FINANCIALS: Robert Walters announces profit fall last quarter

Profits fell in global recruiter Robert Walters’s operations around the world in 2024’s last quarter, the company announced today.

The overall group’s profits dropped by 14%, with the Asia Pacific region reporting a fall of 12%, Europe 14%, the UK 17% and the Rest of the World by 13% in constant currency figures. 

Net fee income of £62.1m was down 14%, for the specialist recruitment part of the business with permanent hires down 18% and temporary down by 10%. Recruitment outsourcing Q4 of £13.4m NFI was down by 14%, the company said.

Total headcount of 3,294 was down 17% year-on-year, compared to the end of December 2023, when the company had 3,980 employees. Fee earner headcount fell by 7% quarter-by-quarter and 17% year-on-year to 1,964. The number of non-fee earners employed fell 18% year-on year, to 1,330. 

“The group continues to be highly selective in replacing fee earner natural attrition and prioritise strong fee earner average tenure ready for when market conditions improve,” the company said.

Office network consolidations took place in Q4 in the UK, France and New Zealand, as outlined last September, the company said.

Net cash is reported at about £53m, £3m higher than the £50m reported at the end of September [2024].

“Notwithstanding the market backdrop, we remain focused on our initiatives to strengthen the business,” said CEO Toby Fowlston. “We are rigorously focused on improving fee earner productivity across our market, driving efficiencies in our front and back-office teams, optimising our office network and leveraging more co-ordinated procurement. We have unified our brands under the single banner of Robert Walters to better serve our clients and have further rolled out ‘Zenith’, our custom-built CRM.”

He went on to say that the company was optimistic about improving its fortunes “in excess of pre-pandemic levels in the medium term” as market conditions improve.

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