BNB reported a pre-tax loss of £1.4m for the six months to June, compared with a profit of £451,000 for the same period a year earlier.

BNB’s businesses operate in two main areas; Recruitment Solutions, under the Barkers and TCS brands, and Recruitment Consultancy, under the Norman Broadbent, BNB Outsourced Solutions, Garfield Robbins, MGMS, Contaplus, Hamlin Knight, PCS, CW Consulting and Exec2Exec brands.

Chairman Roderick MacLeod described the period as one of “transition” for the Group.

In the summer, BNB warned of a slowdown in the Scottish public sector, and also said it had run up costs by investing heavily on the recruitment consultancy side.