MID-YEAR REVIEW OF ACTIVITY:
Following a slow start, 2025 is now turning out to be a very positive year for the Directorbank team.
As reported in our January commentary, we noticed a softening of the market in the last quarter of 2024, possibly reflecting a cautious reaction both to the UK Budget and the outcome of the USA election. This continued until Easter 2025, since when there has been a marked strengthening in demand in the Mid-Market. Based on our current pipeline of retained projects we expect this to continue well into October/November; we do not know if this will sustain depending on the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement together with the potential impact of wider international economic uncertainties. Nevertheless, while UK assets continue to be seen as undervalued, there is room for cautious optimism, particularly if interest rates and inflation reduce further.
In terms of Executive Search activity, we are experiencing normal demand for CEOs/MDs, CFOs and Chairs and much stronger demand for COOs and Sales & Marketing Directors. We are also seeing a steep rise in non-recruitment services. We have devoted considerable time to improving the quality of our database over the last two years and it is very heartening to see our clients now exploiting this together with our wider market intelligence.
At the sector level we are seeing good performance in the mainstream Industrial sector while Technology and Business Services are both holding up well. Our German Practice continues to perform excellently and continues to contribute a third of our overall business.
As a leading search partner of mid-market Private Equity investors for portfolio Board positions in the UK and DACH, we entered 2025 with a clear priority: to support ambitious businesses at every stage of their journey through the identification of the best human capital talent available. As always, we remain focused on assignment delivery for our clients and look forward to hosting our usual programme of events for our PE investor clients and Board-level candidates throughout the remainder of 2025.
Click on the following link to view a summary of our 2024 activity and highlights: