- 3 minutes
- Article
- Growing my Business
- Expanding Abroad
PageGroup: 36 countries and counting - a global success story
PageGroup’s 49-year partnership with HSBC has seen the recruitment consultancy go from start-up to a global growth success story.
Established in the UK in 1976, PageGroup has grown to become one of the world’s best-known and most respected recruitment consultancies. Its three key brands (Page Executive, Michael Page and Page Personnel) are made up of specialised recruitment teams operating across 25 disciplines from actuarial to technology. An HSBC client since their inception, PageGroup has gone from strength to strength and now employs over 7,300 people in 36 countries, reporting a gross profit of over £1,006m in 2023.
A clear purpose
Kelvin Stagg, CFO, explains one of the things that helps set PageGroup apart from its competitors: “We have a very clear purpose as a group, which is changing lives. And we do that through the work that we do in placing people into both permanent and temporary roles. Creating fantastic careers, many of them around the world, and changing our clients’ lives by giving them fantastic personnel.”
Expanding globally and operating in different countries is a challenge for any business. PageGroup quickly saw that combining a truly global outlook with local knowledge could be key to success. “We're a global company, but we act locally in the markets that we’re in. Our intention when we go to a market is always to build a local business,” explains Stagg. “It’s part of our organic growth structure.”
Shared outlooks
It was no coincidence then, that in sharing a very similar ethos, they saw HSBC as their banking partner of choice, right from the beginning of their international growth journey.
Stagg says, “Our partnership with HSBC has smoothed the opening of new countries, made us far more efficient in how we pay people, how we move money around the world, and how we change that money back into pounds to pay our shareholders dividends. That synergy that we have with HSBC has certainly smoothed the expansion of the group over a long period of time.”
HSBC’s local knowledge has paved the way for PageGroup to bank efficiently in a host of international territories across Europe, Asia and the Americas. Combining that on-the-ground knowledge with HSBC’s innovative payment solutions has also boosted PageGroup’s growth ambitions.
A key factor in PageGroup’s global growth success story is being able to benefit from a centralised payment function. As Stagg explains, “It's very much a centralised payment engine through shared service centres, but with very local interactions with HSBC,” before adding some specific examples of international transactional needs that HSBC have answered. “How do we take cash out of the country? How do we pay dividends? What are the banking regulations that we need to know about?”
Danielle Cherubin, HSBC UK Relationship Director for PageGroup, adds some further insight: “Being able to centralise your treasury function means that on any given day, at any given point in time in the day, you can understand so much better how much cash actually exists within the business on a regular basis. You can sweep it centrally and make a return off that cash.”
Growth through connectivity
There are strong parallels between both establishments, particularly when it comes to growth opportunities, Danielle explains. “We both spend the majority of our time and energy trying to figure out how to help our clients access additional markets or grow in existing markets and really focus on harnessing growth.” She highlights the key factor: “It's really that core focus on the international connectivity that makes the difference.”
Over the course of the last 49 years, HSBC's relationship with PageGroup has flourished. HSBC now supports the recruitment consultancy in 33 out of their 36 markets across the globe, offering an unparalleled level of transparency within their business and ease of access.
Going for future growth
PageGroup’s relationship with HSBC continues to be a fruitful one, with the company focussing ambitions for future growth on the Asian market. Kelvin Stagg reveals that this success story has been very much relationship driven.
“Our relationship has already lasted for 49 years, and hopefully will continue for many more years into the future. We do all our cash management through HSBC, we do our foreign exchange through HSBC, we have a borrowing line with HSBC which means that we can get all the products we need from one place.”
Kelvin's tips for growing your business abroad
- Have a clear purpose for your business and stick to it, even when you grow globally.
- When you become a global company, it’s beneficial to act locally in the overseas markets that you’re in. As part of our organic growth structure, we open in a country and take two of our most senior people. They will go to a market, they'll open by hiring local people, and they'll start that business. Then as that business grows, they will hand over to them.
- Forging a long-standing and trusted partnership with your bank - particularly one with a presence in so many overseas markets - gives you an advantage. It smooths openings in new countries.
- Centralise your treasury function; it helps you to understand exactly how much money your business has across your international network. When you operate through a single platform, you don't have to go and find a new bank, do the due diligence, open a bank account, and set up another system.
- Consider the breadth of what your bank can offer within the markets where you operate, and make sure they can meet your needs as your international operations grow. Whether that’s from FX to borrowing, it’s so much easier to get all your finance products from one place.
Unlock global growth with trade, payments & FX solutions
Want help unlocking global growth? Find out how HSBC can support your international growth ambitions.
