Robert Walters Regulatory News (RWA)

15 July 2025

Trading update for the second quarter ended 30 June 2025

Sequentially stable trading, but macroeconomic uncertainty more pronounced in the quarter

*Unless stated otherwise, all net fee income growth rates are versus 2024 and in constant currency terms. Constant currency is calculated by applying prior period average exchange rates to local currency results for the current and prior years.

Group summary

§ Q2 Group net fee income down 13%*. Whilst net fees were higher than in the first quarter (consistent with normal seasonal trends), macroeconomic uncertainty became more pronounced, with forward indicators (new job flow and interviews) slightly weaker compared to the end of the first quarter.

o  Specialist professional recruitment net fee income of £60.7m down 14%*, with permanent (66% of fees) down 16%* and temporary (33% of fees, being contract and interim) down 13%*.

o  Recruitment outsourcing net fee income of £12.0m down 6%*, with perm volume hiring (RPO) flat*. The deal pipeline remains encouraging and workforce consultancy continues to perform well.

o  Continued operational momentum in talent advisory, with good lead flow driven by internal referrals from specialist professional recruitment and recruitment outsourcing.

§ Further strategic actions implemented during the quarter to drive greater efficiency:

o  Consistent with the 'four-box model', the Group closed its operations in Brazil (

o  Management layers were removed in other specialist recruitment markets and several loss-making teams were closed or merged.

§ The Group exited the first half with a monthly operating cost base of £24.5m, down from c.£25m at the end of 2024 and with further cost reduction planned for the second half.

§ Period-end total headcount of 3,125 down 2% quarter-on-quarter (31 March 2025: 3,202) and down 14% year-on-year (30 June 2024: 3,625). Fee earner headcount of 1,815 down by 4% quarter-on-quarter (down 17% year-on-year), whilst non-fee earner headcount of 1,310 was flat quarter-on-quarter (down 10% year-on-year). The Group continues to be highly selective in replacing fee earner natural attrition and is allocating resource in the front office to areas with the most compelling returns.

§ Q2 Group net fee income per fee earner up 4%* year-on-year, driven by favourable job mix and stable fee rates.

§ Q2 perm placements per perm fee earner decreased by 7% year-on-year to 0.85, reflective of strategic decision to not let fee earner levels fall wholly proportionately with volumes and thereby maintain strong fee earner average tenure ready for when end markets improve.

§ Period-end net cash of c.£30m as at 30 June 2025 (31 March 2025: c.£42m) following payment of 2024 final dividend during the quarter.

Toby Fowlston, Chief Executive, commented:

"Whilst net fees were higher than in the first quarter, macroeconomic uncertainty was more pronounced in Q2, with forward indicators in specialist recruitment slightly weaker as a result relative to the end of Q1. Geographically, we continued to see the most challenging conditions in Europe, with a more resilient performance in the UK and stable trends in Asia-Pacific.

With the external environment continuing to constrain client and candidate confidence, our planning assumption remains that there will be no material improvement in hiring markets in the near term. However, we continue to have high conviction in our disciplined entrepreneurialism strategy and therefore took further strategic action during the quarter to drive greater efficiency. We exited the first half with our monthly cost base having reduced on 2024 levels, and anticipate further progress in the second half of the year.

We remain focused on our strategic initiatives to strengthen the business. We are rigorously engaged in improving fee earner productivity across our markets, driving efficiencies in our front and back-office teams, optimising our office network and leveraging more co-ordinated procurement. In today's rapidly changing world of work, clients need a wider range of services than before. We have a full suite of talent solutions to support them, delivered by experienced and motivated teams, and remain excited by the opportunity we have to win as markets improve."

Regional summary

§ Asia-Pacific: net fee income down 9%*. Specialist professional recruitment down 8%*. In Japan (-3%*), client caution continued in perm, partially offset by growth in temp. In Australia (-9%*) and New Zealand (-31%*), temp volumes remained lower than the prior year albeit grew quarter-on-quarter in New Zealand. Tariff uncertainty in mainland China (flat*) drove a slightly weaker performance in Greater China (-7%*) than seen in the first quarter, however a positive performance was seen in Taiwan (+15%*). South-East Asia (-9%*) improved sequentially, with a good performance in Singapore (+11%*) and Indonesia (+16%*). Recruitment outsourcing down 25%*, continuing to reflect the non-renewal of a client account.

§ Europe: net fee income down 22%*. Specialist professional recruitment down 22%*. In the Netherlands (-30%*), near-term client hesitancy continued due to legislative enforcement powers on self-employment. Conditions remained tough in France (-15%*) and Belgium (-24%*). Spain (-19%*) grew quarter-on-quarter as the turnaround continues. Weaker conditions continued in perm in Germany (-27%*).

§ UK: net fee income down 8%. Specialist professional recruitment down 14%. London (-3%) continued to outperform the Regions (-27%, -16% excluding office closures). Recruitment outsourcing down 6%.

§ Rest of World: net fee income down 2%*. Specialist professional recruitment down 14%*. The Middle East (+1%*) improved sequentially, whilst the USA (-29%*, +13%* excluding office closures) grew excluding recent office consolidation. Recruitment outsourcing up 22%*, with further momentum from the first quarter.

Next news flow

The Company will publish its half-year financial results for the period ended 30 June 2025 on Thursday 31 July 2025.

- Ends -

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About Robert Walters

Established in 1985, Robert Walters is a global talent solutions business operating in 30 countries across the globe. We support organisations to build high-performing teams, and help professionals to grow meaningful careers. Our client base ranges from the world's leading blue-chip corporates through to SMEs and start-ups.

We deliver three core services:

· Specialist professional recruitment - encompassing permanent and temporary recruitment, executive search and interim management.

· Recruitment outsourcing - enabling organisations to transfer all, or part of, their recruitment needs to us either through recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) or contingent workforce solutions (CWS).

· Talent advisory - supporting the growth of organisations through market intelligence, talent development, and future of work consultancy.

Our 3,100 employees are passionate about powering people and organisations to fulfil their unique potential. We take the time to listen to, and fully connect with, the people and organisations we partner with. Our ability to truly understand them and create and share their compelling stories is what sets us apart.

www.robertwalters.com

Forward looking statements

This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements. These statements are made by the directors in good faith based on the information available to them at the time of their approval of this announcement and such statements should be treated with caution due to the inherent uncertainties, including both economic and business risk factors, underlying any such forward-looking information.