House of HR moves into Cotton Park in Kortrijk

House of HR moves into Cotton Park in Kortrijk

Thanks to steady growth, HR group looks for bigger offices

Kortrijk (Belgium), 26 September 2023 - House of HR has moved into its new offices at Cotton Park in Kortrijk. The HR service provider is presenting good YTD growth figures, with June sales shares up some 11.4% compared to June 2022. To further support that growth, House of HR found a new home in the former Kortrijk cotton mill. In addition, in line with the company's growth, four acquisitions also have already been made this year, mainly in the healthcare sector. In this way, House of HR wants to contribute to this segment with its knowledge and expertise. CEO Rika Coppens comments, "It is partly up to us to offer solutions as quickly and efficiently as possible and that is our specialty."

House of HR continues to show growth figures

Thanks to the relentless entrepreneurial spirit of House of HR and its Happy Rebels, the company continues to grow. In June this year, House of HR saw its revenue for the first six months grow by 11.4% organically (same perimeter) compared to June 2022. The number of internal employees also grew strongly along with it. House of HR staff numbered about 5,700 people (Happy Rebels) in August 2023, a growth of about 11% compared to 2022, and 32% compared to 2020. With this growth and the many acquisitions in recent years, more people in support services are therefore needed.

"Thanks to our European growth, the support services of House of HR itself (the House of Support team), for example Finance, IT and digital, have also grown with us. This created a need for larger offices, even before the COVID-19 pandemic. We therefore started looking for a suitable location, where our Happy Rebels and each of our brands could feel at home and thrive. We found it in Cotton Park in Kortrijk. We are happy to stay in West Flanders, because we have a long history in Roeselare and many employees at group level have West Flemish roots. The sense of entrepreneurship and 'can do' mentality of this region is close to our hearts," said Rika Coppens, CEO of House of HR.

New home in old Kortrijk cotton mill Cotton Park

Formerly home to the Kortrijkse Katoenspinnerij (Kortrijk Cotton Spinning Mill, KKS), Cotton Park is today home to some 15 companies that have moved into the modern office spaces. House of HR has moved into one of the buildings adjacent to the main building. That building was redesigned, with House of HR's participation, into office spaces with a 'homely' theme. The building is therefore named "The Crib". Anyone driving into the car park cannot help but notice: the exterior of the building was also given a fitting facelift.

The meeting rooms are not only named after typical rooms in a house (such as "The living room", "The bedroom"), but the building symbolizes, with the richness of colour, the diversity and uniqueness of all Happy Rebels and all brands., Attention has also been paid to the energy efficiency of the building through the presence of solar panels, LED lighting, 20 charging stations and triple glazing to name a few.

Further acquisitions in healthcare

Besides House of HR's organic growth, the company has also already made four acquisitions this year. Three of these four acquisitions were in the healthcare sector. This allows House of HR to further strengthen its position as the leading HR service provider for this segment in Europe.

Indeed, in April this year, House of HR acquired pluss, a German company specializing in the deployment of care profiles (mainly in elderly care). Subsequently pluss in turn acquired icc & care, in the Berlin region. In addition, Cohedron, part of House of HR in the Netherlands, welcomed the Galan Group. As a strategic organization consultancy, the Galan Group is closely involved with Dutch policymakers. Finally, House of HR is now also taking its first steps in the healthcare sector in Belgium, with a 40% stake in the start-up ClickCare that was completed this summer.

Coppens says the following about these acquisitions, "The healthcare sector is one of the sectors to which we want to contribute with our knowledge and expertise in the coming years, in all our core markets. Not only by matching the right talents but also by assisting our clients in organizing their personnel policy more efficiently. It is a sensitive sector where patient care must be a priority. The ongoing scarcity of medical staff is omnipresent. It is our belief that flexible solutions in healthcare help ensure that healthcare providers do not leave the sector and allow work to be organized more efficiently. We put the right people in the right place at the right time - that is our specialty."

About House of HR

House of HR is a leading provider of HR solutions in key European staffing markets, offering end-to-end temporary recruiting and outsourcing services. Headquartered in Roeselare (Belgium), the group supplies specialized and niche staffing primarily to small and medium-sized enterprise clients through its two segments, Engineering & Consulting and Specialized Talent Solutions. These are each composed of multiple PowerHouses that together represent more than 50 Boutique Brands to promote their specialized HR solutions offerings.

The Engineering & Consulting segment supplies staffing of highly skilled professionals, such as engineering consultants and financial and insurance specialists, to fill specialized roles in a variety of end markets. The Specialized Talent Solutions segment supplies specialized staffing of high-demand mid-skilled workers for specialized positions, such as clerical positions, carpenters and machine engineers, as well as blue-collar workers to companies in various sectors, including construction, retail, finance, food and healthcare. The group also offers digital recruiting through its dedicated platforms, using its digital tools, including NOWJOBS, SWOP and the Gighouse app.

For 2022 the pro forma turnover lands close to ~€3 billion with a pro forma management adjusted EBITDA of €349 million. The group provides work to more than 70,000 people every month and has 5,700 internal employees spread over 793 branches in Europe. House of HR is a ‘Talent PowerHouse’ with a strong emphasis on entrepreneurship, digitalization and innovation, but always with a distinctive, human touch. In November 2022, Bain Capital Private Equity became the majority shareholder in the group, with a 55% stake.