Accordant 2021 Interim Report

Interim Report

for the six months ended 30 September 2021

FINANCIACCORDANTL STATEMENTSGROUP INTERIM REPORT FY22	ACCORDANT GROUP INTERIM REPORT FY22

It is an exciting time to be leading the next stage of our Accordant journey.

Jason Cherrington, CEO

Contents

CEO'S REPORT - JASON CHERRINGTON	3
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS	8
DIRECTORY	21

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ACCORDANT GROUP INTERIM REPORT FY22	CEO'S REPORT

Our capability is strong and the ability to deliver for our clients is creating demand.

Jason Cherrington, CEO

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ACCORDANT GROUP INTERIM REPORT FY22	CEO'S REPORT

Having been in my role now for close to four months, it is fair to say that the first two months felt almost too good to be true, both internally within the Group, and regarding our broader position within the industry.

Strong market dynamics, great authentic people, and a diverse client portfolio were all apparent. As it transpired, the advent of the Level 4 lockdown in mid-August reminded me how we are all still affected by the fluid consequences of COVID-19.

During the first couple of months, I experienced a very orderly introduction to the business, with strong demand for our services being apparent. All our white-collar businesses were not only seeing good client demand, but they were also able to capitalise on it. They were able to adapt to this demand with an emphasis on permanent recruitment and retained exclusive work. The growth in this area is very evident in our segment reporting at HY22.

At the time I joined, AWF was also benefiting from strong demand, albeit challenged by New Zealand's borders being closed to almost all travellers, and a lack of candidate availability. Whilst permanent recruitment increased in AWF, it was off a low base and therefore unable to 'shift the dial' to the same degree as realised in Madison, Absolute IT and JacksonStone & Partners.

Accordant's strong culture and the underlying values of the organisation were very evident to me. Equally apparent was the sophistication and maturity of the business. Both factors would prove to be crucial on 18th August 2021 when the country was once again sent into a nationwide Level 4 lockdown.

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ACCORDANT GROUP INTERIM REPORT FY22	CEO'S REPORT

Accordant's strong culture and the underlying values of the organisation were very evident to me. Equally apparent was the sophistication and maturity of the business.

When I look back 12 months to the HY21 report to shareholders by Simon Bennett, he talked about a great deal of uncertainty and unknowns. Of course, much of this was driven by macro themes and the consequential impact as our business stalled, as did many, when the first lockdown commenced at the end of March 2020.

What we have witnessed in this lockdown is quite different. We had a seamless move to working from home for our internal employees across all of our businesses, and strong continued demand for our services. There was little if any hesitation from our clients where we had active workstreams. Our strength across the white-collar market served us very well, and within this segment we did not miss a beat. Although there were some temporary workers not required by clients, we were able for the most part to offer alternate work elsewhere or present permanent opportunities to candidates.

Such was the strength of this market and our capability to deliver within in it that JacksonStone & Partners have posted a record contribution at EBITDA level and thus a significant indication that the business is continuing to perform so strongly.

In contrast to the March 2020 lockdown, where they experienced struggling market conditions that eventuated into a significant write down of goodwill, Madison are also performing strongly. The business has made

positive changes to its resourcing model and has established a national resourcing team that enables greater flexibility and a faster outcome for volume projects, further leveraging our sourcing capability.

Absolute IT was not as quick to capitalise on demand and has been challenged more than our other white-collar brands. These challenges include the skills shortages that are being driven by offshore talent largely being unable to enter the country. This channel is almost fully closed and although exemptions exist, these have been 'few and far between'.

A Level 4 lockdown is especially hard on the civil and construction sectors that AWF services, and we were forced to stand down a significant portion of our workforce. The team turned to other opportunities in essential services, such as placing many workers into temporary roles with supermarkets. Whilst we made a considered decision to apply

for the government's Wage Subsidy in AWF to support and retain the portion of our temporary workforce who were unable to work during a Level 4 lockdown, this was only claimed for the initial two weeks. We certainly paid out a great deal more than we claimed and continued to assist many of our field workers beyond this period.

We expect the landscape for AWF will be more challenging than our white-collar businesses for the remainder of the year. The market remains short of candidates,

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