Allura Lists in AFR’s Fast 100 for Second Consecutive Year

Allura Partners has made the Australian Financial Review’s (AFR) Fast 100 List for the second consecutive year. Announced on 29 November 2023, the prestigious Fast 100 List recognises the country’s fastest growing established companies.

For Allura, inclusion on the List acknowledges the company’s unique business model, developed by founders Adrian Belle and Andrew Smith, and now proven to weather complex economic cycles. It also pays tribute to the strong, experienced team they’ve built and continue to lead.

A Top-down Approach

At a time when companies across many sectors, including the recruitment space are scaling back, CEO Adrian Belle says Allura Partners is confidently holding to the same steady-paced growth path that has earnt its success to date.

“Initially, we earnt our reputation by providing private equity (PE) clients with an executive search service to recruit C-suite talent. Then, it was a natural progression to assist the chief executive officers and the leadership team by building out supporting functions covering finance, technology digital, transformation and change” Belle said.

“Over the past few years, we’ve been focused on diversifying our client base from exclusively PE and their portfolio companies, and expanding our services delivering to large enterprise ASX companies”.

Andrew Smith said that “based on the success to date and the increasing demand for ‘PE style talent’ across many large ASX listed corporates we are poised for continued growth and are ready to implement some exciting plans in 2024”.

“Our reputation is growing in the listed world– corporates are wanting something different from their recruitment partners and we are now delivering to both PE and the ASX,” he said.

Belle agreed. “We’ve now got a large, diversified portfolio of clients which includes a strong share of the private equity market in Australia, who are always buying, selling and/or transforming their companies, supplemented by an increasing number of large ASX companies. It is this diverse client group that has enabled our steady-pace of growth during this recent downturn”.

Fast Paced and Rewarding

While the client base is diverse, they all have one thing in common – a strategy for transformation and growth – and that’s what keeps the team at Allura Partners engaged and motivated to perform.

As Belle explained, working with private equity is very rewarding because “our clients have very high expectations of us as a service provider, and equally high expectations of the talent we appoint to come in and deliver”.

“It’s fast paced, it’s exciting. When we're on the hook to get a result, we go out and get the result… we do what we say we're going to do.”

Of course, when you’re dealing with people, things don't always go as planned but Smith says that’s when an agile team with open lines of communication with the client can really make a difference.

“If you work hard and provide an honest, ethical service, a sense of trust develops that allows direct conversations.

“So, it’s about transparency. It’s about shared values, and it’s basically about getting in and getting things done – and I think that’s a strength that we’ve created in the team we’ve built here at Allura”.

“We are increasingly finding that it is this level of service and transparency that is resonating with listed corporates, hence our portfolio of ASX clients is growing”.

Growing in a Complex Environment

Maintaining a strong team, and more particularly, growing it within a complex economic environment is impressive for any business, let alone recruitment. More so when many companies are reducing their headcounts.

In October this year the Department of Employment reported to the Australian Financial Review that hundreds of companies across various sectors in Australia planned to make significant redundancies.

In response to these cuts, it would be easy to understand why many recruitment companies have been forced to cut their staff as well. But not Allura Partners. To do so, Belle says, would be a short-term strategy with damaging consequences.

“Markets can correct themselves quickly. So rather than reacting to market changes with a boom and bust strategy, we’ve focused on building a robust and diverse client portfolio that delivers a steady continuum of engagements throughout economic cycles. As directors, we’re also working in the business, day-to-day with clients. This hands-on approach keeps us connected with the market and with our clients’ needs. It also means we’re on hand to support and develop our team for the long-term. We see them work hard, we recognise their loyalty, and we reward them for it. In return they’re helping us grow and achieve success for our clients. It’s a unique model that is proving it’s worth”.

Positioned for Growth

It is this approach that is positioning Allura for the next stage of its growth strategy which Belle and Smith hope will see their company firmly cement itself as the go to executive search and recruitment firm for private equity in Australia combined with a growing list of large ASX listed clients.

“We're not trying to be all things to all people,” Smith said. “We're not trying to just hire people who are good recruiters so we can open a random division off the back of it. We are focussed on building teams with the expertise, experience, and networks to deliver the specific services that PE and corporate clients need aligned to our business model.”

Belle explained further. “We’ve proven our executive search capability for private equity; and we’ve proven our team building capability with large enterprise ASX accounts; so our next goal is to work with our large enterprise accounts delivering executive search capabilities at the Group Exec level. In doing so we will further strengthen these relationships that will benefit the wider business. This will be the next strong area of growth for our business… additionally, we are very excited to announce that we will be opening a new office in Melbourne in February 2024 to drive further growth.”

Belle said he is proud of the acknowledgement afforded by Allura Partner’s listing on the AFR’s Fast 100 for two consecutive years.

“The Listing recognises the hard work that we've all done to get to this position; it demonstrates that we’re growing, and that we’re successful. I believe this will give existing and new clients confidence in our expanding capabilities.”

“And while this recognition is encouraging for Andrew and I, most importantly, it’s inspiring for our team. I have members coming up to me to tell me they are so proud to be working with Allura – that they are proud of what we’re achieving together and they are looking forward to this next phase of growth.”