Haines Watts working with Neway International

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The right recruitment recipe

In hospitality recruitment, success comes from the strength of your relationships with clients and staff. But, at exit, it pays to bring in an expert who knows how to sell your business to the outside world. Find out how Michele Cassandro, former owner of Neway International found the right buyer and got the right deal for her business.

Selling a recruitment business – where the value is captured in the quality of your people and their relationships with your clients – is always a challenge, particularly for a low-margin, high-turnover sector such as hospitality.

One Haines Watts client, Michele Cassandro, is only too aware of the difficulties of placing a price tag on people. She recently completed the sale of her business, Neway International – a venture which she has transformed over the past 22 years from a start-up to a company with an annual turnover of almost £10 million.

The firm supplies highly experienced staff to four and five-star hotels and other high-end establishments around London and relies heavily on Michele’s ability to form strong networks.
In fact, it was the realisation that she had developed an extensive contact book during her time working for a food retailer that led to the idea for her business. Her ‘eureka’ moment was understanding that managers and executive head chefs are always in need of chefs who already have the skill sets required by fine dining and catering outlets – and that she knew just the people for the job.

Neway International was founded and today places up to 600 people a week in roles at some of the most luxurious hotels in the capital.

As the story goes for many successful SMEs, Michele and her business partner at the time identified a need that wasn’t being met. But her talent for identifying people with the right attributes meant that she has also been able to place them on longer-term contracts, providing certainty for both parties. This is a strategy that has built a tremendous amount of loyalty on both sides.

It was a renewed focus on upskilling staff, however, that has proved to be a true game-changer for the business.

“When we spoke to our clients, we heard that they were struggling to find the right staff. And, while they trust us to find good people, and knew we could offer the continuity that is such a rare commodity in hospitality, there was still a need to improve skills or achieve certification,” Michele says.

She realised that a logical next step was to expand into hospitality training. “I have always preferred to invest capital back into the business, and that meant we were able to buy a freehold premises outright,” she continues.

The property was transformed into a training centre, which is dedicated to providing Chartered Institute of Environmental Health-accredited programmes. “Being able to train our staff before sending them out to clients really differentiated us from other agencies,” Michele says.

Neway International was soon asked to provide onsite training too. “Clients valued being able to train staff at their establishments in their own style of service, but they also like to hand-pick talent. Over the next four to five years, this aspect of the business grew to represent about 70% of our annual turnover,” she says.

Haines Watts partner Amilios Costa has been on the journey with Michele since the beginning – and it’s this depth of knowledge about her operations that has proved invaluable.

“Amilios – Moss, I call him – has always been my rock,” she says. “He referred me to other experts in Haines Watts, when required, whether it was to arrange the purchase of our property through a SIPP pension or conduct an end-of-year audit. And, as our exit from the business progressed, he made sure that we received advice on how we should model the sale.”

As with any sale, there were stumbling blocks, and Moss was able to step into the role of negotiator between Michele and the new buyer. “There was an impasse over details such as holiday money accruals and how much the ‘good will’ was worth,” she explains. “But because Moss knew the business so well, he was able to push the deal over the line.”

It is a close relationship, so it’s hardly surprising that Moss is now helping her to set up her next challenge. “I worked 16-hour days, so he’s now making sure the next venture is modelled so I only have to work a more normal six hours a day!” she says.

Haines Watts Partner view

Over the past two decades, I’ve been working alongside Michele and seen her transform her start-up venture into a successful business that she has gone on to sell.

Haines Watts has provided a range of services to her over the years, from accounts and audit to payroll and business planning, but a large part of my role has been to look after Michele, the person.
When she was looking to diversify the business, I helped her to purchase a property through a SIPP pension, for instance. And, as the business reached a certain turnover, we also ensured her end-of-year audit went smoothly.

We advised her to expand her client base and supported her in tendering for new business so she could reduce the risk of over-reliance on one key client.

Finally, because this is a high-stress, low-margin industry that relies on finding good quality staff from across Europe, we have kept her up to date with all the latest employment law changes.
When she finally decided to sell, our exit strategy involved making sure she became less essential to the everyday running of the organisation, as this is always a first step in making a business more attractive to buyers.

Now Michele is looking to her next opportunities, I will continue to be there to look out for her interests, whether that is business planning, personal finances or investments.

Amilios CostaManaging Partner

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