News

Organic growth and targeted acquisitions
The gross invoice value of over 2.2 billion euros represents an increase of 600 million euros compared to 2021, of which more than 400 million (27%) is organic growth. In addition, HeadFirst Group made several targeted acquisitions: Belgian HR-tech company ProUnity, IT talent sourcers StarApple and StackOps, online recruitment platform OpenTalent, and professionals services platform ZZP365. Marion van Happen, CEO at HeadFirst Group, says: "We had a successful year on all fronts. We welcomed new clients and again succeeded in helping more professionals - independent and employed by our suppliers - find valuable assignments. The new brands in our group found their place. And to cap it all, we have been rated a Great Place to Work."

Digital transformation
HeadFirst Group also aims to grow in 2023 through the combination of successful services to its customers - both clients, suppliers and professionals - and targeted acquisitions that add value to the group. To enable HeadFirst Group's expansion in Europe - a key part of our strategy - IceLake Capital has joined as a new investor. Van Happen: "We are accelerating our digital transformation with the aim of mixing technology and human touch in our services in the most ideal way. By deploying tech smartly, we create that colleagues have personal contact at the times it really adds value for our customers. With IceLake on board, we will go at full speed on that strategic line in 2023."

Van Happen continues, "Our purpose is: Join the next world of work. This new world of work is transparent, inclusive, increasingly technology-based and less fixated on the contract form. We are taking the lead in the journey to this next world and invite everyone around us to contribute to it.

More information
HeadFirst Group's annual report can be read and downloaded at hfgroup.headfirst.group/en/investor-relations.

About HeadFirst Group
HeadFirst Group is a leading, international HR-tech service provider and the largest platform for professionals in the Netherlands. The organization offers a wide range of HR solutions, such as Managed Service Providing, Recruitment Process Outsourcing, IT Sourcing & Recruitment and HR consultancy. More than twenty-five thousand professionals work for over five hundred clients in Europe, with which HeadFirst Group realizes an annual revenue of over two billion euros. The main brands of HeadFirst Group are MSP (including intermediary services) labels HeadFirst, Between and Staffing Management Services, RPO and recruitment specialist Sterksen, IT talent sourcer StarApple, and Belgian HR-tech company ProUnity.

HeadFirst Group, the leading HR-tech service provider for professionals in the Benelux, announces it has reached an agreement with IceLake Capital to join as the new investor to enable expansion of HeadFirst Group in Europe.

HeadFirst Group delivers a suite of HR services that tailor to the needs of large and mid-size enterprise clients in the private and public sector, with over 20,000 highly skilled professionals active daily. The company has a proven track record of strong organic as well as M&A growth, doubling its size over the past two years to over two billion revenue today. Also HeadFirst Group's core market segments Managed Service Providers (MSP) and sourcing of STEM-profiles, continue to show positive momentum. With an established presence in the Benelux, the company sees ample opportunities to expand in Europe. With IceLake's commitment, there is solid financing in place to realize these ambitions.

Financing for growth
In IceLake, HeadFirst Group has found a pragmatic and very ambitious shareholder that suits the company and its entrepreneurial culture. IceLake was founded by experienced private equity professionals and entrepreneurs who have extensive experience with building and growing companies. IceLake's initial investment is part of a broader funding commitment towards the HeadFirst Group international M&A roadmap.

Han Kolff, Chairman of the Board of HeadFirst Group, said, "We are very pleased to welcome IceLake as a strong financial investor, next to our existing financing partner Kartesia and our founders. It is testament to the great achievements of our employees in professionalizing our organization and realizing solid growth in the past years. Having IceLake on board, we will be able to realize our strategic goals across Europe."

Bastiaan Hagenouw of IceLake added: "We are very excited to back HeadFirst Group, as we appreciate how they have developed into a company with a unique and market leading position in the HR services space. We look forward to working with their experienced board and management team to realise their ambitions and providing its innovative, value-added solutions to an even wider range of clients, suppliers and professionals."

Jean Diercxsens, Director at Kartesia, agrees: "We have seen HeadFirst Group more than double in size and profitability during the two years that we have been involved as financial sponsor and remain committed to be part of this journey. Kartesia is delighted with IceLake as the new investor, which will allow HeadFirst Group to pursue its profitable growth and international expansion."

The transaction is subject to customary competition approvals.

About HeadFirst Group
HeadFirst Group is a leading, international HR-tech service provider and the largest platform for professionals in the Netherlands. The organization offers a wide range of HR solutions, such as Managed Service Providing, Recruitment Process Outsourcing, IT Sourcing & Recruitment and HR consultancy. Daily, more than twenty thousand professionals work for over five hundred clients in Europe, with which HeadFirst Group realizes an annual turnover of over two billion euros. The main brands of HeadFirst Group are MSP (including intermediary services) labels HeadFirst, Between and Staffing Management Services, RPO and recruitment specialist Sterksen and IT talent sourcer StarApple.

About IceLake
Icelake is a private equity firm which focuses on partnering with entrepreneurs and management teams to support their (international) growth ambitions.

About Kartesia
Kartesia provides bespoke credit & capital solutions to leading mid-market companies headquartered in Europe. The group manages over EUR 5 billion and operates out of local offices across Europe.

HR technology service provider HeadFirst Group Adds StarApple Group, consisting the brandsStarAppleandStackOps, to its organization. Both companies are specialized in sourcing IT and digital specialists. HeadFirst Group hereby takes another step in strengthening its portfolio of solutions for workforce challenges in the professionals segment: the current high-tech solutions of HeadFirst Group are enriched with the services with a great human touch of StarApple Group.

StarApple Group, is an ambitious and young organization, founded in 2008 and since then grown into a successful IT talent sourcer. StarApple Group has already successfully connected more than 10,000 specialists to a variety of organizations. Caner Hamamioglu, General Director at StarApple Group: "Growing talent is our mission. We do this by carefully connecting professionals from our network to assignments, where professionals not only do what they have done before with other clients, but are also challenged to take a step forward in their development. Design your career, is how we call it. With the collaboration with HeadFirst Group, we can do this on an even larger scale and we are looking forward to that tremendously."

Responding to dynamic market

HeadFirst Group foresees that combining various services is necessary to continue to solve all client issues in the current dynamic global job market. Marion van Happen, CEO at HeadFirst Group: "The scarcity will not disappear in the coming years. This requires creativity in opening up the market. We believe that combining high-tech solutions with services with a great human touch is the key to customer success. For us, those customers are both clients - who we continuously provide with mission critical talent - and professionals, who we actively help from assignment to assignment with the most attractive clients."

StarApple Group remains independent

StarApple will become an independent brand within HeadFirst Group, retaining its own identity. The current management will continue to lead the organization in its growth strategy into the future. amamioglu: "HeadFirst Group will be the driving force behind StarApple. With our enthusiastic team of over eighty colleagues, we will continue to offer a full service recruitment solution for our clients and professionals. And we get access to the group's platform, which gives us extra power to realize our growth ambitions."

About HeadFirst Group

HeadFirst Group is a leading international HR service provider and a specialist in the professional organization of external hiring. The company offers a variety of HR-solutions, including contracting, matchmaking, MSP-services, and business consultancy. Daily, more than fifteen thousand professionals work for over four hundred clients in Europe, with which HeadFirst Group realizes an annual turnover of more than €1.5bn. HeadFirst Group's main brands are intermediaries HeadFirst, Between, recruitment specialists Sterksen and Myler and managed service provider Staffing Management Services.

About StarApple Group

StarApple is an ambitious and young organization, founded in 2008 and since then it has grown into a successful IT talent sourcer. In 2018, a second brand was established in the form of StackOps, specializing in the mediation of professionals in IT infrastructure, cloud and security. With a team of more than eighty colleagues, StarApple and StackOps offer full service recruitment solutions for our clients and professionals. Together they have successfully connected more than 10,000 specialists to hundreds of organizations.

Note to editors

Do you have any questions or comments regarding this press release? Please contact Bart van der Geest, marketing & communications manager at HeadFirst Group, on 023 - 568 56 30 or bart.vandergeest@headfirst.nl.

Simone Groeneveld has been appointed Managing Director MSP services by HeadFirst Group, market leader in HR services and platform for professionals. Simone started at the beginning of April at Staffing Management Services, the primary Managed Service Provider of HeadFirst Group. Under her leadership, Staffing MS will take the next step in its growth in the Benelux and beyond.

Simone Groeneveld has over twenty-five years of experience in HR services, both in MSP, RPO and temporary staffing. The last fifteen years she has had several management and board positions, mainly at large international service providers, partly from abroad. Simone about her new role: "There is a wonderful opportunityto further develop the MSP service - in combination with the total HeadFirst Group ecosystem of solutions. With respect and undiminished attention for the successfully built basis of Staffing MS and the current clients, we innovate to Talent Solution Provider. I believe that setting up good processes, which we as MSP are already very good at, and talent management is a golden combination."

Next step in growth
Earlier this year, HeadFirst Group already made changes in the top of the organization with the arrival of Marion van Happen as CEO, giving Han Kolff the opportunity to focus even more on his role as chairman of the board. The growth strategy in Europe is his main pillar. The appointment of Simone Groeneveld is therefore a logical next step.

Marion van Happen: "With Simone we are welcoming a very experienced professional, who is used to leading international and dynamic organizations. She knows what it is like to be hands-on - which suits the Rotterdam mentality of Staffing MS - and combines this with a powerful leadership. Under Simone's guidance - and with the passionate commitment of all colleagues - Staffing MS will take the next step for growth in the Benelux and the rest of Europe."

About HeadFirst Group
HeadFirst Group is a leading international HR service provider and the largest platform for professionals in the Netherlands. The organization offers a diversity of HR solutions: Managed Service Providing, Recruitment Process Outsourcing, intermediary services (matchmaking, contracting) and HR consultancy. On a daily basis an average of 16,000 professionals work for over 400 clients in Europe, with which HeadFirst Group realizes an annual turnover of over 1.6 billion euros. The main brands of HeadFirst Group are the intermediaries HeadFirst and Between, MSP service provider Staffing Management Services and RPO and recruitment specialist Sterksen.

HeadFirst Group, market leader in HR services and platform for professionals, appoints Marion van Happen as its new CEO as of February 1, 2022. Marion takes over the role from Han Kolff, who will mainly focus on the international growth ambitions of the company in his role of Chairman of the Board. Marion will lead the group activities in the Benelux.

Leading platform
In recent years, HeadFirst Group has experienced major growth becoming the market leader in HR services on the Dutch labor market. The acquisitions of intermediary Between and recruitment specialist Sterksen in 2020 and 2021 have further strengthened the position of HeadFirst Group as a full-service HR service provider. The platform of HeadFirst Group has recently been extended with additional services for professionals and partners, such as a learning & development platform and tailor-made financial services. For clients, the platform is enriched with targeted talent pools and direct sourcing.

Marion, CEO: "I am really looking forward to this new challenge. First of all, my focus is on getting to know all colleagues and important relations. Next, my attention goes to the strategy for the coming years, which is unchanged: to roll out the tech roadmap, grow into a fully data-driven organization, offer next-level services, become the leading platform in the Netherlands and realise European expansion."

International growth
Han, Chairman of the Board: "We are very pleased that Marion is joining us. With her track record in our sector, she is ideally placed to further expand our position as a technology- and innovation-driven labor market platform. Her arrival gives the Board the opportunity to further focus on the ongoing expansion of HeadFirst Group in Europe. We are looking forward to roll out our growth strategy with Marion."

Marion has over twenty years of experience in HR services, staffing and recruitment in various commercial and managerial positions in the Netherlands and abroad. Her last position was Chief Operating Officer at RGF Staffing the Netherlands, formerly known as USG People. Marion was previously General Manager of Unique. She also brings highly relevant expertise in digital transformation, innovation and operational performance management.

About HeadFirst Group
HeadFirst Group is a leading international HR service provider and the largest platform for professionals in the Netherlands. The organization offers a diversity of HR solutions: Managed Service Providing (MSP), Recruit Process Outsourcing (RPO), intermediary services (matchmaking, contracting) and HR consultancy. On a daily basis an average of 15,000 professionals work for over 400 clients in Europe, with which HeadFirst Group realizes an annual turnover of more than 1.5 billion euros. The main brands of HeadFirst Group are the intermediaries HeadFirst, and Between, MSP Staffing Management Services and RPO and recruitment specialist Sterksen.

HeadFirst Group acquires recruitment services provider Sterksen. The market leader in organizing external hires is thus taking the strategic step of becoming a full service HR service provider for temporary and permanent work. HeadFirst Group and Sterksen are thus responding to the market trend that organizations are increasingly organizing the utilization of talent integrally - regardless of contract form.

Sterksen, founded in 2002, is succesfull in Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), which means that a client outsources their recruitment process of new personnel. She also offers services in the field of recruitment, mediation for interim professionals and Managed Service Providing (MSP). Sterksen is a leading player in the IT & Technology segment.

Total Talent Management
With the acquisition of Sterksen, HeadFirst Group is responding to the market trend that companies increasingly organize their workforce integrally - regardless the nature of the contract - known in jargon as Total Talent Management. With this step, HeadFirst Group also meets the increasing demand from clients for service providers with a broad portfolio of HR services.

CEO Han Kolff explains, "The trend of total talent management has been going on for some time and is continuing. The type of contract used is becoming less and less relevant. The cooperation with Sterksen is therefore a logical step in the expansion of our services. Sterksen has a winning concept in recruiting top talent in IT & Technology; a dynamic, scarce, and growing segment of the market. Sterksen's high touch recruitment expertise helps the group to broaden and deepen the quality of our services, in addition to our focus on high tech with our platforms."

Sterksen stays independent
Sterksen will become an independent brand within HeadFirst Group, retaining its own identity. The current management will continue to manage the organization. Sterksen and HeadFirst Group will join forces in various fields, which Donald Derksen - managing director of Sterksen - explains as follows: "The knowledge and experience in two areas - permanent and temp - are combined into a rock-solid combination. We will jointly advise and support clients with their recruitment and hiring needs. The size and leading market position of HeadFirst Group will help us open new doors, both nationally and internationally. HeadFirst Group will thus be the driving force behind Sterksen."

International expansion
Recruitment Process Outsourcing is a growing and widely adopted concept in the United States, the United Kingdom, Asia and is rapidly gaining ground in continental Europe. HeadFirst Group and its brands have achieved expansion in several European countries in recent years through organic growth and partnerships. Kolff concludes, "Sterksen is going to help us tremendously in accelerating the delivery of value to existing and new clients across national borders."

About HeadFirst Group
HeadFirst Group is a leading international HR service provider and a specialist in the professional organization of external hiring. The company offers a variety of HR-solutions, including contracting, matchmaking, MSP-services, and business consultancy. Daily, more than fifteen thousand professionals work for over four hundred clients in Europe, with which HeadFirst Group realizes an annual turnover of more than €1.5bn. HeadFirst Group's main brands are intermediaries HeadFirst, Between and Myler and managed service provider Staffing Management Services.

About Sterksen
Sterksen is an innovative and leading recruitment service provider in the field of IT & Technology and specialist in Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) since 2002. From its offices in Breda and Utrecht, Sterksen works on both the Dutch and international markets, with a focus on North West Europe. The organization annually mediates about 2,000 candidates and 150 interim IT & HR recruitment professionals. Sterksen is known as a fast-growing company with a listing as a Top 250 Growth Company and FD Gazelle.

Note to editors
Do you have any questions or comments regarding this press release? Please contact Bart van der Geest, marketing & communication manager at HeadFirst Group, on 023 - 568 56 30 or bart.vandergeest@headfirst.nl.

HeadFirst Group makes move to new headquarters in Hoofddorp. In this way we offer (new) colleagues and relations a special and optimal location to work and meet. The colorful building at Park 20|20 will be furnished to the latest standards for hybrid working and feature a unique experience center for events.

According to Han Kolff, CEO HeadFirst Group, the former ANWB building at Taurusavenue 18 in Hoofddorp is a great starting point for the team to further realize the organization's ambitions. "After making great memories and experiencing tremendous growth at our current locations, we are moving to new premises. At this central, easily accessible location we will continue to build to become Europe's largest labor market platform and talent solutions provider in the professional segment."

New standard: working hybrid
Since 2020, we have been thinking differently about hybrid work. For knowledge sharing, (team) consultations, induction of new colleagues, team work and personal meetings with colleagues and relations, we prefer to go to the office. For work that involves individual work and requires concentration, we prefer to work from home. The new location will provide excellent facilities for both, for example by equipping meeting rooms with the latest technology for remote meetings.

Kolff: "In the layout, we put our core values of 'Customer first', 'Learn every day' and 'Connecting people' at the center. We believe it is important to offer everyone an inspiring workplace, where connection is key. At the same time, we want to facilitate colleagues in an optimal work-life balance, with flexibility and autonomy. HeadFirst Group is not going back to a 5-day work week at the office." Additional advantages are the facilities such as responsible food, excellent coffee and the possibility to exercise. According to Kolff, this makes the location a formidable competitor for the home office.

Eneryneutral
The building is completely energy-neutral, which is perfectly in line with how HeadFirst Group wants to contribute to a better world of tomorrow. Its location allows for the best use of the sun's power. There is enough daylight at any time of the day, which is stimulating for HeadFirst Group employees. In addition, the location acts as a sustainable business card that introduces relations to HeadFirst Group and its services in a special way.

Experience center
The building has a real eye catcher: the large, round theater. The high-tech interior with the semicircular projection screen is one of the largest in the world. "Besides use by employees of HeadFirst Group, it will be used in particular to receive external relations, such as freelancers, partners and clients. With the possibility to work, meet and organize events. It promises to be a unique ecosystem of entrepreneurship," Kolff concludes.

HeadFirst Group is firmly in second place in the Flexmarkt Turnover Ranking Top-100 2021 published last week. This prestigious ranking features the 100 largest flexible work agencies in the Netherlands, ranked by the revenue they earned in 2020. With a turnover of more than 1.5 billion euros, HeadFirst Group strengthens its position as the largest intermediary and MSP service provider in the Benelux and permanent Top 3 player in the total flex market.

HeadFirst Group and Between Staffing Group, listed separately but part of HeadFirst Group since November 2020, achieved gross sales of EUR 1,515 billion. A strong result, especially in an eventful year like 2020. Vincent van der Mark, CFO at HeadFirst Group: "The organizations achieved organic revenue growth of 2%, in a year in which we were confronted with the corona virus. That makes us incredibly proud. In 2019 we achieved the milestone of 1 billion euros in turnover for the first time and we have been steaming strongly ever since. Due to our diverse portfolio of clients and strong presence in the niche of highly educated professionals, including many IT professionals, the impact of the corona virus has been limited."

Full service provider
In 2020, HeadFirst Group made the transition to a full service HR service provider by developing as a consultant for clients in the field of recruitment and hiring issues. "We offer data-driven solutions to optimize and future-proof the recruitment process of personnel - flex and permanent," says Han Kolff, CEO at HeadFirst Group.

This has demonstrably led to success. Existing large master contracts have been extended and new European tender procedures have been won at, among others, the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, the Ministry of Justice and Security, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, the Municipality of Schiedam and the Leiden University Medical Center Leiden. "The new clients we have welcomed are great news for the independent professionals and suppliers in our network. All open assignments appear on the largest assignment platform in the Netherlands: Select.

Top 10 Flexmarket Turnover ranking Top-100 2021

Source: Flexmarkt.co.uk

About Flexmarkt Turnover ranking Top-100

The Flexmarkt Turnover Ranking Top-100 is published annually by Flexmarkt in collaboration with Corporate Finance International (CFI). The Turnover Ranking provides an overview of flex companies, from small to large, with various forms of services in personnel mediation and hiring. In addition to employment agencies, it also contains numerous payroll companies, as well as secondment companies, self-employed intermediaries and MSP service providers. In terms of turnover, this leading ranking covers more than half of the total Dutch temporary employment sector and thus provides a clear, representative picture of the developments in the market.

About HeadFirst Group

HeadFirst Group is a leading international HR service provider and specialist in the professional organization of permanent and flexible employment. The organization offers a variety of HR solutions: Managed Service Providing, Recruit Process Outsourcing, intermediary services (matchmaking, contracting) and HR consultancy. Every day, an average of 15,000 professionals work for more than 400 clients in Europe, with which HeadFirst Group realizes an annual turnover of more than 1.5 billion euros. The main brands of HeadFirst Group are the intermediaries HeadFirst, Between and Myler, MSP service provider Staffing Management Services and RPO and recruitment specialist Sterksen.

For further information

Do you have any questions or comments regarding this message? Please contact Bart van der Geest, marketing & communications manager at HeadFirst Group, on 023 - 568 56 30 or bart.vandergeest@headfirst.nl.