Recruitment giant sees profits soar as confidence rises

Nottingham-based recruitment firm Staffline has said that trading in the first quarter of 2021 is ahead of expectations, leading to “increased confidence” for its full-year results.

The firm has posted a 133% increase in underlying profit, up to £1.3m, in the first three months of 2021.

Staffline also said it saved £15m last year through a restructuring programme and that strong demand in the food distribution, e-commerce and logistics markets in H2 2020 drove robust performance.

Albert Ellis, chief executive officer of Staffline, said: “There is no question that 2020 was one of the most challenging periods for both industry and commerce globally, but I’m delighted with the resilience demonstrated by our business. We’ve yet to be fully released from the constraints of the Covid-19 restrictions but we have already seen positive signs of recovery as we exited the first quarter of 2021.”

“We have made significant progress restructuring our core business, much of which was completed in 2020, and we are now well-placed to capitalise on a number of exciting growth opportunities. Our market leading positions across food distribution, retail, e-commerce and the logistics markets have supported our recovery. As other parts of the UK economy begin to re-emerge, I am extremely confident in our ability to build on the momentum from the start of the year.”

“I look forward to providing a further update when we publish our full year results in June.”