The results reveal group revenue of £11.27m, down from £11.48m in the same period last year. Group net fee income was also down to £6.15m from £6.33m in H1 2016.

However, the group’s UK businesses saw NFI increase from £3.4m to £3.84m, with growth across both perm and contract businesses offset by a decline in overseas NFI to £2.31m from £2.93m over the same period with reduced NFI in Dubai and reduced demand in the firm’s core real estate market in China.

Commenting on the group’s performance, executive chairman Robert Macdonald said: “Subject to economic circumstances in the regions in which we operate remaining in their current state, we expect the businesses to perform in the second half at least in line with levels achieved in the first half.

“The present focus for the group is to maximise the returns from recent investment in businesses and people, to improve productivity and increase profitability.”

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