Hydrogen overseas drive continues
2 July 2012
International recruitment business Hydrogen Group’s chief executive Tim Smeaton tells Recruiter that he would “absolutely” expect to see its international operations constitute most of its business in the future.
Mon, 2 Jul 2012
International recruitment business Hydrogen Group’s chief executive Tim Smeaton tells Recruiter that he would “absolutely” expect to see its international operations constitute most of its business in the future.
Smeaton was speaking to Recruiter this morning following the release of the company’s Half Year Update, which shows that approximately 40% of its group net fee income (NFI) in the first six months of 2012 came from business outside of the UK.Meanwhile, “more than 50% of client-facing employees were servicing growth markets overseas”, the update says. In time, he added, activity will pull the NFI figures up to a greater level, commenting that “investment in the people is followed by a lag in NFI”.
He adds: “We’ve been investing in headcount focused on growth in the rest of the world for three and a half years now.”
The relative strength and growth of the UK economy compared to other nations is not the only reason for the company’s overseas drive, as he explains: “We see that organisations are being much more joined-up in the procurement of recruitment services on a global level… we need to be complementary to their global strategy”.
In 2011, the company placed in over 50 countries worldwide. Asia is a big focus for its expansion, particularly in the oil & gas market, and its life sciences sector, which entered the continent earlier this year.
However, Smeaton adds that the business is “practice-led not location-led”.
Overall, 37% of group NFI is generated from technical & scientific markets – the two aforementioned sectors, as well as the entirely non-UK power division, and its 100% Australian mining operation.
The rest of the business is professional support services, which Smeaton says are “certainly a quieter market” overall.
Stock broking and advisory firm Oriel Securities says the company is “highly agile” and that its management “has steered the business through more than one cycle and has shown itself able to direct resources to higher growth opportunities.”
International recruitment business Hydrogen Group’s chief executive Tim Smeaton tells Recruiter that he would “absolutely” expect to see its international operations constitute most of its business in the future.
Smeaton was speaking to Recruiter this morning following the release of the company’s Half Year Update, which shows that approximately 40% of its group net fee income (NFI) in the first six months of 2012 came from business outside of the UK.Meanwhile, “more than 50% of client-facing employees were servicing growth markets overseas”, the update says. In time, he added, activity will pull the NFI figures up to a greater level, commenting that “investment in the people is followed by a lag in NFI”.
He adds: “We’ve been investing in headcount focused on growth in the rest of the world for three and a half years now.”
The relative strength and growth of the UK economy compared to other nations is not the only reason for the company’s overseas drive, as he explains: “We see that organisations are being much more joined-up in the procurement of recruitment services on a global level… we need to be complementary to their global strategy”.
In 2011, the company placed in over 50 countries worldwide. Asia is a big focus for its expansion, particularly in the oil & gas market, and its life sciences sector, which entered the continent earlier this year.
However, Smeaton adds that the business is “practice-led not location-led”.
Overall, 37% of group NFI is generated from technical & scientific markets – the two aforementioned sectors, as well as the entirely non-UK power division, and its 100% Australian mining operation.
The rest of the business is professional support services, which Smeaton says are “certainly a quieter market” overall.
Stock broking and advisory firm Oriel Securities says the company is “highly agile” and that its management “has steered the business through more than one cycle and has shown itself able to direct resources to higher growth opportunities.”
