Robert Walters cut more than 700 positions in the last year because of a decline in job vacancies.
The recruiter acknowledged that it had eliminated more than 159 positions in just the last three months, and blamed this on challenging global hiring markets.
The firm has lost 734 jobs so far and its revenue is down 17% in 2024. The UK trade was particularly weak in the last quarter, with a decline of 19% to PS12.5million.
The London-listed company said that UK activity was particularly affected, as clients stopped hiring in anticipation of the Autumn Budget announcement scheduled for 30th October.
Toby Fowlston, chief executive of the company, said that the global hiring markets were still challenging in the third quarter. This brings the period for rebasing after the peak in 2022 following the pandemic to about two years.
As stated in our half-year report in August, we continue to assume that a material improvement in the confidence of clients and candidates will take place gradually and is unlikely to begin before 2025.
The programme of action underway means we are still aiming for a profitable year-end, even though market conditions may mean that second half fee revenue is unlikely to be higher than the first half.
Office for National Statistics data shows that the number of UK vacancies has fallen by 34,000 in the three months up to September. This is the 27th consecutive quarter where the number of vacancies have decreased. It’s the lowest level seen since March-May 2021.
Shares of the company were down by 2.3% and its net income fell by 12% in the third quarter, to PS79.9m compared to the previous year. It is down 13% so far this year to PS246m.
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