REG - Empresaria Group PLC - Trading Update and Notice of Results

EmpresariaAnnouncement

27/07/2023 07:15

For best results when printing this announcement, please click on link below:
http://newsfile.refinitiv.com/getnewsfile/v1/story?guid=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20230727:nRSa3272Ha&default-theme=true

RNS Number : 3272H  Empresaria Group PLC  27 July 2023

27 July 2023

 

Empresaria Group plc

("Empresaria" or the "Group")

 

Trading Update and Notice of Results

 

 

Challenging market conditions continuing to impact results

Empresaria (AIM: EMR), the global specialist staffing group, today provides a
trading update ahead of announcing its interim results on 22 August 2023.

 

Trading update

 

·      H1 net fee income down 9% year-on-year to £29.7m (down 10% in
constant currency)

·      Adjusted net debt slightly increased to £8.7m (31 December 2022:
£7.9m) with headroom slightly increased to £18.4m

·      Anticipated improvements to trading conditions have not been seen
and we now do not expect these to significantly change in the second half of
2023.

·      Full year adjusted profit before tax is expected to be materially
lower than market expectations

 

As highlighted in the trading update on 23 May 2023, the softening of demand
and slowing of hiring decisions seen across the Group's businesses in the
second half of 2022 have continued into 2023.  These difficult market
conditions have been experienced across the Group, particularly in the US.
The greatest net fee income impact has been on permanent recruitment which was
down 24% year-on-year with temporary and contract down 8%.

 

Our Offshore Services operation, where there is a 28% non-controlling
interest, delivered year-on-year net fee income growth of 15% against the
first half of 2022.  Sales to UK clients, which primarily support the
Healthcare sector, have continued to grow strongly, however sales to our US
clients, the majority of which support the IT sector, have continued to be
impacted by the fall in client demand seen in the second half of 2022.

 

The Group has already implemented a number of targeted measures to manage its
cost base, including reductions in headcount, and we continue to keep costs
under review.  However, given the ongoing trading conditions, which we no
longer expect to improve significantly in the second half of the year, full
year adjusted profit before tax is now expected to be approximately £5m.

 

Financial position

 

Adjusted net debt as at 30 June 2023 increased slightly to £8.7m (31 December
2022: £7.9m) reflecting trading performance and a normal H1 weighting of
certain key cash outflows.  Headroom has increased slightly to £18.4m
reflecting improved efficiency in the management of cash balances.

 

Rhona Driggs, CEO of Empresaria, commented:

 

"We continue to face challenging market conditions which developed through the
second half of 2022 and remained throughout the first half of 2023.  We have
not seen the anticipated signs of sustained improvement as client confidence
remains low and candidates continue to be reluctant to move in the current
environment.  With the ongoing macro-economic uncertainty, we now expect
these factors to continue to have an adverse impact on the Group's profits in
the second half of 2023.

 

We have taken action on our cost base and will continue to maintain tight
control over costs while ensuring that we are able to maximise opportunities
as and when market confidence returns.  While we are disappointed with these
results, we are continuing to execute on our strategic initiatives and are
confident in the medium and longer-term prospects of the Group."

 

Investor presentation

 

In line with Empresaria's commitment to ensuring appropriate communication
structures are in place for all sections of its shareholder base, management
will deliver an online results presentation open to all existing and potential
investors via the Investor Meet Company platform on Tuesday 22 August 2023 at
4:30pm UK time.

 

Questions can be submitted pre-event through the platform or at any time
during the live presentation.  Management may not be in a position to answer
every question it receives but will address those it can while remaining
within the confines of information already disclosed to the market.

 

Q&A responses will be published at the earliest opportunity on the
Investor Meet Company platform.

 

Investors can sign up for free via:
https://www.investormeetcompany.com/empresaria-group-plc/register-investor
(https://www.investormeetcompany.com/empresaria-group-plc/register-investor)
.  Those who have already registered and requested to meet the Company will
be automatically invited.

 

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to
constitute inside information as stipulated under the UK version of the EU
Market Abuse Regulation (2014/596) which is part of UK law by virtue of the
European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended and supplemented from time to
time.

 

- Ends -

 

Enquiries:

 Empresaria Group plc                                                     via Alma PR
 Rhona Driggs, Chief Executive Officer

Tim Anderson, Chief Financial Officer
 Singer Capital Markets (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)              020 7496 3000
 Shaun Dobson / James Moat
 Cenkos Securities plc (Joint Broker)                                     020 7397 8900
 Katy Birkin / Charlie Combe (Corporate Finance)

 Michael Johnson / Jasper Berry (Sales)
 Alma PR (Financial PR)                                                   020 3405 0205
 Sam Modlin / Rebecca Sanders-Hewett / Pippa Crabtree / Hilary Buchanan
empresaria@almapr.com

 

Notes for editors:

§ Empresaria Group plc is a global specialist staffing group offering
temporary and contract recruitment, permanent recruitment and offshore
recruitment services across 6 sectors: Professional, IT, Healthcare, Property,
Construction and Engineering, Commercial and Offshore Recruitment Services.

 

§ Empresaria operates from locations across the world including the 4 largest
staffing markets of the US, Japan, UK and Germany along with a strong presence
elsewhere in Asia Pacific and Latin America.

 

§ Empresaria is listed on AIM under ticker EMR.  For more information visit
empresaria.com.

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact
rns@lseg.com (mailto:rns@lseg.com)
 or visit
www.rns.com (http://www.rns.com/)
.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our
Privacy Policy (https://www.lseg.com/privacy-and-cookie-policy)
.   END  TSTBIGDRBXDDGXL