Servoca Interim Profit Grows On Strong Recruitment Business

LONDON (Alliance News) - Outsourcing and recruitment company Servoca PLC on Tuesday posted higher pretax profit and revenue growth in the first half of its financial year following strong performances across its business.

For the half-year to the end of March, Servoca said it made a pretax profit of GBP1.3 million, up 35% from the GBP966,000 made a year earlier, as revenue rose 23% to GBP34.4 million from GBP28.1 million.

In a trading update in April, Servoca said it anticipated its interim results would be significantly ahead year-on-year thanks to "excellent" progress made on trading.

Servoca said the improved results were led by its recruitment business, where it saw strong trading in its Education, Healthcare and Criminal Justice operations. The company said it has continued to see good demand for its recruitment services and said it has benefited from a sharper operational focus following the 2015 sale of its doctors recruitment arm.

"As indicated in our recent trading update, continued growth has helped the group to deliver results significantly ahead of the same period last year," said Andy Church, Servoca's chief executive.

"Full-year profitability will benefit from the pivotal September period for our Education recruitment business and the group is well placed to deliver against full-year expectations," he added.

Shares in Servoca were down 9.5% to 25.35 pence.

By Sam Unsted; samunsted@alliancenews.com; @SamUAtAlliance

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