Review of 2020 Activity – We look back on 2020 with a real sense of achievement. Team spirit remained high and our cloud-based IT infrastructure enabled us to service our clients seamlessly with executive and non-executive search solutions. We are fortunate and grateful to begin 2021 on a strong footing and our thanks go to our clients and candidates for their continued support.

Click here to view some of our 2020 highlights – https://mailchi.mp/directorbank.com/review-of-2020-activity

Directorbank ranks as one of Germany’s top search firms for Private Equity –
We are both grateful and proud to have been ranked as one of the top search firms in the ‘Private Equity’ category in the annual survey of Germany’s best executive search firms by Wirtschaftswoche, the German business magazine.

We are delighted by the news and would like to thank all our clients for their trust in us.  We look forward to working with our clients, old and new, throughout 2021 and will continue to go the extra mile in bringing exceptional people together that can make a real difference to business performance.

To view the rankings click here – WIWOSurvey122020 (002)

Congratulations to Equistone Partners Group on the successful sale of Eschenbach Holding GmbH to British brand Inspecs Group plc.

The exit news follows a strong thirteen year partnership with Equistone whom acquired the German manufacturer of eyewear, vision technology products and sport optics in 2007.

Directorbank is proud to have been a part of this success story by placing Dr Jörg Zobel as CEO of Eschenbach in 2016. Supported by Equistone’s reliable, growth-orientated partnership, Jörg has been instrumental in Eschenbach’s journey which has seen the business develop into a global market leader with award-winning design quality, strong positions in Europe and the US, and a turnover of €143m.

This placement further demonstrates Directorbank’s capabilities in helping deliver highly successful outcomes for our private equity clients.

For more information, please contact:

Dorothea Kronenberghs
Executive Director Europe
Directorbank Executive Search
d.kronenberghs@directorbank.com

Just released: Findings – Follow up to our SMEs & COVID-19 survey.

Comparing the findings from our April and October surveys – incorporating over 800 individual responses from our UK Board-level network – to provide some perspective on how SME business sentiment has evolved over the last 6 months across a range of pertinent topics.

To view the report here

The findings are very much in line with what we are sensing from our Board-level SME network, the main headlines being:

• For many businesses the last six months have been better than predicted, maybe because of huge Government support. Some sectors, particularly travel and hospitality, continue to be hit hard.
• Views on next year are slightly more pessimistic, mainly because of a feeling of Government incompetence, the ending of support schemes and lack of a plausible vaccine.
• Confidence in the Government has dropped significantly and many of our respondents were rather vociferous on this topic.
• The furlough scheme has been a big success in helping businesses weather the storm.
• Changes in ways of working are here to stay as a more hybrid home/office environment seems to have become the new normal.
   

Our thanks go once again to all those who contributed their feedback.

We hope you find the report of interest.