Aisha Bushell: How do you believe the acquisition will enhance the company’s overall vision?
CBSbutler: CBSbutler is already a very well-established brand. The leadership team and I are delighted that in Adam Fletcher and Mark Keegan (IPE Ventures) we have found a forward-looking partnership to really drive and support our growth vision for the future.
Our vision is to be the global recruiting partner of choice across our key sectors of Aviation, Defence Consultancy, IT and Engineering. Whilst also offering Business Support recruitment for our clients within these sectors. This acquisition will enable us to achieve this vision, we will have a laser like focus on our specialisms – our sectors of strength
AB: How does this acquisition align with the company’s long-term growth strategy?
CBSbutler: This acquisition marks an exciting new chapter for us, our leadership team have come together with Adam and Mark (IPE Ventures) to form a shared vision of success for the business. We have a new 3-year strategy with absolute clarity building upon our well established “specialist” divisions.
We’re proud to have divisional directors with extensive experience: Dave Rowe in Aviation (25 years), Phil Johnson in Defence & IT (25 years), Alex Froude in Engineering (16 years), Matt Wilson in IT and Defence Consulting (10 years), and Allison Drake in Business Support (20 years). This acquisition empowers our leadership to grow their divisions with robust shareholder support.
We’re committed to our people, fostering their growth in a fun, rewarding and developmental culture. We aim to be the go-to destination for professionals looking to start or advance their careers within an established brand that has a clear and exciting plan for the future.
AB: Will the acquisition affect the company’s talent acquisition strategy and if so, how?
CBSbutler: We’re hiring right now, our growth strategy starts today – 5 vacancies across Aviation, Engineering, Defence Consultancy and Business Support.
We’ll achieve growth by offering a first-class company culture to develop and retain our existing team and hiring talented recruiters, alongside new entrants to the industry.
You often read articles saying “there has never been a better time to join our team” however we can say this and really mean it! We are on an exciting journey and now is the time to become part of it!
AB: What opportunity does it create for recruitment and attracting top talent?
CBSbutler: We’re creating a positive environment and have a growth culture here at CBSbutler that we know fuels success.
We want to attract top talent – both people that can have an immediate impact and those that are looking to start/develop their careers with a progressive company.
Our environment and culture is focused upon high performance, growth, recognition, reward and retention.
We offer an extremely competitive commission plan which is geared toward specialist recruiting in line with our company strategy. We place great value on having a “fun and rewarding” culture! We recently had a team Sports day, “Taste the Culture” food events, and launched new quarterly incentive clubs. We have a great deal to talk to people about!
As we grow so will our employees. This creates exciting opportunities for ambitious people to thrive!
AB: With relation to restructures, are there any significant restructures planned/implemented following the acquisition? If so, what are the key changes?
CBSbutler: Since Feb 24, our organisation has undergone transformational changes across structure and strategy. We’ve worked very hard to put the right structure in place to redefine how we’re doing business.
The key changes have been a real focus on our strategic markets, driving an inch-wide and mile-deep approach. In addition, empowering and supporting our leaders with the right plans and people to service our clients and candidates.
All the decisions we’ve made, have been to set the business up for the future, aligned with our 3-year plan and helping our people deliver a world-class specialist service to our clients and candidate communities.
AB: How will the revised strategy benefit current and future employees?
CBSbutler: Increased clarity: our current and future people have a genuine understanding of the company’s direction, how they fit into it, and how they can contribute to it in the future.
Under our new owners, we feel empowered. As a business, we have the opportunity and scope to innovate within our respective specialist markets.
We also have an agile process for decision-making. Our people know decisions are made with our growth strategy in mind. Every decision we make will provide an opportunity for our people to benefit – new clients, sectors, countries, services, and ways of working! All opportunities for people to grow with us!
AB: What new investments has, or will the company make to support this acquisition?
CBSbutler: Substantial investment, time, and effort have been made into the business from Adam and Mark at IPE Ventures, to support business as usual and to fuel our growth. As a business, we are now entrepreneurial investor-led which means our management team has a much greater level of empowerment than ever before!
Our strategic review has enabled us to stabilise the business and initiate our growth strategy. Our 3-year plan is focused upon key accelerators in which we will invest; organic headcount growth, people-centric culture, new divisions, maximising our global capability and service proposition, and raising our brand awareness.
As we grow into more contract work, permanent opportunities and complex recruitment services having the backing of IPE Ventures enables us to enter these projects with more confidence and vigour. Investment has been made to enable our people to achieve the best results: better technology, the right tools, marketing support and opportunities for enhanced remuneration. All of which are genuine enablers for our teams to achieve!
AB: Could you tell us about your plans to launch new divisions or expansion into new markets following the acquisition?
CBSbutler: We are delighted to launch our newest pillar of Defence Consultancy. Appointing one of our key directors to lead this area. We’re all excited by this as we’re utilising our extensive network/established candidate communities to place strategic roles across a market that is truly global.
CBSbutler already supports recruitment in over 25 countries worldwide. We have a strategic focus on continuing to build our global capability. We are incredibly proud of our international work with truly exciting clients and high calibre candidates, all of which positions us perfectly for growth.
We’re also responding to growing demand for contract and engagement models, across our core sectors, we’re looking at increasing the number of Contract workers and SOW engagements as a result.
AB: How will these new divisions or expansions create job opportunities and career growth for employees?
CBSbutler: Putting it simply, Growth – by increasing the number of clients, expanding current relationships, offering new services, new sectors and markets, this means we’ll support our current people to lead these initiatives. They will grow with the business. We’ll also need to hire great people to support the delivery and expansion of these new initiatives!
AB: Can you share any financial milestones or goals the company has achieved recently following the acquisition?
CBSbutler: Things are really coming together, and it is remarkable what a difference 6 months can make! Q2 was our first full quarter post re-organisation and we are delighted with our results! Our Q2 EBITDA number came in at 176% of budget and was up almost £500k year over year!
Our three-year plan is to grow NFI by 23% and EBITDA by 75% – and we’re on track to hit, and surpass, these ambitious targets we’ve set ourselves.
AB: How does this financial success position the company for future growth and stability?
CBSbutler: All of this means that we’re in a great place to build, bring on new people and invest in high growth international markets, technology, marketing and automation. It means that our people can continue to deliver a world-class service to our customers, and we can build our business around that number one goal – to be seen as the global recruiting partner of choice across our sectors of strength!
