Leading UK recruitment and training company Acorn has recorded its best ever week of sales – including two successive £2m-plus weeks for revenue in which it placed a total of more than 5,000 workers in temporary employment across the UK – providing real evidence of an economy in sustained recovery.
More than 500 Acorn clients were provided with temporary workers during the week ending August 11 – the company’s best single week for earnings in its 20-year history with sales in excess of £2m.
And in the following week, Acorn racked up its second-highest week of sales ever, posting revenue figures just short of the previous seven days but still over £2m, the first time the £2m mark has been topped twice in the same month.
Acorn’s founder and Group Managing Director, Matt Southall, described the figures as a “fantastic result for the business”, and hailed them as a genuine indicator that the economy is finally on the mend.
Acorn, with 38 office locations UK-wide, has seen a steady growth in demand for temporary staff, with several sectors experiencing increased staffing requirements such as manufacturing in food and heavy industries, IT, general industrial and healthcare.
But the Wales-headquartered business is also reporting an increase in demand for permanent staff from companies that cut back at the height of recession and are now starting to find the confidence to rebuild their workforce numbers.
This has resulted in increased business activity for the Acorn Group across its main markets in Wales and the South West and North West regions of England, along with London and the South East, where its subsidiary business – specialist recruitment company Exxell – is based.
The record week’s revenue only relates to earnings from temporary recruitment, and will be further bolstered by sales from permanent recruitment placements and Acorn’s reputable training division.
Matt Southall said: “We are delighted to announce that in recent weeks we have been breaking records across the business and Acorn staff should take great credit for that – an our clients also for the faith they continue to have in has, and the thousands of job seekers who look to Acorn to help them find work each week.
“We have only achieved weekly sales of over £2m on three occasions in our history, and the last time in October 2010 was partly fuelled by the Ryder Cup in Wales and the temporary employment opportunities that created.
“This is a fantastic result and a huge credit to everyone across the Acorn business. It is also, hopefully, a genuine indicator that the economy is finally starting to turn for the good. We at Acorn and Exxell are very much geared up for taking advantage of the up-lift, and being able to offer our clients the very support to operate as flexibly and competitively as possible.
He added: “We are all well aware it has been a highly challenging few years for employers generally, and the recruitment industry itself. But our staff have worked very closely with all clients to ensure our business relationships have been sensitively managed, and that they continue to develop in all our long-term best interests.
“I have no doubt the excellent rapport we have generated with employers, and the consistency of service we have delivered, have been fundamental to our on-going success.”