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 full year results, released on 29 May 2024:

Accordant Group reports return to growth for AWF, Public Sector spending affects white collar businesses.

• Revenue $212.4 million and NPAT of $(10.0) million post goodwill impairment
• Net operating cashflow $2.3m
• 7.9% growth in AWF revenue
• Public sector revenue down 12.4%

Accordant Group Limited [NZX:AGL] today announces an after-tax loss of $10.0 million for the year ended 31 March 2024.

In line with the Market Update of 4 March 2024, Group revenue was $212.4m being 6.6% lower than the prior year (FY23: $227.4 million).

Accordant Group CEO Jason Cherrington said the New Zealand economic environment and labour market have remained inconsistent and challenging through calendar 2024.

Interest rate pressures, rising business costs, a fall in hiring demand and a curb on public sector spending all contributed to a contraction in labour markets.

The Group’s white-collar businesses felt the effects of the downturn most noticeably in the government sector and in response operating costs have been appropriately reduced in some areas.