Skip to main content

Resources Global eyes Chinese firms going global


 Resources Global Professionals, a professional services firm, is scouting for acquisitions in China, India and Germany, and sees Asia as its fastest growing market over the next five years, its CEO said.
The unit of Irvine, California-based Resources Connection Inc (RECN.O) assigns its 3,000 full-time consultants to work on clients' projects. The consultants are allowed flexible work schedules and many are paid by the hour.
Resources Global is benefiting from global demand for outsourced professional services by corporate clients including Chevron (CVX.N), Sony Corp (6758.T), Sotheby's (BID.N), Starbucks (SBUX.O) and Yum Brands Inc's (YUM.N) Taco Bell Corp.
More employers globally and in the United States are finding it tough to find skilled technicians, sales agents and engineers, according to ManpowerGroup (MAN.N).
"We want more critical mass for India and China because of the size of the market and the economic growth," CEO Donald Murray told Reuters.
"We currently see more upside in China from new emerging companies that are going global," he added.
The company used to get most of its work in China from multinationals operating there, but is now seeing big Chinese companies as clients, and expects this trend to continue.
The company, which is comfortable spending $100 million or more on an acquisition, is also looking at different types of professional services firms in India, such as in finance or IT.
"For the coming year (2011), we expect all our markets to keep growing and expect Asia to be our fastest growing market ... followed by North America and Europe," said Murray, who led a 1999 management buyout of the company from Deloitte & Touche LLP DLTE.UL.
"Significant" growth in Asia should drive the company's revenue and EBITDA, the CEO told Reuters over phone.
For fiscal 2010, Asia Pacific accounted for just 5 percent of total sales, while North America contributed 77 percent.
The company, valued at around $632 million, reported 2010 revenue of $499 million and last month opened its newest office, in the South Korean capital of Seoul. It expects to open an office in South America next year.
The company, which competes with Deloitte, KPMG KPMG.UL, Ernst and Young ERNY.UL and Accenture (ACN.N), is also eyeing tie-ups.
While its focus is on financial services, Resources Global sees healthcare in United States as a growth industry as it implements new systems to integrate medical records and billing, which should benefit the company.
Shares of Resources Connection, which last traded at $13.65, have slumped 38 percent since early January. Last August, the stock dropped to a 7-year low of $11.

By reuters

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

GL SLAMS ‘COLONIAL’ RIGHTS GROUPS

Sri Lanka’s foreign minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris rejected “colonial” criticism Tuesday of a government-appointed civil war probe, after foreign rights groups snubbed an invitation to attend. New York-based Human Rights Watch, London-based Amnesty International and Brussels-based International Crisis Group last week accused the panel of a cover-up and refused an offer from Colombo to appear before it. Peiris said in a speech to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a leading think-tank based in London, that the rights groups had displayed a “most unattractive attitude.” “It smacks of an attitude that is almost colonial, patronising and condescending, the assumption being that other people must step in because Sri Lankans are unable to chart a course for their own future,” he said. Peiris, who is in London for talks with the British government, said the LLRC was based on similar reconciliation commissions in countries such as South Africa. He urged rights groups and

IRRESPONSIBLE TALK BY MEMBERS COST UNP ITS VOTERS, SAYS SAJITH

The voters have distanced themselves from the United National Party (UNP) because several members had demeaned the military victories during the recently concluded war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, said Hambantota District parliamentarian Sajith Premadasa. Former President Ranasinghe Premadasa’s son, Sajith was addressing a meeting at Gurutalawa at the Yatinuwara electorate in Kandy last evening to raise awareness on his Jathika Jeewaya Programme. Mr. Premadasa launched this programme within three electorates in the Gampaha District last week as well. Adding further, Sajith Pramadasa said the UNP suffered erosion in its support as some had uttered irresponsible comments when the Sri Lankan armed forces were gaining victory after victory in the fight against the LTTE. When the Army captured Thoppigala, some in the UNP had said that Thoppigala was only a jungle, while some had accused the then government and the military of claiming to be advancing towards Kilinochc

TNA vows civil disobedience

Sri Lanka’s main Tamil party on Saturday vowed to launch a Gandhi-style civil disobedience campaign to press a long-standing demand for regional autonomy for their ethnic minority. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in its manifesto for April parliamentary elections renewed its demand for extensive regional autonomy – after Tamil Tiger rebels who fought in their name were crushed last year. “If the Sri Lankan state continues its present style of governance without due regard to the rights of the Tamil-speaking peoples, the TNA will launch a peaceful, non-violent campaign of civil disobedience on the Gandhian model,” the party said. The TNA was a puppet of the Tamil Tiger rebels who were crushed by security forces in May last year after 37 years of fighting. The United Nations has said up to 100,000 people were killed in the conflict. On Saturday the alliance said it would lobby neighbouring India and the international community to ensure the island’s Tamil community -- 12.5 percent