pivot

Annual Report 2021

Despite all the challenges presented by the pandemic we remained focused on our purpose, helped c.280,000 talented people find their next job and provided expertise, guidance and training to millions of others. As business and candidate confidence increased globally, our management actions drove record consultant productivity, leading to a strong recovery in fees and profits, and many countries exited the year with fee run-rates above pre-Covid levels.

Alistair Cox
Chief Executive

Download Annual Report Download Strategic Report CEO & FD Review 2021 Download Corporate Governance Download Financial Statements

What do we do?

We have world-class expertise building world-class businesses. We are leading global experts in qualified, professional and skilled recruitment. We employ c.10,800 people in 33 countries across 20 specialisms.

Overc.1,100 Jobs filled every
working day

59K Perm roles filled
in FY21

220K Temp assignments
placed in FY21

Our performance this year

  • Net Fee Income

    £918.1m

  • Special Dividend per share

    8.93p

  • Operating Profit

    £95.1m

  • Basic Earnings per Share

    3.67p

  • Core Dividend per Share

    1.22p

  • Cash Conversion

    138%

  • Free cash flow

    £98.1m

  • Net cash

    £410.6m

Download Full Year Results (1.8MB)

MEGATRENDS IN THE WORLD OF WORK

The world of work is being shaped by powerful megatrends. Our strategy is designed to capitalise on these trends, targeting structural growth opportunities within our cyclical end markets.

Candidates – and companies – are demanding new ways of working

Many skilled workers are increasingly seeking interesting, and often highly paid, non-Perm roles as they build ‘portfolio’ freelance careers.

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Jobs are changing and skills are increasingly short

For many industries, the pace of change has never been faster. Some sectors are in decline, others are seeing exponential growth. This is creating major dislocation in skills, with millions of people in ‘old economy’ roles requiring significant re-training and upskilling, to enable them to move to the newer sectors seeing strong growth in demand.

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Skill shortages are magnified in areas like Technology and the Green Economy

The pandemic has significantly accelerated digitalisation. New technologies are driving demand for high-skilled technologists globally. Almost every organisation would like more and better technology talent in areas like data science, artificial intelligence, cyber security; and Tech ecosystems such as SalesForce, AWS and Azure.

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Organisations increasingly need expert help to find talent they need

Employers are struggling to locate the talent they need, particularly in high skill, high salary areas. Yet most recruitment globally is performed in-house by HR teams.

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MEGATRENDS

Our strategic priorities

  • Materially increase and diversify Group profits
  • Build critical mass and diversity across our global platform
  • Invest in people and technology, responding to change and building relationships
  • Generate, reinvest and distribute meaningful cash returns

How we create value

As the ultimate people business, everything we do is focused on placing the right people into the right roles.

Over

c.280,000

people in new jobs

2,607

internal promotions

20%

of new joiners' time spent in training

c.10 million

job applications received

c.5 MILLION

followers on LinkedIn

7,190

sector experts

OUR THREE POINT INVESTMENT CASE

INVESTMENT CASE

INVESTMENT CASE

One: OUR BUSINESS MODEL’S BREADTH ACROSS SECTOR AND CONTRACT TYPE

One: OUR BUSINESS MODEL’S BREADTH ACROSS SECTOR AND CONTRACT TYPE

Two: OUR BALANCED EXPOSURE TO LONG-TERM STRUCTURAL GROWTH MARKETS

Two: OUR BALANCED EXPOSURE TO LONG-TERM STRUCTURAL GROWTH MARKETS

Three: OUR ABILITY TO DELIVER SUPERIOR FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE AND PAY SUBSTANTIAL DIVIDENDS

Three: OUR ABILITY TO DELIVER SUPERIOR FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE AND PAY SUBSTANTIAL DIVIDENDS