An updated and slightly more detailed analysis showing how 12 listed recruitment companies have performed since the market crash of 2008. This analysis show's extra information such as headcount, market cap, interim report highlights (and a few low lights), 2013 performance, Q3 performance, graphs, charts and some simple observations. I hope that if you work in recruitment, you will find this simple analysis of interest and hopefully it'll trigger some interesting conversations. Note - Initially I put this together simply out of interest as an investor, trader and recruitment professional, it goes without saying that you should not base any investment decision on anything I have included in this analysis.

1. 5 years on:
Recruitment Company Share Price Performance:
(pre market crash to date)
A simple analysis showing how the share price of 12 listed
recruitment companies have been performing since
Lehman's filled for bankruptcy in Sept 2008
Marcus Panton
Talent Acquisition Consulting and Training
Twitter - @MarcusConGusano
LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/marcuspantongusanoltd/

2. Contents
1. Share Price Performance, Sept 08 to Date (ROI if you’d invested
£5,000 over that period
2. Share Price Performance, 2013 YTD and Q3 2013 (ROI if you’d
invested £5,000 over that period)
3. Graph showing all 12 companies share price performance: Sept
2008 to date
4. A couple of observations
5. Take outs from some of the interim reports published during
Q3

3. Recruitment Company Shareprice Performance v's The Market (Since Lehmans filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sept 15th 2008)
If you'd invested £5,000 into any of the below recruitment companies just before the market crash in Sept 2008, what would it be worth now?
Company
MarketCap
(GBPm)
Headcount
SharePrice
SharePrice
Performance
ROI
(Ifyou'd
invested
£5,000)
P/L
(WC 12/09/08) (01/10/2013) (%) (£) (£)
Robert Walters 244.3 2193 127.75 325.55 254.8% £12,741.7 £7,741.7
Harvey Nash 64.6 743 35.75 90 251.7% £12,587.4 £7,587.4
Randstad 6151.5 29300 20.8 41.76 200.8% £10,038.5 £5,038.5
SThree 424.5 2200 197.5 346 175.2% £8,759.5 £3,759.5
MatchTech 103.2 381 259.5 441 169.9% £8,497.1 £3,497.1
Robert Half 3336.4 12000 25.98 38.54 148.3% £7,417.2 £2,417.2
ManPower 3505.8 28000 49.17 72.24 146.9% £7,345.9 £2,345.9
Micheal Page 1515.6 5099 336.25 491.9 146.3% £7,314.5 £2,314.5
Hays 1625.1 7810 88 118.4 134.5% £6,727.3 £1,727.3
Interquest 26.7 223 60 80 133.3% £6,666.7 £1,666.7
Adecco 8168.1 31000 51 64.75 127.0% £6,348.0 £1,348.0
Hydrogen 22.2 368 94 92.5 98.4% £4,920.2 -£79.8
v's Index
FTSE 100 5240.7 6462.22 123.3% £6,165.4 £1,165.4
FTSE 250 8966.8 14905.81 166.2% £8,311.7 £3,311.7
AIM 768.6 796.5 103.6% £5,181.5 £181.5
Notes
I simply took the opening price for each stock (and indices) for the week commencing Sept 12th 2008, and for Tuesday 1st October 2013
I will update this analysis at the end of each quarter and build an ongoing picture of recruitment company shareprice performance overtime
If you are reading this and would like me to add other listed recruitment companies into the mix - please DM via LinkedIn or Twitter
This exercise was done purely out of professional curiousity as an active trader, investor and recruitment professional.

4. Recruitment Company Shareprice Performance v's The Market - 2013 to date
If you'd invested £5,000 into any of the below recruitment companies at the start of 2013 and at the beginning of Q3
what would it be worth now?
Company
Price
Price
Performance
ROI
(Ifyou'dinvested
£5,000)
P/L
Price
Price
Performance
ROI
(Ifyou'dinvested
£5,000)
P/L
Share price performance 2013 - Jan 1st to Date Share price performance Q3 2013
(Jan 1st) (Oct 1st) (Jul 1st) (Oct 1st)
MatchTech 240 441.0 184% £9,187.5 £4,187.5 335.0 441.0 132% £6,582.1 £1,582.1
ManPower 41.82 72.2 173% £8,637.0 £3,637.0 55.1 72.2 131% £6,560.1 £1,560.1
Robert Walters 196.2 325.6 166% £8,296.4 £3,296.4 222.5 325.6 146% £7,315.7 £2,315.7
Interquest 52.5 80.0 152% £7,619.0 £2,619.0 60.7 80.0 132% £6,589.8 £1,589.8
Randstad 27.41 41.8 152% £7,617.7 £2,617.7 31.7 41.8 132% £6,588.8 £1,588.8
Harvey Nash 62.5 90.0 144% £7,200.0 £2,200.0 72.0 90.0 125% £6,250.0 £1,250.0
Hays 83.1 118.4 142% £7,123.9 £2,123.9 90.2 118.4 131% £6,563.2 £1,563.2
Adecco 48.95 64.8 132% £6,613.9 £1,613.9 54.0 64.8 120% £5,995.4 £995.4
Micheal Page 393.4 491.9 125% £6,251.9 £1,251.9 373.9 491.9 132% £6,578.0 £1,578.0
Robert Half 31.4 38.5 123% £6,136.9 £1,136.9 33.4 38.5 116% £5,778.1 £778.1
Hydrogen 85 92.5 109% £5,441.2 £441.2 93.0 92.5 99% £4,973.1 -£26.9
SThree 340 346.0 102% £5,088.2 £88.2 332.0 346.0 104% £5,210.8 £210.8
v's Index
FTSE 100 5925.37 6462.2 109% £5,453.0 £453.0 6215.5 6462.2 104.0% £5,198.5 £198.5
FTSE 250 12359.7 14905.8 121% £6,030.0 £1,030.0 13798.2 14905.8 108.0% £5,401.4 £401.4
AIM 704.78 796.5 113% £5,650.7 £650.7 691.9 796.5 115.1% £5,755.6 £755.6
Notes
I simply took the opening price for each stock (and indices) for Jan 1st 2013, wc 1st July 2013, and for Tuesday 1st October 2013

6. Recruitment Company Share Price Performance:
Observations:
Overall the recruitment sector hasn’t been a bad place to invest your money over the past 5
years
• Average share price growth across the 12 companies analysed over the 5 year period is
165.6%
• 5 companies (Harvey Nash, Robert Walters, Randstad, SThree and Matchtech), achieved a
better ROI than the average
• 11 out of the 12 companies analysed achieved a better ROI than the FTSE100 over the same
period
• 5 out of the 12 companies analysed achieved a better ROI than the FTSE250 over the same
period
• 11 of the 12 companies analysed showed a positive return on investment (not adjusted for
inflation)
• Robert Walters clearly outperformed the rest of the market in Q3 with an impressive 146%
uplift in its share price, whilst Matchtech has been outperforming everyone else this year
with a %184 uplift in share price over that period

7. Key take outs from this quarters news flow and
interim reports:
• Robert Walters' first-half pre-tax profit rose 19% to £3.7 million, from £3.1 million. Revenue
was up 5% to £288.8 million, from £275.0 million. It said net fee income increased across all
regions whilst continuing to carefully manage the Group's cost base
• Hydrogen Group has announced that for the half year ended June 30 2013 net fee income
("NFI") increased by 2% to £15.9m (1H 2012: £15.6m). However profit before tax fell 31.5%
to £1.3m (1H 2012: £1.9m) impacted by increased investment in people and offices.
• Michael Page International said revenue for the six months to end-June increased by 0.1% to
£503.2m (2012: £502.6m) and gross profit decreased by 4.4% to £261.9m (2012: £273.9m).
At constant exchange rates, the Group's revenue decreased by 0.9% and gross profit by 5.2%.
• Profits at specialist staffing business SThree fell in the third quarter by 2% year-on-year, but
its targeted expansion strategy in the banking, energy, pharmaceutical and biotechnology
sectors helped balance the books. While year-on-year profits for the permanent recruitment
business fell 11%, the contract side of the operation boosted profits by 7%, and overall
profits increased by 5% over the second quarter.

8. Key take outs from this quarters news flow and
interim reports:
• Matchtech Group plc acquired Application Services Limited, (trading as Provanis), a niche
technology recruitment business for a total cash consideration of £4 million ($6.3 million) to
broaden their capability within the global ERP recruitment market,
• Harvey Nash Group reported a decrease in pre-tax profit for the first half of the
year, reflecting increases in expenses, and impact of exceptional items, which hurt the
increase in revenues. For the six-month period, the group reported profit before tax of £1.75
million, compared with £3.4 million a year ago. Adjusted profit before tax decreased 4 % to
£4 million, from £4.2 million last year.
• Hays said turnover increased by 1% (2% on a like-for-like basis) in the year to end-June and
net fees decreased by 2% (1% on a like-for-like basis). Operating profit decreased by 2% (1%
on a like-for-like basis). The difference in growth rates between turnover and net fees is
consistent with the outperformance of temp versus perm. Net fees were £719m (2012:
£734). Operating profit was £125.5m (2012: £128.1m).

9. About GusanoLtd
Gusano is a Talent Acquisition Consultancy that brings together a collection of industry experts from all
corners of the recruitment profession, (in-house, agency and RPO), to design and deliver bespoke training
programmes and consultancy projects with a simple goal in mind; 'To enhance performance, raise
standards, and enable change through support and learning'.
Specialties
DSO - Direct Sourcing Optimisation (in-house)
Social Media Sourcing
New Starter Selection, On-Boarding and Training
One2One Coaching, Leadership Development
Control & Influence
360 Degree Recruitment
Bespoke Recruitment Training
Marcus Panton – 07538 122 433
Talent Acquisition Consulting and Training
Twitter - @MarcusConGusano
LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/marcuspantongusanoltd/