Recruiter Robert Walters (RWA) saw profits slide last year - driven by such factors as a decline in permanent global financial services recruitment and a near halt in growth at the group's Asia Pacific operations.
In fact the difficulties in global banking, combined with a slowdown in the resources sector in Australia, has hit Robert Walters' Asia Pacific operations hard. That region generates half of group net fee income (NFI), which edged up a mere 0.8 per cent in the year to £93.4m, while profits here slumped from £12.3m to £7.2m. In the UK, meanwhile, tough conditions meant that profits dropped £100,000 to £400,000, although NFI rose 6 per cent to £49.7m. In Europe profits fell from £2.8m to £1.2m with NFI up just 1.3 per cent to £39.6m. Still, the Americas and South America unit offered a glimmer of hope for the group and NFI there rose 24 per cent to £5.7m, although that business remains loss-making.
The group's cash pile fell £5.6m, too, while headcount rose by 186 to 2,233. Broker Panmure Gordon expects pre-tax profit of £9.7m for 2013, giving EPS of 8.47p, for 2013 (2012: 6.2p).
ROBERT WALTERS (RWA) | ||||
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ORD PRICE: | 207p | MARKET VALUE: | £159m | |
TOUCH: | 202-206p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 265p | LOW: 176p |
DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.5% | PE RATIO: | 30 | |
NET ASSET VALUE: | 93p | NET CASH: | £11.5m |
Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
---|---|---|---|---|
2008 | 337 | 18.2 | 17.2 | 4.75 |
2009 | 300 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 4.75 |
2010 | 424 | 13.1 | 12.5 | 4.90 |
2011 | 528 | 15.1 | 14.1 | 5.15 |
2012 | 568 | 7.73 | 6.80 | 5.15 |
% change | +8 | -49 | -52 | - |
Ex-div: 22 May Payment: 14 Jun |