Lugera: Highest profits come from recruitment

Personnel recruitment brings Dutch-based Lugera & Makler the highest profit margins, around 30%, three times more than personnel leasing.
The company, ranked second on the domestic recruitment market, estimates it will post turnover worth 20m euros this year. Lugera’s domestic turnover will thus advance by 60%, after last year’s turnover reached 12.5m euros. The growth rate is similar to previous years and, as always, estimates are based on market trend.
“We have had approximately the same advance in turnover each year, in line with market growth, and therefore the diversification of our services portfolio,” says Cristina Savuica, a managing partner with Lugera & Makler.
The company’s most profitable unit is the recruitment one. “In recruitment, we operate with profit margins of up to 30%,” says Savuica. At the same time, personnel leasing, which contributes more than two thirds to turnover, is the least profitable, with margins of up to 10%. Payroll and personnel management accounts for 5% in turnover and accounts for 20% of profits.
Personnel leasing holds the biggest weight in turnover, 70%, meaning this will bring around 14m euros to the company’s turnover, while recruitment will account for 2m euros, namely 20% of turnover.
Last year, Lugera derived 0.42m-euro profit through its three units. “We expect the figure to double in 2008,” says Savuica, and income to reach 0.84m euros by yearend. The recruitment services market, put at 30-40m euros last year, will hit 50m euros this year, according to Savuica’s expectations.
The company a year ago launched consulting and training services.
“On the consultancy segment, besides outplacement, assessment, job grading, HR outsourcing services, we also launched the HR audit service at the beginning of this year,” says Savuica.
Lugera & Makler now has 163 employees, of whom 65 are recruitment consultants. “We have doubled our number of employees each year and we’ll reach 200 employees by the end of 2008,” says Savuica.
Lugera operates an office in Bucharest and 6 offices in the country.
Last year, the company opened three branches in Iasi, Cluj-Napoca and Arad.
The group entered the domestic market in 2001, operating three companies: Lugera & Makler (recruitment and selection services), Lugera & Makler Romania (personnel leasing) and Lugera & Makler Payroll (payroll management, labour cost monitoring, personnel management, consultancy, training).
Lugera & Makler Werving en Selectie BV Dutch group is also present in the Netherlands, Armenia, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The main players on the recruitment market are Adecco, Manpower, Professional and Aims.