Accordant (AGC:NZC), the New Zealand-based temporary staffing provider previously known as AWF Madison, published its annual report today for the year ended 31 March 2021. The group reported revenue of NZD 205.5 million (USD 149.9 million), down 22% compared to the same period last year.

Accordant said its results were impacted by the pandemic.

The group said it was assisted by the government’s wage subsidies in the first half of the financial year, which allowed the group to make the commitment to retain greater numbers of external and internal staff than they would otherwise have been able to.

JacksonStone & Partners, a New Zealand-based executive search and recruitment consultancy it acquired in 2019, also contributed a full 12 months, post-acquisition.

The group reported net profit after tax of NZD 6.2 million, up 131.4%. This year’s result includes a fair value adjustment gain of NZD 1.285 million (USD 0.9 million) on the deferred contingent consideration payable to the vendors of JacksonStone & Partners.

This year’s results also provide a NZD 7.0 million (USD 5.1 million) impairment write down on the carrying value of Goodwill on Madison Recruitment.

Other steps taken by the group to minimise the impact of the pandemic disruptions included: curtailed operating and capital expenditure; salary reductions across senior and operational personnel; Directors fee reductions; a freeze on replacement and additional personnel hires; and landlord rental support.

Among Accordant’s three white-collar operating businesses, Absolute IT was least affected by the Covid-19 related disruption as contracting held up well, although customers curtailed their permanent recruitment activity. Similarly, JacksonStone & Partners saw a fall in permanent recruitment activity. The pandemic impact was felt most by Madison Recruitment, where border restrictions affected the temporary candidate pool and contracted the size of the temporary job market.

The AWF blue-collar business was impacted by the Covid-19 disruption with revenue down 20.2% on FY2020, however is recovering faster than anticipated.

CEO Simon Bennett said it was ‘pleasing Accordant had been able to continue to employ large numbers of labour-hire and white-collar temporary workers.’

“Maintaining this large workforce has allowed us to remain connected to workers and employers, and positions us well to supply strongly recovering demand,” Bennett said. “More recently, the group has seen a significant increase in hiring activity across both temporary and permanent markets.”

Chairman Ross Keenan added, “So as the 2021/2022 Financial Year has got underway, whilst we expect revenues to track below previous years across the group, margins are improving as care is taken to ensure sustainable growth before fixed costs are added.”

Last week Accordant Group, announced the appointment of Jason Cherrington as CEO of the company, effective 21 June 2021. Current CEO Bennett will be appointed to the Board effective 21 June 2021, in the role of Executive Director.

Accordant Group shares closed at NZD 1.32 (USD 0.96), up 3.94% on the day and 12.82% above the 52 week low of NZD 1.17 set on 21 August 2020. The company has a market cap of NZD 43.59 million (USD 31.80 million).