Robert Walters Regulatory News (RWA)

 10 March 2016

ROBERT WALTERS PLC

(the 'Company' or the 'Group')

Results for the year ended 31 December 2015

OPERATING PROFIT UP 27%

Robert Walters plc (LSE: RWA), the international specialist professional recruitment consultancy, today announces its results for the year ended 31 December 2015.

Financial and Operational Highlights

*Constant currency is calculated by applying prior year exchange rates to local currency results for the current and prior years.

· Strong net fee income and profit growth across all of the Group's regions producing a 23% (28%*) increase in profit before taxation to £22.4m (2014: £18.2m).

· Asia Pacific net fee income up 6% (10%*) to £96.3m (£99.8m*) (2014: £90.5m) and operating profit increased 23% (21%*) to £12.9m (£12.7m*) (2014: £10.5m).

o Excellent growth in Japan. Clear market leader in the specialist professional recruitment space.

o Emerging market growth strategy in South East Asia continues to deliver strong returns with all offices now profitable.

o Solid year in Australia with four consecutive quarters of single digit net fee income growth despite a difficult economic backdrop.

· UK net fee income increased by 13% to £80.4m (2014: £71.1m) and operating profit increased by 17% to £6.2m (2014: £5.2m).

o Good overall net fee income and operating profit growth despite a slowdown in activity in financial services during the fourth quarter.

o Resource Solutions delivered a strong increase in net fee income.

· Europe net fee income increased 6% (16%*) to £46.3m (£51.0m*) (2014: £43.8m) producing a 53% (97%*) increase in operating profit to £3.3m (£4.3m*) (2014: £2.2m).

o The Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Ireland all delivered strong performances.

o France performed well and encouragingly we began to see early signs of an upturn in permanent recruitment activity in the fourth quarter.

· Other International (US, Middle East, South Africa and Brazil) net fee income increased by 16% (11%*) to £11.5m (£11.0m*) (2014: £9.9m) and operating profit doubled to £0.7m (£0.3m*) (2014: £0.3m).

· Group headcount increased by 11% to 2,916 (2014: 2,631).

· Final dividend increased by 18% to 5.13p per share (2014: 4.35p).

· Strong cash generation with net cash of £17.8m as at 31 December 2015 (31 December 2014: £14.3m).

Robert Walters, Chief Executive, said:

"The Group has delivered another year of strong profit growth. This performance has been underpinned by growth across both emerging and established recruitment markets, across permanent, interim and contract recruitment as well as in our recruitment process outsourcing business. This reflects the Group's strategic objective of building a truly global and diversified specialist professional recruitment business.

"Looking ahead, whilst mindful of ongoing global market uncertainty we believe that the strength, depth and diversity that the Group now has in terms of geography, discipline and revenue streams ensures that we are well positioned for the future. Our expectations for the full year remain unchanged."

The Company will be holding a presentation for analysts at 10.30am today at Newgate Communications, Sky Light City Tower, 50 Basinghall Street, London EC2V 5DE.

The Group will publish an Interim Management Statement for the first quarter ended 31 March 2016 on 13 April 2016.

- Ends -

For further information please contact:

About Robert Walters

Robert Walters is a market-leading international specialist professional recruitment group with over 2,900 staff spanning 24 countries. We specialise in the placement of the highest calibre professionals across the disciplines of accountancy and finance, banking, engineering, HR, IT, legal, sales, marketing, secretarial and support and supply chain and procurement. Our client base ranges from the world's leading blue-chip corporates and financial services organisations through to SMEs and start-ups. The Group's outsourcing division, Resource Solutions is a market leader in recruitment process outsourcing and managed services.

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.

Robert Walters plc

Results for the year ended 31 December 2015

Chairman's Statement

2015 was another strong year for the Group with profit before taxation increasing by 23% (28%*) to £22.4m (2014: £18.2m). This strong performance was underpinned by growth across both emerging and established recruitment markets, permanent, interim and contract recruitment and recruitment process outsourcing, reflecting the Group's strategic objectives of building a truly global and diversified specialist professional recruitment business.

Revenue was up 20% (24%*) to £812.7m (2014: £679.6m) and gross profit (net fee income) increased by 9% (12%*) to £234.4m (2014: £215.3m). Operating profit was up 27% (29%*) to £23.1m (2014: £18.2m) and earnings per share increased by 35% to 20.6p per share (2014: 15.3p per share). The Group has further strengthened its balance sheet with net cash of £17.8m as at 31 December 2015 (31 December 2014: £14.3m). Permanent recruitment represents 69% (2014: 69%) of recruitment net fee income.

In line with the growth we have seen across the business, headcount has increased by 11% to 2,916 (2014: 2,631). A significant proportion of the headcount increase has been within our recruitment process outsourcing business, Resource Solutions, as a result of increased service penetration into existing clients and a number of international client wins.

The Board will be recommending an 18% increase in the final dividend to 5.13p per share which combined with the interim dividend of 1.95p per share would result in a total dividend of 7.08p per share (2014: 6.0p).

In 2015, 0.2m shares were purchased at an average price of £3.63 for £0.8m through the Group's Employee Benefit Trust. A further 1.1m shares have been purchased at an average price of £3.31 for £3.6m since 31 December 2015. The Board is authorised to re-purchase up to 10% of the Group's issued share capital and will be seeking approval for the renewal of this authority at the Annual General Meeting on 9 June 2016.

In January 2016, Giles Daubeney was promoted to the role of Deputy CEO. The appointment was made as part of the Group's planning for the future, to ensure appropriate succession. In his new role, Giles is working more closely with myself and the rest of the Board, taking a more active role in the Group's strategy and its engagement with the City and Investor Relations. Giles has maintained the responsibilities of his previous role of Chief Operating Officer. There are no plans for Robert Walters, CEO, to leave the business.

Last but certainly not least, I would like to express my sincere thanks to all of the Group's staff across the globe for their ongoing drive, hard work and commitment to delivering a premium, high-quality service to our candidates and clients.

Leslie Van de Walle

Chairman

9 March 2016

Chief Executive's Statement

Review of Operations

The strong performance in 2015 has once again highlighted the strength, depth and diversity that the Group now has in terms of geography, discipline and revenue streams.

The Group now has over 2,900 staff spanning 24 countries, a balanced footprint covering both established and emerging recruitment markets, including the industry's strongest emerging market footprint in the fast developing Asia region, and a healthy blend of permanent, contract and interim recruitment businesses.

The evolution of recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) is arguably the biggest current trend impacting the global recruitment industry, with Nelson Hall predicting RPO to grow by 15% per year until 2019. In Resource Solutions we have a market-leading business in this space that complements our core recruitment business and also enables the Group to work with clients to deliver a truly end-to-end and global resourcing solution.

Asia Pacific (41% of net fee income)

Revenue was £285.1m (2014: £251.4m) and net fee income increased by 6% (10%*) to £96.3m (£99.8m*) (2014: £90.5m). This delivered an operating profit increase of 23% (21%*) to £12.9m (£12.7m*) (2014: £10.5m).

In Japan, the Group's most profitable business, we further consolidated our market-leading position growing net fee income strongly across both Tokyo and Osaka. In addition, our sponsorship of the 'Brave Blossoms', Japan's national rugby team further strengthened our profile in what is a very brand conscious market. Of our other large and well-established markets, Hong Kong had a very good year whilst growth was steady in mainland China and Malaysia. The market in Singapore was more challenging, particularly within financial services.

Our emerging markets in Asia continued to go from strength to strength and it is particularly pleasing to report that all our offices in these newer markets are now profitable. Indonesia and Taiwan both more than doubled net fee income, whilst Vietnam and Thailand also produced excellent results increasing net fee income by more than 90% and 55% respectively.

Our business in Australia had a solid year, despite challenging market conditions, delivering four consecutive quarters of single digit net fee income growth and a significant increase in operating profit.

Resource Solutions in Asia continues to grow well, winning a number of new clients in both new markets and sectors.

UK (34% of net fee income)

Revenue was £403.4m (2014: £311.9m), net fee income increased by 13% to £80.4m (2014: £71.1m) and operating profit increased by 17% to £6.2m (2014: £5.2m).

Recruitment activity levels across both permanent and contract recruitment were strong during the first three quarters of the year delivering broad based growth across both London and the regions. However, permanent recruitment activity slowed noticeably during the fourth quarter particularly across the financial services market. Notwithstanding the change in sentiment we saw in the fourth quarter, the UK delivered good net fee income and operating profit growth, with activity levels highest across commerce finance and legal in London and Manchester and Milton Keynes in the regions. A new office was opened in St. Albans in the first half of the year to further develop our regional office network.

Resource Solutions had a strong year, winning a number of new clients and delivering a significant increase in net fee income. Investment has continued in both headcount and global infrastructure including the growth of client sourcing centres in Jacksonville, Johannesburg and Manchester.

Europe (20% of net fee income)

Revenue was £112.7m (2014: £106.4m) and net fee income increased 6% (16%*) to £46.3m (£51.0m*) (2014: £43.8m) producing a 53% increase in operating profit to £3.3m (£4.3m*) (2014: £2.2m).

Market conditions across the Eurozone trended positively throughout 2015. Our businesses in the Netherlands and Belgium both delivered strong performances across permanent and contract recruitment whilst Ireland and Spain continued the positive progress we have seen over the past two years. A new office was opened in Barcelona to further grow our presence across the Spanish market.

In France, our largest business in the region, contract performed well throughout the year whilst encouragingly we also began to see an upturn in permanent recruitment activity during the fourth quarter.

Across Switzerland and Germany we made senior management changes during the year and are already seeing early signs of an improvement in business performance.

Other International (5% of net fee income)

Revenue was £11.5m (2014: £9.9m) and net fee income increased by 16% (11%*) to £11.5m (£11.0m*) (2014: £9.9m) producing a doubling of operating profit to £0.7m (£0.3m*) (2014: £0.3m).

Other International comprises the US, South Africa, the Middle East and Brazil. In the US, our office in San Francisco continues to benefit from the strength of Silicon Valley whilst in New York our commerce finance business in particular performed well. In the Middle East, our business in Dubai continued to perform strongly and now has a diversified offering covering legal, financial services and commerce finance. Market conditions in both South Africa and Brazil have been challenging.

Current Trading and Outlook

The global macro-economic backdrop became noticeably more uncertain towards the end of 2015 and had an impact on time to hire and client and candidate confidence.

Looking ahead, whilst mindful of the ongoing global market uncertainty, we believe that the strength, depth and diversity that the Group now has in terms of geography, discipline and revenue streams ensures that we are well positioned for the future. Our expectations for the full year remain unchanged.

Robert Walters

Chief Executive

9 March 2016

INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT TO THE SHAREHOLDERS OF ROBERT WALTERS PLC ON THE PRELIMINARY ANNOUNCEMENT OF ROBERT WALTERS PLC

We confirm that we have issued an unqualified opinion on the full financial statements of Robert Walters plc.

Our audit report on the full financial statements sets out the following risks of material misstatement which had the greatest effect on our audit strategy; the allocation of resources in our audit; and directing the efforts of the engagement team, together with how our audit responded to those risks:

These matters were addressed in the context of our audit of the financial statements as a whole, and in forming our opinion thereon, and we did not provide a separate opinion on these matters.

Our liability for this report, and for our full audit report on the financial statements is to the company's members as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the company and the company's members as a body, for our audit work, for our audit report or this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Deloitte LLPChartered Accountants and Statutory Auditor

Consolidated Income Statement

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2015

The amounts above relate to continuing operations.

Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2015

Consolidated Balance Sheet

AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2015

Consolidated Cash Flow Statement

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2015

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2015

Statement of Accounting Policies

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2015

Robert Walters plc is a Company incorporated in the United Kingdom under the Companies Act.

The financial report for the year ended 31 December 2015 has been prepared in accordance with the historic cost convention and with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs), including International Accounting Standards and Interpretations as adopted for use by the European Union, though this announcement does not itself contain sufficient information to comply with IFRSs.

The Group had net cash of £17.8m at 31 December 2015. Despite the volatile and uncertain global economic conditions, the Group remains confident of its long-term growth prospects. The Group has a strong balance sheet and considerable financial resources, together with a diverse range of clients and suppliers across different geographic locations and sectors. As a consequence, the Directors believe that the Group is well placed to manage its business risks successfully. After making enquiries, the Directors have formed a judgement, at the time of approving the accounts, that there is a reasonable expectation that the Group has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason, the Directors continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the accounts.

The financial information in this announcement, which was approved by the Board of Directors on 9 March 2016, does not constitute the Company's statutory accounts for the year ended 31 December 2015 but is derived from these accounts. Statutory accounts for 2015 have been delivered to the Registrar of Companies and those for 2015 will be delivered following the Company's Annual General Meeting. The auditors have reported on these accounts; their reports were unqualified, did not draw attention to any matters by way of emphasis without qualifying their report and did not contain statements under Section 498(2) or (3) of the Companies Act 2006.

The Annual General Meeting of Robert Walters plc will be held on 9 June 2016 at 11 Slingsby Place, St Martin's Courtyard, London WC2E 9AB.

* For the purposes of segmental information, unallocated corporate assets and liabilities include cash, bank loans, corporation and deferred tax balances.

The analysis of revenue by destination is not materially different to the analysis by origin and the analysis of finance income and costs are not significant.

The Group is divided into geographical areas for management purposes, and it is on this basis that the segmental information has been prepared.

*For the purposes of segmental information, unallocated corporate assets and liabilities include cash, bank loans, corporation and deferred tax balances.

The carrying value of goodwill primarily relates to the acquisition of Talent Spotter in China (£1,081,000) and the historic acquisition of the Dunhill Group in Australia (£6,847,000). The historical acquisition cost of Talent Spotter was £768,000, with the movement to the current carrying value a result of foreign currency translation differences. Goodwill is tested annually for impairment, or more frequently if there are indications that goodwill might be impaired. The recoverable amount of the goodwill is based on value in use in perpetuity. The key assumptions in the value in use are those regarding expected changes to cash flow during the period, growth rates and the discount rates.

Estimated cash flow forecasts are derived from the most recent financial budgets and an assumed average growth rate of 5% for years two and three, which does not exceed the long-term average potential growth rate of the respective operations. The forecast for revenue and costs as approved by the Board reflect the latest industry forecasts and management expectations based on past experience.

The value of the cash flows is then discounted at a post-tax rate of 10.6% (pre-tax rate of 15.3%), based on the Group's estimated weighted average cost of capital and risk adjusted depending on the location of goodwill. The weighted average cost of capital has also been adjusted for a terminal growth rate, between 2-3% depending on location, for year four onwards.

Management has undertaken sensitivity analysis taking into consideration the impact in key assumptions. This included reducing the cash flow growth from Year two onwards by 0%, 10% and 20% in absolute terms. The sensitivity analysis shows no impairment would arise under each scenario.

Included within prepayments and accrued income is a provision against the cancellation of placements where a candidate may reverse their acceptance prior to the start date.

The value of this provision as of 31 December 2015 is £1,450,000 (31 December 2014: £1,411,000). The movement in the provision during the year is a charge to administrative expenses in the income statement of £39,000 (2014: £296,000).

There is no material difference between the fair value and the carrying value of the Group's trade and other payables.

In January 2016, the Group renewed and extended to four years its committed financing facility of £35.0m which expires in December 2019. At 31 December 2015, £25.0m (2014: £23.4m) was drawn down under this facility.

The Group has a short-term facility of Renminbi 15m (£1.5m) of which Renminbi 5m (£0.5m) was drawn down as at 31 December 2015. The loan is secured against cash deposits in Hong Kong.

The Directors estimate that the fair value of all borrowings is not materially different from the amounts stated in the Consolidated Balance Sheet of £25,573,000 (2014: £23,904,000).

Net cash is defined as cash and cash equivalents less bank loans.