Gattaca Regulatory News (GATC)

28 January 2015

Matchtech Group plc

Pre-close Trading Update

Matchtech Group plc (the "Group"), one of the UK's leading specialist engineering and professional services recruitment companies, today provides the following Pre-close Trading Update for the six months ending 31 January 2015.

Since our last update on 14 November 2014 we have continued to see strong demand in the UK and worldwide for skilled engineers. The Board believes that the Group is well placed to continue to benefit from this demand due to its market leading position, balanced business model of Contract and Permanent recruitment and our niche focus within the engineering and technology sectors.

The Board expects the results for the full year to be in line with its expectations.

Net Fee Income ("NFI")

NFI in the first half of FY 2015 to 31 January 2015 was up 2% compared to the same period last year.

NFI performance is analysed as follows:

The business mix remained the same as the previous year, with Contract NFI accounting for 72% and Permanent Fees 28% of total NFI in the period.

Contract NFI

Contract NFI of £16.2m was 2% up on the same period last year.

Contract NFI performance is analysed as follows:

Engineering has seen continued strong demand for contractors, particularly within Infrastructure and the Power & Nuclear markets, whose NFI is £0.6m and £0.3m higher respectively than the same period last year. This increase has been somewhat offset by a £0.2m reduction in NFI within Maritime following the closure of shipbuilding at Portsmouth Naval Base as well as a £0.5m reduction in NFI in Oil & Gas.

Permanent Fees

Permanent Fees of £6.3m are up 2% compared with the same period last year.

Permanent fee performance is analysed as follows:

Demand for permanent staff from our customers within the Engineering segment continues to improve, with NFI up 22% on last year, including 60% growth in Infrastructure, 40% in General Engineering and 25% in Maritime.

The 10% decline in the Professional Services segment was due to an underperformance in Professional Staffing, with NFI down 13% compared with the same period last year with penetration into the Group's non-core markets proving challenging. Technology NFI was broadly similar to the same period last year.

Headcount

Headcount at the end of each period can be analysed as follows:

During 2014 and H1 2015 we invested to accelerate growth in our Engineering business through increased consultant headcount, with the reduction in Professional Services headcount reflecting the underperformance in Professional Staffing (as noted above) and delivering improved productivity in Technology.

The Group intends to release its Interim Results for the period ending 31 January 2015 on 9 April 2015.

For further information please contact: