InterQuest Group PLC Trading update (6360Q)
01 December 2016 - 6:01PM
UK Regulatory
TIDMITQ
RNS Number : 6360Q
InterQuest Group PLC
01 December 2016
1 December 2016
InterQuest Group plc
("InterQuest" or "the Company")
Trading update
InterQuest Group plc (AIM: ITQ.L), the specialist recruiter,
today announces the following trading update ahead of its full year
results for the twelve months to 31 December 2016 which will be
announced on 7 March 2017.
Following a period of underperformance in the Company's London
based digital division of ECOM it has been necessary to restructure
the division and revise the sectors the business focuses on. This
change is to counter lower than expected volume of work from the
agency sector, which has reduced significantly from the end of Q2
and beginning of Q3. InterQuest has implemented significant
annualised cost savings and restructured ECOM London to meet the
challenges of this lower level of activity in talent acquisition.
The performance of ECOM London remains weaker than initially
forecast but is showing continued improvement since the summer
period.
In addition to the underperformance by ECOM, there have been
lower levels of demand in the public sector compared to 2015 and a
small number of large value placements have been delayed into 2017.
As a consequence the Company now expects that net fee income and
EBITDA for the current financial year will be below market
expectations.
Looking forward the underlying technology markets that the
Company serves should deliver structural growth in the medium to
long term. As a result of taking action, InterQuest has seen an
improvement in profitability since August and the acquisition of
RDW, a permanent search business, in August 2016 has immediately
contributed to profits and generated cross selling
opportunities.
The Company has seen an improvement in average permanent fees
and margins on professional contractors have also increased since
2015. The Company's Recruitment Solutions business has added one
further managed service client and remains robust.
Gary Ashworth, Non-Executive Chairman commented:
"I am pleased with the progress that the new management team has
made in restructuring underperforming divisions of the Company but
acknowledge the challenges the business has faced this year. We
continue to focus on building InterQuest to be the market leading
"digital transformation" recruitment business."
The information contained within this announcement constitutes
inside information under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU)
No.596/2014
Enquiries:
InterQuest Group Plc
David Bygrave (CFO) Tel: +44 (0) 20 7025 0100
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Nomad and Broker)
Karri Vuori or Dominic Morley Tel: +44 (0) 20 7886 2500
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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