nGAGE Specialist Recruitment has reported strong growth throughout the 2017-18 financial year against the prior year, with turnover up 17% to ₤330M and NFI up 18% to ₤56M. Growth in temporary and permanent recruitment was equally balanced at 17% and 18% respectively. This performance was driven by organic growth, including the continued development of its managed service businesses, the success of its start-up ventures and an exciting M&A programme. The growth of its international business was a key driver of growth in the last 12 months with international markets contributing to 15% of NFI against 5% the prior year.
nGAGE supports ambitious recruitment consultants to help build and grow dynamic businesses which have the potential to become leaders in their market niches, with an international offering supported by a leading international shared-service platform. This allows them to focus on outstanding service delivery and deep market penetration. The group has developed a unique equity incentive scheme to allow entrepreneurial recruiters to benefit from the growth and value they generate.
The acquisition of GCS, the international technology recruitment business, a year ago was a key milestone and by working closely with the GCS management team whilst utilising the nGAGE platform has seen exceptional year on year results for GCS with NFI up 16% and EBITDA up 48%.
The latest new companies launched by nGAGE are Ignition People and MatchesTalent. These firms are successfully leading the group's expansion into the STEM & professional services sectors.
nGAGE had historically focused on the public sector facing markets and serving the temporary staffing requirements of the UK's public sector remains an important priority for the group. Austerity challenges within the public sector are well publicised and despite the additional disruption of IR35 legislative reforms and the introduction of NHS pay caps, the group's public sector businesses have continued to perform well.
M&A is an important part of the growth plan and the group has been successful in completing two acquisitions during 2017. GCS, a leading provider of consultants to the IT and technology sectors was acquired in May 2017 and QU Recruitment, a specialist in providing procurement professionals across a range of sectors, was welcomed to the group in April 2017. Both businesses have already benefited significantly from being part of nGAGE's strategic guidance and operational efficiency. These acquisitions have reinforced the group's technology and professional services sector as well as expanded the group's international footprint.
Tim Cook, nGAGE Group CEO, said, “This year has seen us develop the nascent domestic offices we opened last year and put significant horsepower behind our international strategy. Now in Dublin, New York, Austin-Texas and Frankfurt, we are preparing for Florida with some relish. There is significant capability within the Group to support our international ambitions and we intend to exploit this to the max. We will continue the M&A programme, looking for specialist businesses to back, that want to join the nGAGE family.
nGAGE's proprietary technology capabilities have supported continued growth in its managed service business (Retinue) which have increased spend under management over the last year with some of our biggest wins ever. The Group now has a Software as a Service (SaaS) portfolio of products to licence to other recruiters and indeed client-direct solutions. This year saw the sale of its first ‘tech only' SaaS VMS and ATS product suites to a range of clients.
This year also saw the creation of our International Service Centre in India designed to specifically support our businesses wherever they may be in the world, now and in the future, in an environment which can be scaled easily and efficiently.”
Cook added, “Delivering exceptional value to the public sector, be that in Health, Social Care or Education, is our driver in this pillar of the business. Our consultancy business have delivered many ‘Value for Money' (VFM) discoveries to enable the clients to extract maximum value from their supply chains. We consider our offering to be an asset to the sector in an environment challenged by austerity. The UK public sector trading environment has of course been challenging but we have continued to grow and take market share, which is extremely pleasing. We have significantly improved our delivery capability through the continued investment in technology and we are better placed than ever to capitalise on the opportunities ahead of us.
Our strategy is simple; continue to buy and start niche specialist recruitment business and grow our existing operations organically, all supported by our new International Service Centre and highly efficient operations platform. We will help them scale and internationalise and with our support these businesses punch way above their weight!”
