Fri, 15 Jun 2012

Being judicious is crucial when considering recruitment firms for investment possibilities – particularly when it comes to understanding the type of management already in place in the business, recruitment sector entrepreneur and investor Gary Laurence tells Recruiter.

Laurence recently launched Krypton Capital Investment as a vehicle for investment in recruitment businesses and so far has invested in two firms: IT and high-level finance recruiter Clear Edge in London and office support recruiter Classic Consulting in Brighton.

Laurence notes that in a sector where “virtually anybody” can set up a small business, there are a large number of owner-manager run “lifestyle businesses”, which provide income for the owners but “generate zero capital growth… you can’t sell them because the company is all about the individual heading them up”.

Hear Laurence’s thoughts on how the recruitment industry could better secure the value of smaller companies in this video:

Laurence was speaking to Recruiter for the new edition of the magazine, out today (15 June). See p6 for the story.

He told editor DeeDee Doke that he started up Krypton recently for a specific reason: “I had been approached by many people in the industry, who were keen to, for a variety of reasons, set up on their own.”