The region’s largest recruitment specialist celebrates its 30th anniversary with a record year.
Nigel Wright Group achieved a record gross profit of over £13 million in its last financial year, ending 30 April 2018. The business was established in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1988 and during the twelve months leading up to its anniversary broke several longstanding records including surpassing its previous highest fees for Q3 and Q4.
With 126 permanent staff based at 13 sites across Europe including offices in London, Paris, Stuttgart, Madrid, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen, Nigel Wright was further delighted to report that this growth was achieved through increasing the productivity and effectiveness of its established workforce.
A significant investment in training and development of staff at all levels was incremental in helping the business retain momentum throughout the year. The rolling out of European wide leadership training, delivered as part a centre of excellence training programme at its Newcastle upon Tyne headquarters, played a crucial part in the overall success.
Group Executive Director for the UK, Mark Simpson, said: “This is the third consecutive record year for our Regional Business operating from Newcastle and Wynyard. Gross profit is up by nearly 20%. I am extremely pleased with our performance, particularly given the big UK recruiters posted results which have seen them all either shrink or stand still in the UK over the same period. However, it is essential we guard against complacency and continue to improve our service offering, competing on value rather than price. We are now actively recruiting to secure further growth in the years ahead.”
CEO, Paul Wilson, said of the results: “Our regional business performed superbly last year and its leadership team is in great shape to help the company continue on its trajectory. Building on our 30-year foundation, the wider business has seen us reinforce long standing relationships with global consumer brands across Europe while establishing new clients across the continent. We have significant market penetration in consumer sectors including food, drink, home and personal care, consumer electronics, lifestyle and ecommerce. The record revenues achieved across our business are due to the calibre of our teams at all levels and their focus on being experts in their sectors and disciplines.”
World class customer service has always underpinned Nigel Wright’s culture and is a key reason behind the business’ strong client and candidate loyalty. It’s an area that receives personal attention from the company’s CEO to ensure no-one ever takes that loyalty for granted. This too has paid off, with Nigel Wright’s Net Promoter Score jumping to 55 in 2017-18 after spending the previous two years at 48. Companies achieving scores above 30 through the global Net Promoter mechanism are deemed as benefitting from ‘world class customer loyalty.’ According to Paul, this is testament to everyone’s commitment to customer satisfaction and staff development.
Paul Wilson continued: “For the North East of England regional business this will involve gaining even greater market share across the region as well as further increasing the company’s presence in Cumbria and North Yorkshire. This will be led through its recruitment consultants in Newcastle and Wynyard.
“Growth in Europe for the next year will be driven through the existing offices and by investing in current and new recruiters to help more global consumer brands enhance their talent at home and abroad. This will continue to involve Nigel Wright recruiting across continents, with assignments being completed in Africa and America in recent months.”
Paul added: “We’re actively seeking to recruit more people this year, to ensure we can meet the opportunities ahead of us. This financial year has started as the last one ended, with us achieving record fees in May. If we continue to deliver the highest service levels amongst candidates and clients, then we’re confident we’ll remain in the strongest position to capitalise on the strong recruitment market.”