EVENING POST
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Record growth despite tough economic year
MANY people would think that a firm working in the financial sector, particularly in recruitment, would be reporting on a pretty grim 2008.
But that’s not the story for Portishead-based Verridian plc, a financial recruitment and technology training specialist.
Last year the firm, which was established in 1991, broke all its turnover and profit records, which were up 35 per cent on 2007. It has also seen growth of 300 per cent over the past three years.
“It’s been a fantastic 2008 for Verridian. We have a substantial bank of candidates and 80 specialist recruiters in the United Kingdom with targets to increase this to 100 as we seek to expand into global markets,” said Bill Haynes, the firm’s chief executive.
“Despite the recent doom and gloom our results show that opportunities still exist for competitive, customer focused recruitment specialists despite the obvious challenges in today’s financial services market,” he said.
Verridian, which has a staff of 35 at Portishead, has recently opened offices in Dubai, Singapore, Miami and New York.
Its customers tend to be national and international FTSE100 institutions including Nokia, Carphone Warehouse, O2, and Nikon along with various banks and other financial institutions, many of which have offices in the Bristol area.
“Logistically, being based in Portishead is great for business, we are an hour from Birmingham, 90 minutes from London, minutes away from the motorways, and have access to a number of international airports. The Bristol area is rapidly becoming the place to be,” said Bill Haynes.
Last year the firm delivered training to 7,500 Carphone Warehouse retail staff at 65 events and 14 venues followed by in-store sessions.
Rob Brine, Verridian’s training director, said: “To be working with the world’s largest independent mobile phone retailer is a fantastic achievement”.
It was their first project with Carphone and won them an award from the Institute of IT Trainers.
Mr Haynes said of Verridian’s four business groups – Financial Services Recruitment, Training, Professional Services and Marketing: “We expect to break all records again in 2009 and all four business units are profitable.”