Recruitment firm gets a record birthday present
ANewport-headquartered recruitment company has announced a record turnover of £95m in its 10th year of trading.
Outsource and labour services provider Smart Solutions is celebrating the milestone anniversary as the company announces a record turnover for the last financial year, up 9%, from £87m in 2015-16, making it 10 consecutive years of growth.
Chief executive Nathan Bowles founded Smart Solutions in 2007 and in the past 10 years the business has expanded the services it offers to clients, the sectors it works in and its geographical locations – up to 50 throughout the UK.
Smart Solutions, which was number 77 in the Wales Top 300 companies for 2017, directly employs 230 staff, four of whom have been in the business a decade, and it also has a flexible workforce of more than 5,500 people, up from 50 during the early weeks of the business.
Following Britain’s decision to leave the EU, Smart Solutions has recently undergone a restructuring, placing greater emphasis on delivering recruitment services from what it calls “hub locations” – regional offices supporting the teams working onsite at its clients’ premises.
These regional hubs are responsible for attracting candidates and making sure they are compliant to work, whereas Smart Solutions’ onsite teams manage the training and day-to-day management of its flexible workforce. In addition, the business continues to deliver recruitment services from high-street locations.
This restructuring has been supported by a £100,000 investment in its high-street branches, creating a bistro-style environment where recruitment candidates spend less time form-filling and more time engaging with recruiters.
“We have to accept that the way in which people look for work has changed and, inevitably, the talent pool of people available to employers will be impacted by Brexit in the short term,” Mr Bowles said.
“We anticipate that there will be fewer people coming to work in the UK until all of the uncertainty around Brexit is resolved, so we’re taking steps now to make the process as streamlined and robust as possible to ensure both employers and potential employees are benefiting from our services.
“We want to be at the forefront of attracting the talent that is here; we also want to be known as an easy company to work with, and to achieve this we have been improving and innovating our systems, such as moving candidate registration to online.”
In recognition of the business’ anniversary, Mr Bowles invited all of its permanent staff, clients and suppliers together for a celebration at which he paid special recognition to the four members of the team, senior onsite account manager Helen Waite, Bridgend branch manager Davood Torangi, systems improvement manager Iwona Grelak and accounts administrator Karen Lewis, who have been employed at Smart Solutions for 10 years. Mr Bowles also thanked sales manager Tom David, who has retired after more than eight years of employment.
“The success of the business is testament to the exceptional talent base of our staff and their determination to make Smart Solutions the go-to provider of outsourced and labour services,” said Mr Bowles.
“Traditionally, Smart Solutions is a recruitment firm but during the last decade we’ve adapted our business model to ensure we’re providing more solutions to our clients, including facilities management, software development, consultancy, security and cleaning, PPE and work wear.
“We’ve also developed Smart Onsite, a bespoke software system that records and tracks the recruitment process for clients, producing real-time KPIs and reports on compliance, licences and budgets.
“The focus for the next 10 years is to continue to grow and, while I’m confident this is achievable, we’re taking steps to ensure the business is in the best position possible to do so in light of changes that will inevitably affect the recruitment industry, such as Brexit.”
Smart Solutions works for clients in a variety of sectors, spanning waste and recycling, manufacturing, logistics, pharmaceutical and automotive. In May 2017, it was included in the London Stock Exchange Group’s “1,000 Companies to Inspire Britain” listing. NEWS that Disney will snap up a raft of 21st Century Fox’s entertainment assets including Sky sent the broadcaster’s shares to the bottom of the FTSE 100 and dragged the blue chip index into the red.
The FTSE 100 ended the day down 0.65% or 48.39 points at 7448.12, with Sky among its biggest fallers down 1.8% or 19p at 990p.
The $52.4bn (£39bn) deal sparked investor jitters over Sky’s future under Disney, which will take on a 39% stake in the business.
That is despite reassurances from Disney chairman and chief executive Bob Iger, who told Bloomberg TV: “Absolutely. All of Sky has a future.
“We obviously will look at the overlap between the business that are similar... ultimately we believe we’re going to create a lot of opportunities for a lot of Fox employees, opportunities beyond the ones they have today.”
In currency markets, the pound was trading higher by 0.15% versus the US dollar at 1.343, but climbed 0.5% against the euro to 1.140 as investors reacted to comments from European Central Bank president Mario Draghi, who flagged uncertainty over the eurozone’s inflation outlook as the central bank left interest rates on hold.
In UK stocks, Sports Direct shares dropped 8.5p to 374.9p after statutory pre-tax profits plunged 67.3% for the half year to October 29, which the company put down to “fair value adjustments and transitional factors such as the disposal of assets”.
The retailer also reported falling UK retail sales amid store closures, reduced online promotions and higher costs liked to the weaker pound.
Lonmin surged 12.75p to 76.5p after the platinum miner agreed to a takeover by South African rival Sibanye-Stillwater in a £285m deal.
Shares in Ocado edged higher by 2p to 343.6p despite revealing slowing sales growth in the fourth quarter, having suffered from a shortage of delivery drivers in London and the South East.
Mitie dropped 4.5p to 199.5p despite clinching a 10-year contract with the Home Office worth half a billion pounds to supply immigration services starting in spring 2018.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Land Securities up 30.5p to 978.5p, Mondi up 51p to 1,775p, Mediclinic International up 15.5p to 621.5p, and BT Group up 5.85p to 273.85p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Standard Life Aberdeen down 13.7p to 413.8p, Convatec Group down 6.1p to 203.2p, British American Tobacco down 104.5p to 4,924.5p, and CRH down 53p to 2,530p.