Work Group confirms poor first half

A disappointing start to 2015 was confirmed at Work Group, with the publication of its first half results on Wednesday.

The AIM-listed recruitment firm reported an unaudited operating loss of £648,000 for the six months to 30 June, growing from a £132,000 loss last year.

Revenue was also down to £3.4m, from £4m at the end of June 2014.

"The first six months of 2015 continued the trend seen in 2014 with good performances from the overseas businesses, while the UK teams continued to operate in a challenging market", said chairman Simon Howard.

"We have been able to leverage the experience of our UK based strategic and creative teams to help overseas offices both win new business and deliver innovative solutions."

The report comes within days of Work Group's announcement it had exchanged contracts for the sales of its UK business, and its subsidiaries in Hong Kong and the US.

Both disposals are conditional on shareholder approval at a general meeting to be held on December 29.

With the sales, Work Group planned to reclassify as a Rule 15 investing company, also on receipt of shareholder approval.