Our auditors have sealed the books on another successful year (FYE July 31 2011) for the Ian Martin Group. Despite continuing macro-economic challenges, our revenues and profitability remained steady this year.
I want to review the numbers from the past four years to see how the business has evolved during this time of economic transition. A chart showing the business mix is below.
The black line represents revenues from permanent placements across the Ian Martin Group. These increased 40% this year from the previous year; however, they have still not returned to pre-financial crisis levels. Despite this, perm placements in our IT division were 3.8 times the previous year – the highest in the history of this division. Well done IMIT!
The bars represent gross margin plus perm fees (in proportional terms) for the major industry sectors targeted by the Ian Martin Group. We can see several trends emerging here:
The Power industry is our largest vertical – and the business is cyclical. This year, some major projects were nearing completion so revenues were somewhat lower; however, this business certainly helped us weather the recession in 2009 and 2010. We expect it to come back as governments address projected gaps in supply – although the business will likely be flat or decrease somewhat in 2012.
Aerospace and Mining have been very steady over the last four years. Clients in both sectors have significant projects underway so we expect to see business increase in 2012. Individuals in both units have done a great job of developing strong relationships with clients so that Ian Martin can help contribute to the success of these projects.
Our Government business has declined significantly over the past four years. This is due to changes in the way the government has been handling procurement. We have begun to adapt our sales efforts to address these changes and now hope to see improvement in the coming years.
Our Staffing business works across several verticals so trends cannot easily be extrapolated from this graph format. However, early 2012 results are already showing that new hires in The 500 are having a positive impact on results. Furthermore, we will be launching a Leadership Search practice called “Granary Leadership Inc.” in 2012, which will unify the company’s retained search expertise.
Both Automotive and Oil & Gas were once significant industries in the IMG mix. In recent years, lack of presence in Alberta has limited our potential in Oil & Gas; however, we have new team-members in Calgary and Edmonton and look forward to 2012! Progress in Automotive has been encouraging – with the business almost doubling from 2010 to 2011. After several difficult years in the North American auto industry, we hope this is a sign of positive things to come.
Telecom and IT both showed significant growth in 2011 – in fact, it was a record year for both divisions. Because we see significant growth potential in both sectors, we re-launched them as separate brands and hired several key staff in each unit. For those who are new to IMG, welcome to the team!
Last and most important, I want to thank the staff and contractors for contributing to this successful year. At Ian Martin, economic data is not an abstraction – these positive results help us contribute to our community. As we move forward with our B Corp certification in 2012, we look forward to finding creative ways to get you all contributing to that aspect of the business too. Happy New Year!
