LONDON (Alliance News) - Professional services firm RPS Group PLC said on Wednesday it saw a slight dip in fee income for the first quarter of 2019, in line with management expectations.
For the three months to the end of March, RPS's fee income was GBP140.8 million, down from GBP141.9 million for the same period the year before.
Segmentally, RPS's performance in Norway and in the Energy division exceeded management expectations, due to positive market conditions.
The Consulting UK & Ireland business met expectations despite political and economic uncertainty in the region, while Services UK & Netherlands also traded well.
However, results in North America were hit by headwinds including client delays in the start of work, and a slow start to the environmental due diligence market, RPS said.
Also, the Australian property market remained subdued, though the transport sector was strong, with RPS position within strengthened by the acquisition of Corview in February.
RPS said it expects operations in North America and Australia to improve in the second quarter.
"In the first quarter we introduced transparent and more engaging reward and performance management processes. We continued to invest in our brand and the roll-out of our new ERP is proceeding to plan. We are making progress on our strategic priorities and we look forward to further updating the market at the time of our interim results in August 2019," said Chief Executive John Douglas.
Shares in RPS Group were down 1.1% at 191.80 pence on Wednesday.
