Long-term Strategy for Growth
When Matchtech floated on AIM in 2006 our strategy for long-term growth was focused on
the UK market and building on our successful business model; trade in a diverse range of
technical and professional industry sectors; keeping a healthy balance of Contingency,
Preferred Supplier and Master Vendor relationships; maintaining a contract focus that
delivers strong net fee income conversion; and retaining a low cost base through our single
site and IT strategies.
There continue to be good prospects for growth in our core technical sectors which
currently account for approximately 90% of Group NFI. Additionally this year we have
started to implement selective initiatives to further develop this strategy.
elemense - RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) Solution Provider
Recruitment is becoming ever more sophisticated. Customers are looking to outsource
more of their HR activities and are expecting their recruitment partner to deliver continuous
improvement, value added services and creative recruitment solutions.
Over the last six years we have been enhancing our Master Vendor solutions. Our
Managed Service Division has provided account management support and value added
services to clients whilst our service delivery teams focused on candidate attraction. Whilst
this model has been very successful, as demonstrated by our high direct fulfilment rates, it
does have inherent limitations.
Accordingly we have launched elemense as a new brand for our Managed Service
Division to enable us to better respond to the needs of the marketplace. elemense
enables us to deliver RPO services to a broader and more diverse client base.
elemense’s remit is unique within the Group, providing clients with a totally bespoke
recruitment outsourcing service. The creation of elemense will allow us to develop our
recruitment outsourcing service to encompass managed agency, neutral vendor and fully
integrated RPO solutions as well as refining our current Master Vendor offering. Whatever
the nature of the outsourcing solution, elemense will seek to provide the concept, design
and delivery of these processes.
Inform (Recruitment Management System)
Inform is a recruitment management system that has been developed in-house as a tool to
support our Master Vendor solutions and manage our 2nd tier supply chain. A streamlined
version of Inform has been re-engineered and is now available to all contingency and
preferred supplier clients, enhancing our recruitment processes through people and
technology working efficiently together.
Inform is a web based portal which facilitates the flow of information ensuring shared
knowledge throughout the recruitment process. It allows clients to track the status of their
vacancies on a 24/7 basis. It enables the client to view and modify their vacancy, view
candidate CVs, arrange interviews and provide candidate feedback.
We see the advantage of offering this IT platform to all clients as a free value added
service, helping to differentiate us from our competitors and protecting our margins through
quality of service.
International Recruitment
The Group has taken a positive step into mainland Europe, selecting Germany as its first
target country. Matchtech GmbH will focus on developing business within the German
engineering markets, particularly within the Aerospace, Energy, Pharmaceutical and
Automotive sectors.
Based in Stuttgart, our team will target new business as well as leveraging existing
relationships with Matchtech’s UK client base to accelerate growth.
The business will target both permanent placements and "labour leasing" operations (the
equivalent of contract recruitment) and will use the existing database of UK candidates
where possible while we develop a robust and high quality database of German engineers.
Whilst we will face challenges in the competitive German market, we believe the country’s
technical strength and capabilities present a real opportunity in the medium term. By
incorporating the best elements of our UK business model and adapting them to the
German market we believe this can develop into a growing profit centre for Matchtech over
the coming years.
Business development
To improve the quality of our business development activities we have made a strategic
investment in additional headcount and capability, especially within our bids team.
Recruitment partnering and collaboration is dominating our bid and tender activity and we
have taken a strategic view to submit a number of joint bids with both clients and partners.
I would like to thank all contractors and consultancies that have worked with Matchtech this
year. With the quality service they deliver we are able to foster and maintain strong
relationships with our clients.
We are a young and vibrant organisation. Although we have a seasoned management
team, many of our young graduate consultants have not encountered trading conditions
similar to those we are experiencing at present. These challenging times have tested our
staff and I am pleased to report that they have exceeded our expectations. Energy,
enthusiasm, honesty and integrity along with team working and fun are Matchtech’s values
and this culture has been the fundamental reason why we continue to develop strong client
relationships and candidate loyalty.
We have a resilient and flexible business model, a focused and talented team of people,
and we are putting in place important elements of our longer term growth strategy. I am
therefore confident that as the economic conditions improve Matchtech will come out of
these challenging times a better equipped and more diverse organisation with stronger
foundations for rapid growth.
Adrian Gunn FIRP
Chief Executive Officer