Gattaca PLC on Tuesday said it was ‘not immune’ to tougher market conditions, as it reported lower sales and saw its net fee income fall.
Gattaca is a Whitely, England-based recruiter for companies in the technology and engineering sectors. Its shares were down 6.7% at 98.00 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.
In the six months to January 31, Gattaca said revenue slipped 2.3% to £188.4 million from £192.8 million the year before.
‘Economic conditions have led to a challenging market in [the first half], and we have not been immune to this,’ said Chief Executive Officer Matthew Wragg.
Net fee income was £19.7 million, down 12% from £22.5 million a year ago.
Permanent net fee income was down 38% from the previous year, which Gattaca chalked up to the exit of a large permanent recruitment process outsourcing client at the end of financial 2023.
Pretax profit dropped 16% to £507,000 from £602,000 a year ago.
Gattaca declared no interim dividend, unchanged from the previous year.
Looking ahead, Gattaca said it continues to see permanent recruitment subdued in the short term, adding that its focus remains on growing a contractor base.
The recruiter added that it expects underlying pretax profit for the year ending July 31 to be in the range of £2.4 million and £2.7 million, compared to £2.8 million in financial 2023.
Chief Executive Officer Matthew Wragg said: ‘We have yet to see signs of improvement in the lead indicators for permanent fee income and expect demand to remain subdued throughout the remainder of 2024. Contract income has remained stable, and pleasingly we are starting to see growth in our contract book.’
‘Recognising that short term trading conditions are expected to remain challenging, we will continue to keep tight control on operating costs. We are mindful to ensure we are well placed to build market share in our chosen sectors as the economy recovers.’
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