Recruitment firms bucking the trend

Brian Hamill, its ebullient chief executive, says headcount has already reached nearly 100 and should hit 180 to 200 by the end of 2002.

The company opened offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai in January and hopes to set up in two cities in continental Europe some time this year, as well as in the US in the last quarter.

'We've either got it really right or really wrong, but I'm very confident,' says Hamill, acknowledging the boldness of such an aggressive expansion in what he describes as the worst recruitment market he can remember, including the UK recession in 1991.

He argues that this is the perfect time to pick up talented staff who may not be in great demand elsewhere, and emerge from the downturn in better shape than established firms.

Global employers increasingly want global recruitment solutions, he adds, so expanding in just one location would not make sense.

Imprint is active in many fields, including legal, technology and back- and middle-office financial services.

One of its important sectors is front-office search, branded under the name WoodHamill and run by Rachael Wood, who joined from the rival headhunter Hogarth Davies Lloyd.

Wood says WoodHamill has already expanded to about 20 staff, including six consultants in areas which include equities, debt, corporate finance, fund management and private equity.

The firm is benefiting from its policy of hiring people who have experience of working in the sectors they are recruiting for, she says.

Wood herself is an example, having spent time in equity capital markets at NatWest Securities and BT Alex Brown. Another is Ebru Ozsezgin, a former fund manager at Goldman Sachs.

Hamill says quality of research is another area where Imprint is making its mark on potential clients.

'We're willing to spend the money to get the research right and we're already seeing results from that. We're in this for the long term and we'll hire the best researchers available,' he says.

He is also on the lookout to buy up other recruitment firms and says he has an ample war chest for the purpose, including a 10m (€16.2m) borrowing facility. Acquisitions could well pave Imprint's way into Europe, he believes.

'We've looked at 45 potential deals globally in the last 12 months. There are going to be some very attractive bargains out there,' he says.

Hamill is accustomed to success, having sold the recruitment firm Walker Hamill four years ago for 18m (along with Robert Walker, now Imprint's chief operating officer.)

He acknowledges that Imprint has been losing money so far, but thinks the group should be breaking even operationally by the middle of this year.

Shareholders of the AIM-listed firm will be hoping he is right. The stock price last week was 56.5p, down from a high of 107p last May.

Expansion is also on the agenda at Sheffield Haworth, where Tim Sheffield, the chief executive, says that the headcount has increased from about 40 a year ago to more than 50 now. By the end of this year, he hopes it will reach about 60. The contrast with the clearing of desks at many rival firms is stark.

But Sheffield Haworth's growth is driven by very different principles from that at Imprint. 'We started a steady expansion long before the downturn, opening offices in Paris in 1999 and Frankfurt in 2000. We see no reason to change our plans just because the markets are weak. We will emerge stronger when growth returns,' says Sheffield.

The firm's latest expansion took place this month in Hong Kong, where it has hired Toby Crosthwaite, a former Baines Gwinner headhunter who joins from Whitehead Mann. In three years' time, says Sheffield, the firm might also open offices in the US.

Unlike Imprint, Sheffield Haworth intends to grow purely by hiring individuals. Patrick Morrissey, its managing director, says: 'We're not planning to buy up any firms, even if they look good value. Acquisitions can pose cultural problems, as many other firms have discovered.'

Sheffield says the company has the financial resources to grow because it has been carefully managed since he helped to set it up in the City of London in 1993.

'We have reinvested a lot of our profits back into the business. That gives us the basis for our expansion,' he says.

He adds that he is glad the company is privately held, especially in current markets. 'A stock exchange listing is more trouble than it's worth in my opinion. Shareholders sometimes take a very short-term view that can influence long-term strategy.'

The firm plans to add to its expertise in areas where it is a relatively new player, such as private banking, as well as those where it is established, such as asset management. Last year, the firm was highly profitable, despite the costs of expansion, says Sheffield, adding that he believes it will be again this year.

Sheffield may be free of the pressures of running a listed company. But as the majority shareholder in the firm, he will be hoping as much as anyone that his business strategy succeeds.