Competition in the recruitment industry is fierce. There is a big sense of pride among recruiters, too.
If you are not familiar with any of them, it’s just because you have never tried to get a job — any job — in London in your mid-20s.
A Precious Commodity
Differentiation of services rules in the job market, although headhunters all sell the same commodity — curriculum vitae. On the face of it, the National Living Wage debate is unlikely to affect their core businesses.
If you asked me, I’d advise you to meet recruiters at Robert Walters if you are at the early stages of your career, but if you have already made big connections in the marketplace, preferably in the finance world, then Michale Page would be the recruiter you want to to talk to.
Preliminary SEO Audit
With this in mind, we have spent time investigating the main features of robertwalters.co.uk, comparing it to the websites of some of its competitors. Here are our findings.
Our preliminary SEO audit indicates that robertwalters.co.uk has a strong technical set-up, which is supported by high performance metrics. Mobile speed metrics for desktop and mobile are just above above average, but the user experience is excellent. Depth stats indicate a relatively good path journey for the user. There’s something here that Page could learn from its smaller rival.
It looks like Robert Walters is paying attention to its online strategy. That said, its hierarchy structure and meta keywords need some work.
Our full SEO audit will be released on Thursday.
Value
Robert Walters trades on cash flow multiples that leave very little room for error. What it means is that any future step it takes online and offline could have a big impact on shareholder value.
Its underlying Ebit margin is a lowly 3.5%, which implies that Robert Walters needs a steep growth rate in revenues to support its lofty valuation. So far this year its shares have risen by 36%, yet in the last two years shareholders have recorded only a 45% paper gain.
Its five-year performance (+82%) also signals that Robert Walters — whose revenues are about 60% those of Page, but whose market value is one-fifth — is at a very critical juncture. Now what?
Well, Michael Page — whose core Ebit margin is forecast at between 8.5% and 10% in 2015 and 2016, respectively — is looking to become a more efficient machine, but Robert Walters, by the very nature of its business, must appeal to a broader audience to boost revenues and cash flows.
That’s not necessarily easier said than done — the right strategy could help it close the 15% discount at which its stock trades versus Page’s.
If you want to discuss the prospects of higher tangible returns for the online strategy of Robert Walters, please contact our team at info@hedgingbeta.com
(Alessandro Pasetti and Hedging Beta are not invested in any of the shares mentioned in this article.)