Interview: Kenzer Posts Positive Revenues in Tough Economy

August 14, 2009 – Kenzer Corp. serves clients in the retail, wholesale, and manufacturing industries. Founded by Robert D. Kenzer in 1973, Kenzer grew to become one of the largest executive search firms in the retail industry. This led to Kenzer expanding its areas of specialization to financial services, food, hospitality/entertainment and manufacturing including the packaged goods, durables and fashion industries. In the following interview, Robert S. Jacobs, Kenzer’s senior vice president of business development, discusses the firm’s performance in the first half of 2009 and what lies ahead for the firm for the remainder of the year.

What was Kenzer’s revenue increase/decrease from the first six months of 2008? What do you expect for the full year?

Kenzer recorded a revenue increase of eight percent for the first six months of 2009. For the full year we anticipate a 10 to12 percent rise in revenues.

How has the economic climate changed for you since August 2008.

We are seeing a slow, but steady increase in search interest and activity in the last 90 days. With our search concentration primarily in retail and manufacturing the year of 2008 was a struggle.

Do you think the economic climate has improved in the last three to six months?

We have seen a steady improvement in the last 90 days and believe that the industry has bottomed out. Kenzer has witnessed gradual improvement in economic conditions and we are optimistic about our future growth during the next six months.

What industries and regions do you think are showing the best improvement and which are showing the least improvement?

The healthcare and pharmaceuticals sectors continue to grow while retail and manufacturing continue to lag behind. Geographically, the South, South-West and Mid-West continue to show the least improvement while the other regions are flat and showing some life. Worldwide China is up and most other areas are down.

How do you see 2010 shaping up; what industries do you see rebounding first and which industries might lag the recovery?

Healthcare, pharmaceuticals and banking will rebound first with the other segments slowly following. We continue to be positive as the shake-out in retail and manufacturing seems to be about over and we look forward to continuing to partner with our client companies as we help in rebuilding our economy.