FINANCIALS: Staffline defies recruitment’s downward trend
Recruitment and training company Staffline Group has reported a 9% increase in gross profits, bucking the recent downward trend posted by recruitment firms.
The results were driven by “a strong performance” across its recruitment activities and “excellent” results in permanent placement fees from new customers in its financial year 2024 trading update, published today [4 February 2025].
The group also reported a 12.8% increase in revenue, reflecting market share gains and what Staffline called “strength of [its] business model despite a challenging market for recruitment and training”.
Bolstering the good news further was Staffline’s underlying operating profit, which enjoyed a 7.8% increase to £11.1m in 2024 from 2023’s £10.3m. The company said that “stronger performance from Recruitment GB and Recruitment Ireland” offset a weaker performance from PeoplePlus, its division providing employability, adult training, prison education and skills-based programmes.
However, Staffline emphasised that PeoplePlus reported “resilient results”, despite being affected by a weak market for training and employability services. “The division is still awaiting delayed bid results in England and Wales, due to uncertainty following the UK general election; these are multi-year contracts worth an estimated £190m of revenue,” the company said. It went on to say that PeoplePlus had seen a “marked increase” in new business wins, with new contracts secured with Scottish Prison Services to provide education and training in Scotland “for the first time”.
“This £28m contract will go live in September 2025 with 16 prisons and circa 89 staff joining the PeoplePlus Justice Division,” the company said.
Looking ahead to 2025, the company predicted that “ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty” could affect their blue-collar recruitment customers as a result in employers’ National Insurance. Also, the company’s white-collar demand could be affected, with Staffline’s Recruitment Ireland division “more exposed”.
“Nevertheless,” the company said, “we anticipate continued growth in blue-collar recruitment across Great Britain, driven by market share expansion, strong momentum in new business wins, and sustained demand for essential workforce solutions.”
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