ethero sets £20m turnover target

ethero, which has its headquarters in Wellington, is also looking to add to its four branches after it recently opened a new training academy in Stoke-on-Trent.

The firm, which currently employs more than 30 staff, has been listed by Recruiter Magazine as number 13 in the top 50 list of the fastest growing recruitment companies in the UK. The ‘Fast 50’ is widely held as one of the key measures of success in the industry and is based on the previous three years of sales growth as reported at Companies House.

Managing director Gareth Hughes said: “We’ve expanded over the years to a four-branch network and we’re hoping to expand with further branch openings as soon as a certain situation is sorted out in Parliament and we know what we’re all doing.

“We’ve entered into a new location in Stoke and we’ve also got a purpose-built training centre there as well. We’ve put a technology centre into it as well as a people training centre. Hopefully, with the training centre, the investment in technology and with maybe a couple of new branches in the next year/18 months, we will keep that growth going and maintain some kind of position in the fast 50.

“The plan by the end of the year in the current branch network is to have 40 staff, but if we open up another branch we hope to be at 45 by the end of this year.

“We have a number of significant deals in the pipeline so hopefully we will end 2020 with a turnover of £20 million.”

Despite being confident of hitting the £20 million turnover target, Mr Hughes admits growth has slowed this year following the impacts of Brexit.

“We are heavily involved in the food and farming industries where the resource of the migrant workforce has been dramatically affected and has slowed.

“Our growth is probably five per cent and usually it would be 30-35 per cent year in, year out. I’m hopeful it’s just a settling period and we can capitalise on it when things are sorted,” Mr Hughes added