Staffline Share News (STAF)

(Sharecast News) - Recruitment firm Staffline appointed Ian Lawson as chairman on Monday as it warned of decreased demand in the year ahead due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Lawson's appointment came after former chairman Tracy Lewis resigned from Staffline's board last week, just seven months after taking up the role.

The AIM-listed group said demand for its recruitment services had been strong across the food sector - principally from food processing firms, logistics businesses and supermarkets as a wave of panic buying swept the UK when a government lockdown was imposed in late March

However, Staffline cautioned that while food sector customers represented approximately 60% of its client base, demand growth was not large enough to offset the temporary shutdown of the majority of its other clients.

Staffline also said it had completed its re-forecasting exercise, and while it was not in a position to provide explicit guidance on the out-turn for 2020 due to the current uncertainty surrounding the impact of the pandemic, the firm said it was "reassured" and "cautiously optimistic" about achieving a positive result on an underlying earnings basis.

"Considering the impact of Covid-19 on volumes in certain sectors across our business, the board would see this as a strong result and a demonstration of the resilience of the business," said Staffline.

As of 0925 BST, Staffline shares had surged 14.31% to 32.86p.