Financials: Robert Walters delivers ‘resilient performance’
International professional recruiter Robert Walters grew its revenue and net fee income (NFI) in the first six months of year, according to the company’s interim results.
However, the company saw its profit before taxation more than halve to £3.1m compared with the first half of 2011 (£7.1m).
In a statement accompanying its results, the company said it had produced “a resilient performance delivering NFI growth across all regions against a backdrop of deteriorating market conditions and challenging year-on-year comparatives”.
The statement continued: “Market conditions and client and candidate confidence levels remained fragile during the first half, with permanent recruitment within the banking sector most severely affected.”
Financial highlights:
•£275m revenue (2011: £241.6m)
•£92.4m NFI (2011: £89.1m)
•£3.4m operating profit (2011: £7.2m)
•£3.1m profit before taxation (2011: £7.1m)
•£4.6m net cash (30 June 2011: £10.7m)
Regionally, Asia Pacific contributed 50% of group net fee, the UK 26%, Europe 22%, and the Americas and South America 2%. All four regions grew their NFI in the first half when compared with H1 in 2011.
During the first half, the company opened new offices in San Francisco, Rio de Janeiro, Milton Keynes and Parramatta (Sydney Australia) extending the group’s presence to 51 offices in 23 countries.
The company added: “Headcount increased to 2,159 (2011: 1,932) however, the rate of headcount growth slowed during the second quarter in response to market conditions in some of our more challenging locations.”