The Hindu Business Line : Adecco Peopleone targets Rs 160-cr revenue by March '06

ADECCO Peopleone Consulting, the merged entity of Adecco SA, a Swiss firm, and Peopleone Consulting, a Bangalore-based human resources company, is targeting revenues of Rs 160 crore by March 31, 2006, Mr Ajit Isaac, Founder and Managing Director, Peopleone Consulting, has said.

For the current year it expects to make Rs 80 crore. Peopleone by itself reported revenues of Rs 27 crore for the year ended March 2004, he said.

A few days ago, the $20-billion Adecco announced the acquisition of a 67 per cent controlling stake in Peopleone. Adecco bought the 20 per cent stake that JP Morgan held in Peopleone, and the rest from the promoters and individual investors, said Mr Isaac, who will continue as Managing Director of Adecco Peopleone.

The consideration, an undisclosed sum, will be paid in cash and will be based on a three-year earn-out. This will result in Adecco becoming the sole owner of the business, he said.

Integration of operations of Adecco and Peopleone in India will begin shortly. Adecco has 30 employees in India (10 of its own and the rest are its associates working in different firms under temporary staffing) and Peopleone has 250 own employees and 8,000 associates.

The new entity will target employing about 15,000 people by the fiscal end, and there is a plan to expand operations in India to 30 branches, from 12, in the next 12 months, he told Business Line.

According to Mr Isaac, following the acquisition, Peopleone has access to Adecco's international clients, planning to set up operations in India or looking at sourcing people from the country.

The Adecco Group network connects millions of associates with business clients each day through its network of 28,000 employees and around 6,000 offices in 71 territories around the world. Adecco has around seven lakh associates on assignments daily, and over one-lakh clients are serviced every day, he said.

Mr Isaac said that the organised labour market in India accounts for 7 per cent of the overall workforce, or 28 million of India's 440 million workforce. This represents a significant opportunity for Adecco Peopleone. The Indian staffing market has almost doubled in each of the last two years and is expected to further grow as the economy continues to expand, he said.

In the next three months, Adecco Peopleone would start its managed services in India. In this concept, the company would provide people services to companies in sectors like retail. In other words, employees would be on the rolls of Adecco Peopleone, but work for other companies.

Some of the services include front office, customer support services, back office operations and selling financial services, he said.