- Smaller staff base
- Trading still "muted"
It was never going to be an easy year for Robert Walters (RWA). The recruiter reported a 10 per cent drop in net fee income in 2023, but operating profit plunged by 55 per cent to £26.3mn due to persistently high people costs. Headcount had decreased by 9 per cent by December, but across the year as a whole average staff numbers were actually up 6 per cent.