Recruitment giant slips to £7.7m first-half loss

Staffline Group's Nottingham headquarters

Staffline, the Nottingham-based recruitment giant, has posted losses of £7.7m for the six months to 30 June, calling trading conditions “challenging”.

The news comes after Staffline was forced to delay the publication of its full-year 2018 results – a move which it said caused “uncertainty”. The company says this has caused a “slowdown in new contract momentum”.

Despite this, Staffline says it expects to make a profit of around £20m.

Chris Pullen, chief executive, said: “The first six months of 2019 presented a number of unforeseen challenges for Staffline. The delay in the publication of the 2018 final results created uncertainty, which has been compounded by a challenging trading environment. As a consequence of this and the transformation of PeoplePlus, this year’s result will be more heavily weighted than usual towards the final quarter.

“Brexit has become the source of unprecedented uncertainty for our end customers and is increasingly weighing on consumer confidence. The performance of our end customers in food and retail has a direct impact on the demand for our services.

“Despite this, we remain convinced that the challenges the Group is currently facing are short-term and that the business is sufficiently differentiated in its service proposition to return to future growth. We have developed an excellent platform as a result of the strategies we have put in place, and look forward to continuing to further enhance the leading positions we have in each of our core markets.”

Revenue for the six months rose by 11.1% to £534.6m.

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