Spring, the UK’s largest IT recruiter, has restructured its board following disappointing results.

Chief operating officer Bill Grubbs has stepped down, along with chairman Stephen Fink. Non-executive director Amir Eilon,

who is also a non-exec of easyJet, has been promoted to non-executive chairman.

Chief executive Richard Barfield (pictured)will take over Grubbs’ role, which focused mainly on Spring’s IT recruitment business.

The company slid £5m into the red before tax and revenues fell from £229m to £219.9m.

Spring had warned the stock market of poor trading conditions in August.

The company has experienced a drop in trading in the second half

of the year and the slump looks set to continue, said Barfield.

Corporate employers are delaying investment in major projects, and staffing requirements have dropped because of concerns about the performance of the economy.

Contractor numbers have fallen and the firm’s permanent recruitment arm has not grown as quickly as expected.

Paul Jones, an analyst at the stockbroker Numis, said: “This is company-specific rather than a problem in the recruitment industry as a whole.”