Robert Walters hit by slowdown in Asia Pacific

A banking sector slow-down in the Asia Pacific put a dent in net fee income in the second quarter at recruitment firm Robert Walters.

Group profit in the second quarter fell 3 per cent, or 2 per cent on a constant currency basis, from £49.2m a year ago to £47.6m this time round, which the group hailed as a "stable performance" against a deteriorating market.

Regionally, in the UK net fee income was flat at £12.1m, in Europe it fell five per cent from £10.5m to £10.0m, in the Americas and South Africa it rose four per cent from £1.5m to £1.6m, and in the Asia Pacific region it declined five per cent from £25.1m to £23.9m.

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The company was keen to emphasise that Resource Solutions, its recruitment outsourcing business, performed strongly during the three month period, but admitted Europe was affected by ongoing Eurozone financial and political uncertainty.

Robert Walters, Chief Executive, said: "We have delivered a stable performance against a backdrop of deteriorating conditions in the global financial markets. This has been achieved by a long term strategy of investing in territories that offer the best growth prospects and we are also ensuring that we maintain a leading position in our more established markets. We are continuing with this strategy with new offices opened in the UK, Australia and Brazil.

"We have a strong balance sheet and an experienced management team. We will continue to maintain our presence in the territories where market conditions are challenging, whilst also investing in the business for the long term to take advantage of growth opportunities in new and emerging markets."

As at June 30th, the company had net cash of £4.5m (June 30th 2011: £10.7m).

The share price fell 6.1% to 196.25p by 09:51, dragging down sector peers such as Michael Page and Hays with it.

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