Accordant Group Limited Analysis

Overview

The company was founded in 1988 as Allied Work Force, providing temporary labour services to industry across Auckland.

Over the following years, the company expanded both its services and regional representation to have branches in most centres across New Zealand. It listed on the NZX in July 2005.

In 2013 the Group acquired Madison Recruitment, a leading white collar recruiter. This enabled the company to widen the range of services it offered - spanning from blue-collar temporary to white-collar permanent recruitment.

Following two further acquisitions, Absolute IT in 2016 and JacksonStone & Partners in 2019, the company grew its capability further to span all aspects of commercial and industrial recruitment services including permanent, temporary and contractor assignments.

In October 2020, the company renamed from AWF Madison Group to Accordant Group. It has grown to become New Zealand's largest recruitment and resourcing company, and the only staffing provider listed on the NZX.

Today, Accordant comprises four trading entities; AWF, Madison, Absolute IT and JacksonStone & Partners; and collectively these operations include 33 branches, employ close to 300 full time staff and deploy up to 4,000 temporary staff and contractors daily.

They have also established The Work Collective, a new employment initiative that delivers social impact by providing meaningful work opportunities for those who face barriers to employment.

Performance

The following information was extracted from Accordant Group Limited's half year results, released on 30 October 2024:

Accordant Group posts first half loss, anticipates market recovery.

• Revenue $88.9 million and NPAT $(1.4) million
• Net operating cashflow $1.3 million
• Executive Search demand increases

Accordant Group Limited (NZX: AGL) today announces a $1.4 million Net Profit after Tax loss for the six months to 30 September 2024.

Revenue for the first half fell by 21%, offset in part by a significant reduction in operating expenses.

Accordant Group CEO Jason Cherrington said the down cycle of economic activity had been unusually protracted and marked by an absence of the pivot from permanent to temporary recruitment seen during previous slowdowns.

“However, in common with most businesses we anticipate recovery in business and consumer confidence as monetary policy easing delivers further interest rate reductions.” Cherrington said.

“We have not subscribed to a ‘Survive till ‘25’ mentality but instead have been focused on positioning all the Group’s businesses to respond to meet conditions by sector and by region, so that we are able to seize demand growth wherever it occurs.”