Trading Update for 12 months ended 31 July 2018

·     Group NFI expected to be £78.8m, up 6% on prior year and 1% on an underlying basis

·     FY18 underlying PBT expected to be broadly in line with market expectations

·     UK Engineering NFI grew 1%, with strong performances seen in our Engineering Technology, Auto, Infrastructure, Maritime, Barclay Meade and Alderwood business units. The division saw a slight decline of 1% in H2, with a positive performance in the majority of our business units offset by lower RSL NFI as well as ancillary Solutions income, which tend to be lumpy in nature. We are particularly encouraged by the trend in Q4, with the majority of our Engineering business units demonstrating healthy run rate growth

·     UK Technology NFI declined by 4%, with NFI growth in IT of 4% offset by a decline in Telco of 24%

·     International saw NFI growth of 7%, driven by a continued very strong performance in the Americas (+33%) but tempered by weaker markets elsewhere

·     The shift towards Permanent recruitment in the first half continued into the full year, partly driven by the acquisition of a number of RPO Solutions clients, which are high-quality and multi-year contracts. Permanent represented 28% of FY18 NFI compared to 24% in the prior year

·     Our cost containment initiatives remain on track and we have achieved our 2018 target. We continue to seek cost reduction opportunities

·     Group net debt at 31st July 2018 is expected to be in the order of £46m (July 2017: £40.3m); the increase comprising a final £3.6m payment for the RSL earn-out and working capital movements

·     The review of our international footprint, low profitability accounts and withholding tax generating activities, as announced at the time of our interim results in April, is nearing completion and we expect to update the market on this shortly