Gattaca Regulatory News (GATC)

9 Feb 2009 07:00



9 February 2009

Matchtech Group plc

Trading Update

Matchtech Group plc ("Matchtech" or the "Group"), one of the UK's leaders in specialist technical recruitment, provides the following trading update ahead of the publication of its interim results for the six month ended 31 January 2009.

In the six months ended 31 January 2009 the Group has seen 8% growth in Net Fee Income ("NFI") to £16.5m, comprising of 13% growth in Quarter 1 and 3% growth in Quarter 2. NFI from contract placements was up 13% to £11.5m and permanent fees were essentially unchanged from the same period last year at £5.0m. This has resulted in a business mix of 70% (2008 H1: 67%) of NFI generated from contract placements.

Support Services and Engineering saw the largest changes in NFI from the previous year with increases at the half year of 17% and 10% respectively, whilst Built Environment saw a decline of 2%.

The economic climate is increasingly challenging as evidenced by the significant reduction in growth in the second quarter, noted above, which has left the Group with much reduced visibility for the remainder of this financial year. Notable falls in demand were seen particularly in the automotive sector, privately funded projects in the Built Environment and permanent recruitment in Support Services. This has resulted in a 5% decline in contractor numbers at 31 January 2009 as compared with 31 July 2008. Fees from permanent placements decreased c.20% to £1.4m in December and January compared with the same two months last year. 

The Group continues to focus on those clients that operate in the publicly funded defence, transport and infrastructure sectors, where demand has been most resilient. In addition, the Board continues to take steps to ensure that the Group's cost base is appropriately aligned with prevailing market conditions. These measures, along with the flexibility and cost benefits from the Group's single site model, should provide a measure of resilience.

The Group continues to benefit from low net debt which at 31 January 2009 was £3.9m (31 January 2008: £5.8m). 

Matchtech intends to release its interim results for the six months ended 31 January 2009 on Tuesday 7 April 2009 at which point it will provide a further update on trading. 

For further information please contact:

Background on Matchtech (AIM: MTEC.L)

Established in 1984, Matchtech specialises in the provision of contract and permanent staff and has grown organically to become one of the UK's leading technical and engineering recruitment specialists.

Operating from a single site near Southampton, Matchtech provides predominantly professionally-qualified candidates to a broad range of clients across the UK in the Engineering, Built Environment and Support Services sectors. www.matchtech.com

Cautionary Statement

This announcement is prepared for and addressed only to the Group's shareholders as a whole and to no other person. The Group, its directors, employees, agents or advisers do not accept or assume responsibility to any other person to whom this announcement is shown or into whose hands it may come and any such responsibility or liability is expressly disclaimed. Statements contained in this announcement are based on the knowledge and information available to the Group's Directors at the date it was prepared and therefore the facts stated and views expressed may change after that date. By their nature, any statements concerning the risks and uncertainties facing the Group involve uncertainty since future events and circumstances can cause results and developments to differ materially from those anticipated. To the extent that this announcemetn contains any statement dealing with any time after the date of its preparation such statement is merely predictive and speculative as it relates to events and circumstances which are yet to occur. The Group undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.