Richard Barfield, chief executive of information technology specialist recruiter Spring Group, knows he has some explaining to do, both to the city and the media.

His charm offensive comes in the wake of the company's 2005 results.

The company reported a loss of £7.6m for the year, compared with a profit of £7.7m in 2004.

“By any measure, this is a poor performance,” said chairman Amir Eilon in the accompanying statement to shareholders.

There is a definite feeling that Barfield is on a mission to see as many journalists and analysts as he can in a short space of time. Based on the top floor of Spring's impressive building in the heart of London's financial district, he can spare just half an hour before he has to meet an analyst.

Barfield has to admit that major clients didn't spend as much as he had been expecting in 2005.

This has prompted a programme of “radical change”, including a 15% headcount reduction, and giving

up the lease of several properties. The firm is determined to become more selective and take on only higher-margin business, and a new incentive scheme for staff is designed to achieve this.

Spring has also closed unprofitable businesses, including Buchanan Scott, which was launched during the first half of 2004 and specialised in interim management and executive search and selection.

Buchanan Scott's loss widened to £0.5m in the first half of 2005.

“We decided that other opportunities were a better investment,” said Barfield.

Cash freed up by the savings initiatives will go into investment in training his own staff, and the development of Hy-Phen, the recruitment outsourcing business. Hy-Phen brings in about £115m of revenue a year. A deal with banking giant Barclays accounts for more than £40m of this.

Barfield points out that operational performance held up reasonably well. Revenue fell only marginally, to £454.7m, from £474.5m. Only exceptional costs such as restructuring forced the company into the red.

He is confident that better times are just around the corner, highlighting some deals he has landed since the year-end. Barfield points to strong worldwide demand for telephony system engineers, which generate strong fees.

The city is less sure, with the shares trading at about half their value of a year ago. Barfield, a chartered accountant, joined Spring's board in 2000.