Last checked at 
(Alliance News) - Empresaria Group PLC on Wednesday said it will deliver market expectations for its annual profit despite a sharp decline in profit in the first half of the year.
The stock was trading 5.9% lower in London at 60.25 pence per share.
The recruitment company said pretax profit for the six months to the end of June declined by 41% to GBP2.3 million from GBP3.9 million reported a year prior, as revenue slipped by 1.6% to GBP175.5 million from GBP178.3 million.
Net fee income grew by 6.8% to GBP36.3 million from GBP34.0 million year-on-year. On a constant currency basis, net fee income improved by 6%.
Empresaria said it will not pay an interim dividend, the same as last year. For the full-year, however, the company paid 2.0p a share.
"Although, as expected, profit in the first half was lower than the prior year, we remain on track to meet full year market expectations for profit," said Chief Executive Rhona Driggs.
"We believe the actions we are taking are the right ones and that we are well placed to continue to drive organic growth and to improve profitability," added Driggs.
In May Empresaria launched its Stronger Together initiative which involves all of its businesses and looks to identify and drive synergies in areas such as recruitment, sales and back office operations. The company said it expects to see these initiatives start to deliver tangible benefits over the next 12 months.
