LONDON (Alliance News) - Kellan Group PLC on Friday swung to profit for 2017 due to absence of goodwill impairment charges, but revenue came in broadly flat following changes within the management team.
The recruitment business recorded pretax profit of GBP457,000 in 2017, having made a GBP2.5 million pretax loss in the prior year, as there were no impairment charge in 2017, compared with GBP2.2 million paid in relation to Quantica Group in the year before. Revenue rose slightly by 0.5% to GBP22.0 million from GBP21.9 million the year before.
Administrative expenses reduced to GBP5.9 million from GBP6.4 million year-on-year and finance expenses decreased to GBP235,000 from GBP322,000.
The company said that its Berkeley Scott's division saw operational improvements year-on-year with 10% increase in average productivity per fee earner.
However, the RK Group underperformed in 2017, with annual net fee income declining 32% to GBP910,000 from GBP1.4 million the year earlier. The fall reflects the implemented changes within the management team in the first half of the year, Kellan said, but performance recovered during the second half of the year, delivering 8.6% net fee income growth.
Kellan Executive Chairman Richard Ward said: "Overall group performance to date for 2018 is ahead of board expectation and I am confident that the changes implemented will lead the group to increase its revenue in 2018 and beyond."
The stock was up 10% at 0.80 pence per share on Friday.
