Leading UK multi-regional recruitment and training company Acorn has reported a second successive increase in turnover – to a record £94m.
The Acorn Group earnings also played a significant role in boosting parent company Synergie’s revenue for 2011 to record levels, returning sales for the year of €1.44 billion – an increase of 16.9 per cent.
Matt Southall, Group Managing Director of Acorn, which has its headquarters at the Celtic Springs Business Park in Newport, said: “We are delighted that here in the UK the Acorn Group, including our subsidiaries Concept in the South West of England and Exxell in the South East, are continuing to make a significant and growing contribution to the ongoing achievements of Synergie.
“It has proved to be a second successive record-breaking 12 months for all of us at Acorn which, in what has been an extremely challenging year, and is the result of the tremendous hard work, commitment and care we give to all our customers and partners.
“While we look to build on this success and develop our ambitions for 2012 still further, we’ll need to remain as agile, energetic and resourceful as we can to ensure we continue to support our clients as flexibly and competitively as possible.”
Daniel Augereau, Chairman and Managing Director of Synergie, said: “In 2011 we exceeded our growth targets and strengthened our position as the 6th largest European recruiter.
“In view of the performances of all our business units such as Acorn here in the UK, Synergie expects to see a new increase of its operational profitability and of its self-financing capacity, which will allow us to consider new acquisitions in 2012.”
Acorn was founded in the midst of recession back in 1992, and this year – also at a time of significant economic challenges – Acorn celebrates its 20th anniversary by continuing to be a key partner for a huge number of businesses and organisations across the UK.
Matt added: “We are currently placing around 5,000 people into the workplace each day and deliver training and development programmes for approximately 1,000 individuals every month. With the number of permanent placements into full-time jobs also on the rise, we hope it will not be long before we see the confidence return to households and businesses, which we hope to see pick up during the second half of this year.”