Brian Flood and Marian Noone decided to put their cards on the table when Parc Group received approaches from outside players interested in buying the recruitment and HR outsourcing division they managed.
The pair have been working for Parc Group since 1985 and felt they knew the division, Parc HR Services (PHRS), well enough to take it over on their own. They felt they could separate it from Parc Group's other division, Parc Aviation, which finds jobs for workers in the aviation and aerospace sectors, and expand the business.
Flood, chief executive of PHRS, and Noone, head of the outsourcing and healthcare business within the division, have just taken over their division of Parc in a management buyout deal worth about €10 million.
"There has always been interest in the company but an intensity came into it about six months ago when there was an approach for the business. We knew it was time to evaluate the company. We have had a very positive response internally," says Flood.
Flood and Noone plan to expand PHRS's existing businesses in Britain and Ireland, and to target new growth in the area of healthcare, particularly in the Middle East where it already has a small operation.
"We have our outsourcing and recruitment businesses. The third leg to the stool will be the healthcare business," says Flood. To this end, the firm will use Noone's extensive contacts in the Middle East, Far East and Africa.
PHRS has an annual turnover of almost €60 million and contributed about 25 per cent of Parc Group's operating profits. Flood believes there is more room to expand in the British market, which already accounts for 80 per cent of PHRS's business.
He says the recruitment and outsourcing market in Britain is worth £23 billion (€32 billion), so the company is really only scratching the surface. PHRS will look at expanding further by buying more recruitment and outsourcing companies in Britain.
"We will grow the business organically on the healthcare side but we will also look at larger opportunities in the UK. The larger the infrastructure a business has, the greater the opportunity it will present," says Flood.
He says there will be no major change in how the business is run, now that he and Noone own the company. "We have been running the ship at another level for some time. We have a plan and we are continuing with that plan - we will not be revising it."
PHRS employs 85 of 140 staff within the overall Parc Group - it has 35 employees in Ireland and 50 in the UK. The firm will continue to trade under the Parc brand, though it will eventually develop its own identity. It has offices in Dublin, London, Glasgow and Havant in Hampshire in the south of England.
Parc Group was split in two in 2004, creating the aviation business, and the recruitment and HR outsourcing business as separate entities. Flood said this helped to "marshal people's talents".
Parc Aviation is a niche player and a very profitable business, he says. PHRS has developed opportunities in the banking, finance, hospitality, insurance and construction sectors.
Flood says the prospect of an economic slowdown does not concern him. "People will always be looking for new jobs and ways to progress their careers. That will just continue."
He believes companies will continue to outsource their recruitment processes, particularly in healthcare and in the UK. He says PHRS can take advantage of these new opportunities.
"We felt we had developed a good vehicle. Now we want to take it for a spin to see what we can do with it. That is the challenge and ambition for us."
