de Poel celebrate 10 years
The UK’s number one procurer of temporary agency labour, de Poel, is this year celebrating its 10th anniversary, and CEO, Matthew Sanders, is treating the event in a manner which befits the success of the company; by taking his loyal workforce to Barcelona for a weekend of festivities.
As testament to the rapid growth of de Poel as an industry expert, one of the venues to visit in Barcelona was personally recommended by Ana Patricia Botin, the recently appointed Chief Executive of the emerging UK bank Santander, whose origins are in Spain. de Poel recently transferred the main banking relationship to Santander - a considerable coup for the Bank - and were fortunate enough to meet and establish a rapport with Ana shortly after transferring the accounts.
Simon Carrier, Santander Relationship Director notes "We at Santander Corporate Banking are committed to our corporate customers and pride ourselves on finding the right solutions to fit businesses' individual financing needs. de Poel is an innovative and growing company, with an impressive client base and strong management team. Our strategic relationship with de Poel is there to support their ambitious growth plans and we trust it will be a long and successful one."
Since the creation of de Poel in 2001 by Matthew Sanders and Michael Campbell, the company has grown from a mere ‘innovative concept’, to a universally respected leader in the temporary agency arena, managing over £400m every year for clients, with positive targets predicting to break the magical £1bn mark by 2015.
de Poel continues to grow at a record pace. With millions recently invested in the unsurpassed e-tips® system and a number of group companies set to launch that will diversify the de Poel family even further, the outlook is overwhelmingly positive. de Poel now has more than 70 blue chip clients, across a multitude of market sectors, who have all chosen the number one procurer of temporary agency labour as the perfect partner to reduce costs.
Sanders, who now owns de Poel outright, having bought out Campbell for a substantial figure 12 months ago, has carved out a reputation for himself across the procurement industry as a contemporary trend setter, and many see him as an essential figure to breathe new life into an area that was beginning to turn stale.
Having ridden the waves of the recession and come through it even stronger, de Poel is extremely fortunate to have the valuable experience of current MD John Salisbury, who joined the company in early 2009. Since this time, the business has seen a remarkable turnaround in fortunes, and curbed the tide of an industry hit harder than most during the economic downturn.
John puts the success of the business in having surrounded himself by people he can trust and is delighted that de Poel’s dedication to its workforce has received national recognition. The company recently picked up a clutch of awards, including The Times Best 100 Companies to Work For.
He said: “Any business is only as good as its people, and luckily for me we have incredible talent here at de Poel, coupled with exceptional staff retention; this means we are in a great position for future prosperity, and I for one cannot wait to see what is next for this fantastic company.
“The Barcelona trip is a fabulous way of acknowledging our staff for the integral part they play in all roles within the company, as well as marking our 10th anniversary. I must admit being present to pick up our Times Best Companies award was one of my proudest moments as Managing Director at de Poel”.
Financial matters
As a group, de Poel are in a strong financial position after increasing turnover by a staggering 43% to £299m in calendar 2010 and retaining profits for that year of £2.6m in de Poel Holdings Limited.
In the first five months of 2011, turnover was £140m, up an impressive 26% on the same period of 2010. With seasonal uplift in volumes in the latter half of the year, a healthy pipeline of new projects and the full year benefit of significant recent client wins such as Argos and British Gas, the group expects turnover of £375m to £400m in calendar 2011. On the back of these increased volumes, a significant increase in retained profits is similarly expected.
Cash-flow remains strong and, as noted above, in February 2011 the group established a new strategic banking relationship with Santander specifically to further assist supplying agencies in their funding through our early settlement product.
Agency Workers Regulations Seminars
The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 provide the biggest legislative challenge to the temporary recruitment market in many years. de Poel has embraced that challenge by providing a wealth of information to its own clients as well as other interested organisations. de Poel recently held a second round of AWR seminars, in both Manchester and London, which gave vital advice regarding the impact of the regulations.
de Poel were also extremely privileged to have in attendance Karen Wilshaw, from the Department of Business, Innovation & Skills, one of the foremost experts on the AWR, and she gave a terrific insight into what can be expected once the regulations take effect this October.
New Products
In keeping with de Poel’s mission to be not only the number one procurer of temporary agency labour, but experts in a number of recruitment related fields, they have also launched a number of new products and services that will add tremendous value to clients and agencies alike.
placeability™
placeability™ is an employment business dedicated to helping disabled people, long term unemployed, disadvantaged and people with learning difficulties to find temporary employment at all levels within varying industry sectors.
paraplus
paraplus is a new umbrella company that offers contractors the opportunity to maximise their take home pay by deducting allowable expenses from their gross pay. de Poel is also delighted to welcome Phil McDonald as paraplus Managing Director. Phil is a widely respected figure in umbrella services, as well as a leading player in the recruitment industry as a whole, and de Poel expects paraplus will go from strength to strength with him at the helm.
TempSure™
TempSure™ is a membership club for temporary agency workers, members now benefit from £10,000 of life insurance alongside the existing personal accident insurance and tremendous range of lifestyle benefits. It provides members with protection and peace of mind. de Poel's vendor neutral position, and its relationships with more than 1,200 recruitment agencies across the UK, has enabled the company to secure exclusive rates on a range of benefits as part of the offering, unobtainable by individuals or indeed recruitment agencies.
TalentSure™
TalentSure™ is a new resourcing approach, from de Poel, providing a permanent recruitment service to organisations of all sizes. It uses many of the traditional mechanisms to find candidates for organisations but it does a number of things differently, to ensure our clients get the most talented staff for their organisations.
Overseas – de Poel are currently looking to expand the business into mainland Europe and North America allowing de Poel to tackle clients’ global issues.
de Poel is extremely excited by progress in recent years and would like to thank recruitment agency partners without whose support our success would not be possible.