16 April
2024
ROBERT
WALTERS PLC
(the
'Company' or the 'Group')
Trading
update for the first quarter ended 31 March 2024
Market conditions remain
challenging
Financial summary
Gross profit (Net fee income,
"NFI")
|
Q1
2024
£m
|
Q1
2023
£m
|
%
change
|
% change
(constant currency*)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Group
|
81.3
|
102.4
|
(21%)
|
(16%)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Asia Pacific (41% of Group NFI)
|
32.9
|
43.4
|
(24%)
|
(16%)
|
Europe (35% of Group NFI)
|
28.7
|
34.3
|
(16%)
|
(14%)
|
UK (16% of Group NFI)
|
13.1
|
16.3
|
(20%)
|
n/a
|
Rest of World (8% of Group NFI)
|
6.6
|
8.4
|
(21%)
|
(16%)
|
*Unless stated otherwise, all net
fee income growth rates are versus 2023 and in constant currencies.
Constant currency is calculated by applying prior period average
exchange rates to local currency results for the current and prior
years.
Group highlights
§ Group net
fee income down 16%* against a strong prior year comparative (Q1
2023 flat* year-on-year v. Q1 2022), with trading conditions across
the majority of the Group's markets remaining consistent with those
seen at the end of 2023.
o Recruitment net fee income of £67.8m down 15%*, with permanent
down 17%* and temporary (being contract and interim) down 10%*.
Reflecting the typical profile, positive sequential progression in
monthly net fee income was seen through the quarter.
o Outsourcing (delivered through Resource Solutions) net fee
income of £13.5m down 22%*, driven by lower volumes - particularly
from financial services clients. Pleasingly, the Workforce
Consultancy offering continues to resonate with clients, and fee
income performance during the quarter exceeded
expectations.
§ Headcount
down 4% quarter-on-quarter and down by 13% year-on-year to 3,812
(31 December 2023: 3,980; 31 March 2023: 4,403), as the Group
remains cognisant of local market conditions.
§ Balance
sheet remains strong with net cash of c.£54m as at 31 March 2024
(31 December 2023: £79.9m), reflecting the typical first quarter
working capital profile of the Group.
Regional highlights
§ Asia-Pacific: net fee income down 16%*
(down 15%* excluding outsourcing). Continued resilient performance
in Japan (-4%*), with a more challenging trading environment
elsewhere. Conditions in Australia (-23%*) remain broadly
consistent with those seen in 2023, whilst conditions toughened in
New Zealand (-28%*) following the late 2023 national elections. In
Mainland China (+1%*), the stabilisation seen through H2 2023
continued.
§ Europe: net fee income down 14%* (down
13%* excluding outsourcing). Resilient performance continued in
Belgium (+2%*), though this was more than offset by France (-15%*),
where conditions remain soft. Netherlands declined year-on-year
(-12%*) though continued to be broadly stable sequentially (down 1%
v. Q4 2023; Q4 2023 down 1% v. Q3 2023).
§ UK: net fee income down 20% (down 27%
excluding outsourcing). Trading conditions remain challenging,
however, encouragingly, fee income grew sequentially in London for
the first time in five quarters.
§ Rest of
World: net fee income down 16%* (down 9%*
excluding outsourcing), driven by the Middle East (-12%*) and the
USA (-15%*), though partially offset by growth in the smaller
markets of Brazil and Canada.
Toby Fowlston, Chief Executive,
commented:
"In-line with the latter part of
2023, overall trading conditions remained challenging during the
first quarter of 2024. Although certain macro-economic indicators,
such as inflation, continue to moderate in some markets, the
general environment remains one where client and candidate
confidence is at low levels, which we expect to continue to be a
headwind to fee income growth in the near-term. Given the current
environment, we will continue to maintain tight cost discipline and
we remain focused on initiatives to strengthen our business,
ensuring we are optimally placed to take advantage as trading
conditions improve."
Conference call
The Company will host a conference
call for analysts and investors at 8:30am today. If you would like
to register for the conference call, please contact
rw@williamsnicolson.com.
Next news flow
The Company will publish a trading
update for the second quarter ending 30 June 2024 on Monday 15 July
2024.
- Ends
-
Enquiries
Robert
Walters plc
Toby
Fowlston - Chief Executive Officer
David Bower
- Chief Financial Officer
Dami
Tanimowo - Head of Investor Relations
dami.tanimowo@robertwalters.com
|
+44 7340
660 425
|
Williams
Nicolson (Media enquiries)
Steffan
Williams
Ashia
Razzaq
rw@williamsnicolson.com
|
+44 7767
345 563
+44 7979
324 998
|
About Robert Walters
Group
The Robert Walters
Group is a market-leading international specialist professional
recruitment group with over 3,800 staff spanning 31 countries. We
specialise in the placement of the highest calibre professionals
across the disciplines of accountancy and finance, banking,
engineering, HR, healthcare, IT, legal, sales, marketing,
secretarial and support and supply chain, logistics and
procurement. Our client base ranges from the world's leading
blue-chip corporates and financial services organisations through
to SMEs and start-ups. The Group's outsourcing division, Resource
Solutions is a market leader in recruitment process outsourcing and
managed services.
www.robertwaltersgroup.com
Forward looking
statements
This announcement contains certain
forward-looking statements. These statements are made by the
directors in good faith based on the information available to them
at the time of their approval of this announcement and such
statements should be treated with caution due to the inherent
uncertainties, including both economic and business risk factors,
underlying any such forward-looking information.