Mergers and acquisitions in the staffing industry

The strong Dutch staffing industry has relatively good margins. This means that employment agencies and providers of seconded personnel remain interesting to acquire. Investors at home and abroad are interested in employment agencies in the technical and IT sectors, due to the high level of the Dutch market’s professionalisation, but also because of the “war for talent”. Because of the shortages of staff, it becomes increasingly difficult to find the best candidates that can be properly deployed.

There is some disturbance in the market, due to changes in legislation and the growing demand for players in a niche market; this makes the acquisition of an employment agency interesting. We signal an attractive wave of consolidation, partly because of increasing interest from private equity parties and cross-border strategists.

Trends and developments in the staffing industry

There are a lot of changes going on in the staffing industry that strongly depend on economic developments. Widely specialised employment agencies and providers of seconded personnel have the power to quickly switch between different sectors in which the companies are active.

Because of new regulations, the deployment of flexible staff is becoming increasingly expensive. Nonetheless, there are a few macro trends causing agencies to look at broadening their HR services. We also see more and more companies operating from a diversity of labels to service a wider target group.

Challanges in the staffing industry

To summarise, we identify a couple of challenges the staffing industry faces:

• continuing shortages of staff;
• further digitisation of the staffing industry and the rise of platform companies
• shortages in good housing for flexible working migrants;
• continuing flow of migrants and the necessity for an appropriate governmental response (for example people with a residence permit from countries like Somalia and Syria).

Voor veel ondernemers gaat hierdoor de zogeheten “servet-tafellaken”-vergelijking spelen. Companies have to grow in order to keep up. This means joining a large player,or growing by acquiring employment agencies.

Buying or selling a company in the staffing industry?

There can be different reasons why you are considering acquiring a company in the staffing industry, or why you would want to (partly) sell your own company. Perhaps you want to expand your services by entering new markets? We are happy to guide you, during the buy-and-build process, in finding suitable potential companies. Are you considering selling the partial or complete sale of the shares in your company, to get ready for the future or to become less dependent on economic developments? We will look for a suitable buyer that meets your wishes.

Marktlink: your specialist in acquisitions in the staffing industry

Each year, more than a thousand entrepreneurs in your sector calculate their business value, using the Marktlink Multiple. In addition, we regularly guide the process of transactions of companies in the staffing industry. As a result, we have up-to-date market knowledge and enterprise values at our disposal, and we have a substantial portfolio of potential buyers and sellers in this industry.