7th Sep 2016 09:25
LONDON (Alliance News) - Recruitment company Hydrogen Group PLC on Wednesday said it returned to pretax profit in the first half of 2016 but net fee income fell due to weakness in its legal and energy practices.
Hydrogen said it made a pretax profit of GBP264,000 in the half to the end of June, compared to a GBP1.9 million loss a year earlier which had been driven by exceptional charges related to restructuring. Those charges did not repeat.
Net fee income, however, declined 12% to GBP8.9 million from GBP10.1 million a year earlier and total revenue fell to GBP59.4 million from GBP65.9 million.
The firm said its Life Science and Business Transformation units in Europe, the Middle East and Africa both performed well, as did its Asian operation. But this was offset by weakness in its energy business, which focuses on the oil and gas industry, and soft net fee income for its EMEA legal practice ahead of the UK's EU referendum.
Hydrogen, however, noted its net fee income had returned to growth so far in the second half, up 6.0% year-on-year.
"The first half of 2016 has seen a stabilisation of the business and a move back into NFI growth compared to the second half 2015. We have started hiring in the areas where we have identified sustainable growth opportunities," said Hydrogen Chief Executive Ian Temple.
Shares in Hydrogen were untraded on Wednesday, having last traded at 37.00 pence.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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