Gattaca swings to profit as UK engineering boosts revenue

Gattaca's shares jumped on Wednesday after the recruiter swung to an interim profit on the back of increased revenue and a reduction in administrative expenses.

The six-month period ended 31 January saw Gattaca achieve a £5.4m profit before tax reversing the previous year's loss of £13.6m, after revenue jumped 6% to £322.3m and administrative costs dropped 38% to £30.1m.

The increase in revenue was driven by revenue from the UK engineering division, which jumped 8% to £248.2m, while its net fee income increased 4% to £25.1m.

The UK technology division's revenue jumped 4% to £61.5m following restructuring of its telecoms business and the international division's revenue dipped 24% to £12.6m after lower growth in the US than expected.

Kevin Freeguard, chief executive of Gattaca, said: "The first half of FY19 has been a period of progress for the group and we are pleased to be reporting NFI and PBT growth in our continuing operations. Our core UK Engineering business delivered continued growth and the restructuring work we undertook in our UK Technology operations in Q1 has begun to feed through into an improved year-on-year operating contribution. Our restructured and refocused International operations continued to grow strongly and we are pleased with our progress in reducing net debt."

At the end of the period net debt stood at £27.8m, down from £36.2m at the same point last year, while cash and cash equivalents stood at £13.5m, up from £10.4m.

"Building on the fundamental strengths of the business, our improvement plan is now underway and is focussing on the levers for growth, refining sales and market effectiveness, aligning operations to further enhance our delivery capability and innovating to extend our range of market solutions. I am confident that as we continue to execute the plan it will position the company well for the future," said Freeguard.

Gattaca's shares were up 13.98% at 132.50p at 0851 BST.