SThree: City jobs market is turning around
City IT recruiter SThree today declared the jobs market was at last stabilising and possibly even improving.
The firm reported a massive fall in profits and turnover for last year, but said the final quarter showed signs of green shoots as companies started hiring again, albeit selectively.
Despite that, SThree warned its advertising spend, which has already halved from the peak of Britain's economic growth before the crash, would continue to decline.
SThree has been hit badly along with other recruitment firms as companies slashed their spending on new IT systems and cut back on its recruitment ads accordingly.
Today SThree said that its underlying pre-tax profits slumped by 87 per cent last year to £4.8 million from £35.9 million a year earlier. Revenues were down nearly 18 per cent to £519.4 million.
Despite this, thanks to its strong cash position, the company was able to maintain its total dividend at 12p a share.
Chief executive Russell Clements said SThree had shut 11 offices in the UK and cut its workforce by 30 per cent. However, it has been hiring in small numbers again during the past few weeks.
Shares in the group rose 4.2p to 308.7p. Analysts at Seymour Pierce moved to upgrade their rating on the company's stock from "hold" to "outperform" as a result of the trading news.
