John Nash, the new owner of the rejuvenated recruitment company Nicholson, has claimed that the firm’s brand name is enough to win success in the future.

Former PSD director Nash (pictured) said he was initially concerned that the company’s chequered past meant it was “damaged goods”.

But he told Recruiter that the company’s reputation abroad was still intact, and the opportunity to buy a recruitment company with offices and infrastructure ready to use was too good to turn down.

Nicholson was previously owned by Global Human Capital Management and will continue to operate from its Covent Garden headquarters in London.

“We had the finance, credit control and IT already in place. There was also a candidate and client database that we could use,” Nash explained.

Nash has rebranded the firm, dropping the ‘international’ suffix, and plans to turn the organisation into a specialist recruitment company operating in the technology and security and risk markets.

Former PSD colleagues Steve Davidson and Richard Edwards have also joined, although Nash also expects to recruit consultants from other sources.

His five-year plan is to grow the firm, with a target size of between 80 and 100 consultants.

He added: “I don’t want to create PSD here, we are taking people from elsewhere. From a standing start in June we are now 10-strong.”

Nicholson International went into liquidation in late 2001, leaving debts of £11m.