Whitehead Mann’s chief executive Chris Merry has insisted the troubled headhunter will bounce back from a crippling £20m pre-tax loss.

The firm reported the loss for the year to March 31 as a result of several hefty one-off payments.

The figure included charges of almost £10m for the closures of the group’s US business and £3m for moving staff out of two of the group’s three London offices.

Whitehead Mann recorded a £4m profit last year.

Merry bravely gave a confident outlook for the company’s prospects, which is set to include a new package of equity-based incentives offered to “a significant number of employees”, and a far-reaching overhaul of all operations.

“There are considerable challenges ahead of us,” said Merry. “We will meet them with enthusiasm.”