20th Feb 2020 09:20
(Alliance News) - Recruitment firm Hays PLC on Thursday kept its interim dividend despite a fall in profit and net fees due to tough market conditions, and specific events in several countries hampering its performance.
For the six months to the end of December, pretax profit dropped by 22% to GBP95.6 million from GBP122.6 million the year before, despite a 0.2% rise in revenue to GBP3.10 billion from GBP3.04 billion.
Net fees for the period declined by 3% to GBP553.1 million from GBP568.0 million the prior year, with weaker results from all regional segments except Rest of World, as strong growth in Asia and the Americas offset falls in China and France.
Australia & New Zealand net fees were down by 7% to GBP94.8 million, resulting from a negative currency effects and the Australian bushfires in December causing subdued business confidence.
Net fees from Germany dropped by 6% to GBP144.9 million, as growth slowed on reduced business confidence and increased level of client cost control, particularly with Hays's larger clients in the Manufacturing and Automotive sectors.
Finally, in the UK & Ireland net fees fell by 4% to GBP126.7 million, caused by a decline in the Private sector which was weighed down by economic and political uncertainties during the period.
Hays declared a dividend per share of 1.11 pence, in-line with the year before.
"Fee growth slowed significantly through the half, impacted by increased uncertainties and reduced business confidence in most of our major markets, and three specific external events in December," said Chief Executive Alistair Cox.
"Overall, we have seen a marginally slower New Year 'return to work' than prior years. We expect near-term macro conditions to remain difficult and are mindful of continuing uncertainties, including the coronavirus. While our focus will be on cost management, we also see growth opportunities, for example in the IT sector globally and in the USA, and we will continue to invest in them," Cox added.
Shares in Hays - which is based in London - were down 1.0% at 160.70 pence on Thursday.
By Dayo Laniyan; [email protected]
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