Hays shares fall on slump in fee income, weak jobs market

Shares in Hays fell on Thursday as the embattled global recruitment firm as it reported weaker fee income on the back of an uncertain jobs market.

Chief executive Dirk Hahn said he was “not satisfied” with the company’s performance after permanent job fees fell 17% in the half year to December 30 to £241.7m. Temporary fees fell 5% to £341.6m.

Hays issued a profit warning last month and cut more than over 1,000 jobs in response to the global economic slowdown in an effort to save around £30m.

“The half-year saw increasingly challenging conditions, with a clear slowdown in most Perm markets in December, while our larger temp and contracting business again showed greater resilience,” Hahn said.

“We acted decisively to drive consultant productivity, better align our operations to market conditions and opportunities, and reduce costs.”

“I am not satisfied with our profit performance. Our focused strategy targets the many structural growth opportunities we see, while driving profitability through increased resilience, operational rigour and enhanced execution.”

Pre-tax profits slumped 70% to 27.6m.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com