THE credit squeeze has hit many hard – but for one Oxfordshire company it has been good news.

Efficiency specialist Newton Europe, which employs 100 people at its headquarters in Southmoor, near Abingdon, is now looking to take on at least another 25 people, mainly graduates.

Newton experts go into organisations in both the private and public sectors to pinpoint ways in which they could provide a better service with fewer resources.

In 2010-2011 the company saw its turnover leap by £4m to £14.5m. Organisations include NHS Trust hospitals and local councils as well as private firms.

But finance director James Frost insisted the company was not in the business of recruiting high-flyers in order to cut jobs for others. He said: “I wouldn’t use the word ‘cut’ at all. Budgets are down, so the challenge is to keep services up.

“I cannot think of a single hospital we have helped where we’ve cut jobs. In hospitals we want to improve the patients’ experience and increase capacity.”

About 30 per cent of the company’s workload now involves working with the National Health Service, with another five per cent from local government and the rest from the private sector.

Newton, which also has an office in Canada, started in 2001 when a group of people with engineering backgrounds realised their skills in problem-solving at manufacturing facilities worked well in other areas too, for example examining business processes in offices.

Mr Frost added: “We want people with an analytical mindset, not necessarily engineers. About two thirds of recruits come straight from university but also some come from the armed forces.”

“There are signs some private companies are looking at growth again,” he said.