%
2013 2013 2014 2013 2013 2013 2014 2013 2014 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2014 2014 2013 2013 2013 2014 2013 2014 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2014 2013 2013 2013 2013 2014 2013 2014 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2013 2014 2014 2013 2013 2013 2013
24.5 51.3 16.3 190.4 27.9 30.7 20.5 20.9 31.2 13.0 85.2 110.1 13.9 54.0 14.4 35.5 58.7 135.2 17.5 385.4 16.8 14.9 76.5 39.3 42.5 29.5 39.1 17.8 93.7 17.0 61.0 12.1 36.0 13.3 17.9 43.6 98.9 12.5 898.3 44.4 124.7 314.0 23.1 13.4 31.1 189.8 21.8 42.0 98.4 30.6
https://www.gatenbysanderson.com http://www.spencer-ogden.com http://servicecare.org.uk http://www.huntswood.com https://www.oc99.com http://www.grovelands.co.uk http://www.peoplesource.co.uk http://www.strgroup.co.uk http://www.conceptrecruitment.com http://www.opusrecruitmentsolutions.com http://www.id-medical.com http://www.transline.co.uk http://www.industria-jobs.co.uk http://www.duttoninternational.com http://www.potensis.com http://www.nurseplusuk.com http://www.vitalrecruitment.com http://nrl.co.uk https://www.jamrecruitment.co.uk http://www.airenergi.com http://directmedics.com http://www.roc-search.com http://www.kin-tec.com http://www.interactmedical.co.uk http://www.eurostaffgroup.com http://www.quanta-consulting.com http://www.allenlane.co.uk http://www.resourcegroup.co.uk http://www.247recruitment.co.uk http://www.premiergroupuk.com http://www.sanctuarysocialcare.com http://quest-energy.co.uk http://www.outsource-uk.co.uk http://www.pro-force.co.uk http://www.bryantgroup.co.uk http://www.maxxima-group.co.uk http://www.gap-personnel.com http://www.cobaltrecruitment.co.uk http://www.fircroft.com http://www.eaglecliff.co.uk https://www.fusionpeople.com http://www.ukics.com http://www.montash.com http://www.irs-recruitment.com http://www.faststream.com http://www.hcigltd.com http://www.amoriabond.com/en http://www.smartsr.co.uk http://www.ppfplc.com http://www.tullochrecruitment.co.uk
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COMPILED BY
Evans concludes that “it yet again confirms the vibrancy of the recruitment sector, with players achieving growth across a range of recruitment sectors in the UK and internationally”.
New normal So what else does the post-recessionary new normal look like? Among the new entrants, Evans highlights “a number of very interesting specialist players including Grovelands and Huntswood in the finance and regulatory sector”. He attributes the high growth rates of both companies to demand for specialist compliance staff in the wake of scandals such as payment protection insurance (PPI) and a general tightening of financial services regulation. A number of large private equity-backed companies, namely oil & gas recruiters Air Energi (20th) and Fircroft (39th) and healthcare recruiter Independent Clinical Services (43rd), have all sustained growth rates of more than 25%, despite their large scale, largely on the back of overseas expansion and acquisition. “This may suggest that private equity is a key influence on growth by contributing finance, strategic guidance and experience,” says Evans. The performance of Fircroft, the biggest company in the FAST 50, with annual revenues of over £900m, is particularly noteworthy, he says, given the inherent difficulty for such a large company to match the percentage-based growth rates of smaller firms. Fircroft has now appeared in six consecutive Recruiter FAST 50s. Healthcare recruiter ID Medical also demonstrated its staying power by retaining a place on the list for the fifth year in a row. Kingston says that common denominators among this year’s FAST 50 companies include entrepreneurial spirit, the quality of management teams and the fact that irrespective of sector, they are “typically founder driven”. Compared with companies outside the FAST 50, which at times tend to “just chase NFI [net fee income]”, adds Kingston, “most entrants have a sense of overriding strategy”. He cites Spencer Ogden by way of example, which he says “combines a clear sector specialism with aggressive overseas expansion”. IT, banking, oil & gas recruiter
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FINANCE: 6% OF FAST 50 COMPANIES FAST 50 2015 Rank Company 4 6 27
Huntswood Grovelands Resourcing Allen Lane
HEALTHCARE: 16% OF FAST 50 COMPANIES FAST 50 2015 Rank Company 3 11 16 21 24 31 36 42
Service Care Solutions ID Medical Group Nurse Plus and Carer Plus Direct Medics Interact Medical Sanctuary Social Care Maxxima Independent Clinical Services
INDUSTRIAL, LOGISTICS AND CONSTRUCTION: 10% OF FAST 50 COMPANIES FAST 50 2015 Rank Company 12 29 34 37 49
Transline 24/7 Recruitment Pro-Force gap personnel PPF
IT: 10% OF FAST 50 COMPANIES FAST 50 2015 Rank Company 7 10 22 40 43
People Source Consulting Opus Recruitment Solutions Roc Search Eaglecliff Montash
Amoria Bond, which opened an office in Singapore to facilitate its Asia growth, and is founder-driven, also “ticks the boxes”, adds Kingston. While organic growth has been the main driver of growth in the 2015 FAST 50, Evans says that a small number of companies have expanded on the back of successful acquisition strategies. These include industrial recruiter gap personnel, and IT and technical recruiter Outsource UK. Overall, however, he says that for a number of reasons M&A has not been as big a driver of growth of companies in FAST 50 2015 as in previous years. With many Japanese, European and US buyer companies currently busy assessing targets across the sector, Evans expects that some current and previous FAST 50
entrants will no longer be independent this time next year.
Sectors matter Industry sector is always an interesting part of the make-up of the FAST 50, and this FAST 50 is no exception. Compared with 2014, one of the biggest differences is the relatively poor showing of IT recruiters, whose numbers have dropped dramatically from nine to five from last year. “We attribute to this to RPO [recruitment process outsourcing] and managed service providers increasingly taking turnover from recruiters,” says Kingston. Multi-sector recruiters remain the biggest group within the FAST 50 with 15 representatives, albeit down slightly from 18 in 2014. “Multi-sector players
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Recruiter FAST 50 2015 Sponsored by
MULTI-SECTOR: 30% OF FAST 50 COMPANIES FAST 50 2015 Rank Company 1 9 14 17 18 25 26 30 33 38 41 44 46 47 48
GatenbySanderson Concept Recruitment Group Dutton International Vital Recruitment NRL Group Eurostaff Quanta Consultancy Services Premier Group Recruitment Outsource UK Cobalt Consulting Fusion People IRS Recruitment Human Capital Investment Group Amoria Bond Smart Solutions
ENGINEERING AND TECHNICAL: 12% OF FAST 50 COMPANIES FAST 50 2015 Rank Company 13 15 19 28 32 50
Industria Personnel Services Potensis JAM Recruitment Resource Consulting Quest Energy Resources Tulloch Recruitment
OIL & GAS: 16% OF FAST 50 COMPANIES FAST 50 2015 Rank Company 2 5 8 20 23 35 39 45
Spencer Ogden Oil Consultants STR Group Air Energi Group Kin-Tec Bryant Group Fircroft Faststream
will always benefit where there has been economic buoyancy because of their ability to generate sales across a wide range of markets,” says Kingston. However, Evans adds that only one firm in the top 10 is a multi-sector player. “This highlights that to get the higher growth rate you really have to be a specialist these days,” he adds. Healthcare is once again strongly represented, making up 16% of the FAST 50 compared with 12% last year. Engineering and technical recruiters with a 10% representation also perform strongly,
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although Evans notes the absence of a number of “big international engineers” such as Orion Group, NES Global Talent and Rullion that have been a feature of previous FAST 50s. Evans suggests that their absence and the emergence of smaller, more locally-focused firms reflects international headwinds faced by the larger global businesses. Oil & gas recruiters continue to feature strongly, with nine companies in FAST 50 2015. According to Evans: “They have benefitted from strong energy and
commodity markets over the past five years, and associated high demand for labour in what has been a tight labour market for specialist labour.” However, he adds: “It has yet to be seen whether this can be maintained given the recent and ongoing volatility in international energy prices and exchange rates.”
Future prospects Looking ahead to the prospects for the 2016 FAST 50, Evans says many good businesses are growing at more than 20%, which are currently just outside the FAST 50. And by way of examples he identifies change and transformation specialist Alexander Ash, and niche technology specialist ConSol Partners as likely new entrants next year. As to the future for the recruitment sector as a whole, Evans acknowledges uncertainties ahead. In the short term these include next May’s general election, increased scrutiny over healthcare spending and salary sacrifice schemes. In the medium to long terms, he highlights the growing importance of RPO and managed services, as well as the threat of disruptive technology and issues arising from the management of big data. Despite these clouds on the horizon, however, Evans and his Boxington colleagues remain confident about growth prospects for next year’s FAST 50 and its top performers. “We would expect these growth rates to continue next year and probably [go] higher too,” he says. If Evans is right, the 2015 FAST 50 could both mark the point when recruitment finally emerges from the long shadow of the recession and, unless the wheels come off the economy again, signal better times ahead for the sector.
About Boxington: Boxington Corporate Finance is an international sell-side M&A advisory house based in London and Tokyo and uniquely specialising in the human capital sector. www.boxington.co.uk
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GatenbySanderson COLIN COTTELL MEETS MARTIN TUCKER AND MARK TURNER, JOINT MANAGING PARTNERS OF THE LEADING RECRUITER IN THIS YEAR’S FAST 50, SPONSORED BY HITACHI CAPITAL INVOICE FINANCE
In the recent years of public sector austerity, spending across large swathes of central and local government has been tightly squeezed. So at first glance it is remarkable that the fastest-growing private staffing company in the 2015 Recruiter FAST 50, compiled by Boxington Corporate Finance, is a public sector specialist. What is more remarkable still is that this company is the sole ‘pure’ public sector recruiter in the entire table.
KEY FACTS Founded 2002 Offices: Leeds, Birmingham, London
2013 Turnover £24.5m Staff 65 Gross profit £8.9m
2014* Staff (current) 95 Turnover £37m Gross profit £12m *Forecast
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Yet this comes as no surprise to Martin Tucker, joint managing partner of the 95-strong executive search and interim management provider GatenbySanderson. “Austerity has actually been a driver of growth for us,” says Tucker, as he and fellow joint managing partner Mark Turner meet to discuss the company’s achievement with Recruiter at the its offices in the City of London. If public sector austerity and the success of a niche recruitment company serving that sector appears at first to be a contradiction in terms, Tucker soon squares the circle as he explains how pressure on budgets is forcing the public sector to change, and how this in turn is fuelling demand for “excellent leadership that is not necessarily in good supply”. These factors have helped propel the public sector specialist to top place in this year’s FAST 50 table, with a compound annual growth rate of 69.09% between 2011 and 2013. Even the prospect of chancellor George Osborne’s plans to cuts public spending to 35% of gross domestic product (GDP) should the Conservatives win May’s general election seemingly holds no horrors for Tucker. “It’s great to be the fastest-growing company in the industry, but the real journey starts now with our next
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phase of growth,” he says. Indeed, on the back of a recent management buy-out (MBO), the company has ambitious plans to become a 150-strong firm within three years. The public sector’s transformation agenda has undoubtedly boosted the company’s fortunes by fuelling demand for “the top three strands” of public sector personnel that GatenbySanderson specialises in providing. But the two joint managing partners say that the accolade of becoming the UK’s fastest-growing private recruiter would not have been possible without the company taking a number of key strategic decisions.
Opportunity for growth As Turner explains, the seeds of the company’s current growth were sown back in 2009-10, when purse strings in the public sector really began to tighten. “Unlike some competitors, who took the view there wasn’t a lot of money in public service in the next few years and decided to focus on commercial markets, we stayed close to those clients who were suffering tough times,” says Turner. “We stuck with them, showed them loyalty, and as the market has lifted that has served us really well.” Moreover, whereas some recruiters took fright at what Turner describes as “the biggest public recession
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Recruiter FAST 50 2015
MARK TURNER SECRET OF SUCCESS
PHOTOGRAPHY: RICHARD LEA-HAIR
“RECOGNISING THAT EVERY RELATIONSHIP CAN HAVE A VALUE”
MARTIN TUCKER SECRET OF SUCCESS
“THERE IS OFTEN NO SUBSTITUTE FOR HARD WORK”
we have ever seen”, GatenbySanderson saw it as “an opportunity to reconfigure the business in a way that would enable us to grow quickly coming out the other side”. That said, Turner admits that the actions to trim the company’s cost base, including the loss of some people, made it “a painful time”. The company, founded in 2002, built its early success by serving local government, winning contracts with both Liverpool and Barnsley Councils within its first month of trading. However, after Turner joined the firm in 2007, it began to diversify, first into central government and then into supplying interims. And as public spending cuts began to bite, the company decided to build on its already powerful position within local and central government, the “cornerstones of the business” where Turner says it enjoys around 35% marketshare, by diversifying further. These new areas included the health sector that the company entered in 2010, as well as the education, charity and not-for-profit sectors. The company’s public sector board practice that appoints chairs, non-executive directors and trustees has developed “a dominant position” in its marketplace, says Turner. “The beauty of that market is that it reads across to most of the markets we work in,” he adds.
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Left to right: Martin Tucker and Mark Turner
Interims drive growth Interims have also been a major driver of growth, with the number of interims out working growing by a factor of eight since 2012. “That is because we have hired some very good people, who know the market and are very successful and well networked, and despite the overall public sector budget falling… the requirement for people who can help public sector bodies do things differently with less money has driven considerable demand.” As Tucker points out, it is quite a transformation from the company’s early days. Then it was an exclusively Northern-based business in Leeds working with local government clients; now it is a company employing nearly 100 people in three offices — Leeds, Birmingham and London — with a diverse range of clients, including higher education establishments and charities, as well as its core local and central government clients. However, he emphasises it’s not diversification for diversification’s sake. “We have diversified in a very focused way,” says Turner. This means only entering those new markets that are aligned with existing markets, and will add value to the business, he explains. A big consideration is “have we got someone to lead the company into a new sector?”, he adds.
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Recruiter FAST 50 2015 MARTIN TUCKER’S RECRUITMENT PHILOSOPHY
“BELIEF IN THE DIFFERENCE THAT GOOD PEOPLE CAN MAKE”
CV MARK TURNER 2007- present GatenbySanderson, joint managing partner since 2013
2001-07 Veredus, formerly Pricewaterhouse Coopers Executive Search and Selection, managing director 2005-2007
1989-2001 Hays, director of public sector executive search (from 1996)
CV MARTIN TUCKER 2007- present GatenbySanderson, joint managing partner since 2013
June 2000-06 Veredus, formerly Pricewaterhouse Coopers Executive Search & Selection, board director from 2005
1998-2000 Executive Connections, manager
1993-98 Hays Personnel Services
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that provide services to the public, such as transport and housing. The company has also developed “a real expertise” in placing commercial talent into the public sector. Tucker says that targeted acquisitions that give access to new markets are also a possibility. The company is also keen to build on its proprietary software that Turner says will allow it to become even more efficient as the company grows. None of this will be possible, however, without maintaining the company’s culture that Turner believes has been so instrumental in its success to date. Turner says this includes “a team-based reward system” and a way of working that is based MARK TURNER’S on co-operation rather than RECRUITMENT PHILOSOPHY consultants pitted against each other. “People have relished “UNDERPINNING EVERYTHING WE HAVE DONE IS that opportunity and have liked AN INNATE FOCUS ON QUALITY OF SERVICE” working in a different teamorientated culture, and therefore If the seeds of GatenbySanderson’s current success have stayed with us on the journey,” he says. go back to strategic decisions taken in the last four Tucker also highlights the importance of relationships or five years, the relationship between the two between the company’s employees and clients. “It’s the managing partners goes back much further. Both men old sales adage ‘people do business with people’ and our began their careers in recruitment at Hays, where colleagues are very adept at growing and nurturing their paths first crossed, before they joined what was relationships with key decision makers. They develop then PricewaterhouseCoopers Executive Search and relationships of trust, and they are often called upon Selection — soon to become Veredus. The duo joined to offer advice in tricky situations.” It is testament to GatenbySanderson in the same year, 2007, becoming the strength of those relationships that 70% of the joint managing partners in July 2013. With their careers company’s work is repeat business. so intertwined, it is no surprise that the two are clearly The company’s commitment to looking after singing from the same hymn sheet. “One voice, two candidates, including giving feedback irrespective of people,” says Turner, with a laugh. whether they have got the job, also has paid off, says Tucker. “We’ve found it to be the case that an awful MBO springboard lot of our business comes from people who were once What has undoubtedly given the two a further spring candidates for jobs that we have handled.” The company to their step is the recent MBO completed in November. publishes feedback statistics on its website, and feedback Tucker explains that this came about from a realisation is also incorporated into employees’ appraisal system. among the board that “developing the business at a Looking to the future, with Primary Capital on board, faster pace would probably require some additional Tucker says everything is in place for the company to investment over a period of time”. This allowed Graham continue its current growth trajectory and to realise Goodwin, one of the company’s co-founders and its its ambition become a company of 150 staff within major shareholder, the opportunity to exit the business. three years. “It’s going to be tough, but we have a good The bulk of the MBO funding was provided by private formula, we hire the best people, point them at the equity house Primary Capital, with whom, Turner says, right markets, and in doing that we will maximise the there is “a real meeting of minds”. opportunity for growth,” he says. He explains: “As a private equity house, inevitably With the public sector certain to be in a continual they have an appetite for growth, and we were struck state of flux over the next few years, who’s to say by their real interest and insight into our business and GatenbySanderson won’t remain in the upper echelons the recruitment sector.” of the FAST 50 for some time to come. With the MBO out of the way, Turner says the company has already identified a number of key areas • Recruiter’s FAST 50 is compiled by international sell-side for future growth. These include education and not-forM&A advisory house Boxington Corporate Finance. In profit, as well as markets aligned to the public sector 2015 it is sponsored by Hitachi Capital Invoice Finance.
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