19th Nov 2018 13:23
LONDON (Alliance News) - Prime People PLC on Monday said its profit improved significantly in the first half of its current financial year following the acquisition of Command Recruitment Group HK Ltd.
The recruitment company said pretax profit more than doubled in the six months to the end of September to GBP1.6 million compared to the GBP647,000 reported for the same period a year ago, as revenue rose to GBP12.6 million from GBP11.3 million.
The company said it benefited from the acquisition of the majority interest in Command Recruitment in October last year. Excluding this purchase, profit would have been in line with the prior year, the company noted.
Net fee income was GBP8.0 million in the first half, up from GBP6.2 million a year earlier.
Prime People's overseas division, which includes Hong Kong-based Command Recruitment, showed strong performance, with NFI up to GBP4.1 million from GBP2.3 million year-on-year.
NFI for the UK business remained stable at GBP3.9 million, Prime People said.
Administrative costs in the first half were GBP6.4 million, up from GBP5.5 million reported the year before, as a result of the inclusion of Command Recruitment operating costs.
Prime People declared an interim dividend of 1.80 pence, up 2.9% from 1.75p paid a year prior.
"Given the uncertainties of UK markets through to March 2019 and potentially beyond, we do not expect the second half trading to exceed the first half," said Executive Chairman Robert Macdonald.
"The present focus for the group is managing the business costs in relation to revenue, improving productivity and increasing profitability," added Macdonald.
The stock was untraded on Monday, last closing at 76.50p a share.
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