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* CEO resigns after 2 year in role
* Company looking for replacement
* CEO latest top executive to leave
* Co has issued multiple profit warnings
(Adds background, shares, detail on outlook)
By Yadarisa Shabong
Feb 20 (Reuters) - Staffline said its Chief
Executive Officer Chris Pullen has tendered his resignation,
after a tumultuous year for the recruiter including a balance
sheet review, a string of profit warnings and a wage-related
probe.
Shares of the company, which lost more than 90% of their
value in 2019, plunged to a decade low of 43 pence on Thursday.
Like other recruiters, Staffline has been struggling with
tough hiring conditions in Britain, where uncertainty over the
country's departure from the European Union has deterred
companies from hiring and employees from switching jobs.
It has over 350 sites in Britain and Ireland and hires for
some major supermarkets and retailers.
Late last month, the company said that higher costs
associated with its balance sheet review prompted it to warn of
even lower profits than previously forecast. It was the fourth
warning it issued over the last year.
An internal review found in December that the recruiter
overstated 2018 profits by about 4 million pounds ($5.16
million). PricewaterhouseCoopers, which audited its 2018
accounts, resigned in August.
Pullen is the latest top level manager to leave the firm.
Finance head Mike Watts quit in December and chairman John
Crabtree stepped down in June.
The company's stock, which is set to lose another one half
of its value this year, fell 7.5% to 43 pence as of 0935 GMT.
Pullen has been with the company for five years. Before
taking the top job in January 2018, he was the finance chief for
almost two years and led mergers and acquisitions before that.
He will continue to carry out his duties during his notice
period while the company finds a new CEO, Staffline said in a
statement.
The company, which has already scrapped its dividend for
2020, said it expects net debt at the end of 2019 to be 60
million pounds.
On Thursday, it affirmed its expectations that adjusted
operating profit will be materially below the 10 million pounds
to 12 million pounds range it provided in December.
In June, it swung to a 2018 loss after booking a 15 million
pound charge for potential fines for underpaying workers,
following a probe by the British tax authority into whether it
had historically complied with minimum wage regulations.
Fellow recruiter Hays on Thursday reported a fall
in operating profit for the first half as it took a hit from a
weak German economy.
($1 = 0.7750 pounds)
(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun
Koyyur and Barbara Lewis)
