Losses at Altrincham-based global recruitment behemoth NES Fircroft have more than doubled even as its turnover breached the $3bn (£2.2bn) threshold in its latest financial year.
The firm recorded a pre-tax loss of $67.7m for the year ending 31 October, 2024, as revealed by recent filings with Companies House, worsening from a £33.4m loss reported in the previous year, as reported by .
Despite the increased losses, NES Fircroft saw its revenue climb to $3bn, up from $2.6bn in the prior period.
With operations extending from Manchester, Warrington, London, Aberdeen, and Teesside to an international network of 88 offices, NES Fircroft has a significant º£½ÇÊÓƵ presence.
The company emerged from the September 2020 merger between NES Global Talent and the Fircroft Group.
NES Fircroft attributed its after-tax loss of $83.5m to non-cash expenses, including $163.2m in finance costs, $700,000 in finance income, alongside depreciation of $12.1m and amortisation charges amounting to $16.6m.
The firm's expenses soared from $5.4m to $16.6m over the year.
Robert Walters slips to a loss
In related news, Robert Walters, a London-listed recruitment firm, disclosed an operating loss of £7.8m for the first half of its fiscal year last week.
The recruiter cited a "challenging" hiring environment as the catalyst for job cuts.
Robert Walters also experienced a 14% drop in group net fee income to £140m, with its workforce shrinking by an equivalent proportion.
The board has alerted shareholders to anticipate more restructuring efforts in the latter half of 2025, as it aims to steer the company back towards profitable growth.
In March, the firm reported a significant downturn in the º£½ÇÊÓƵ jobs market, which led to a 16% drop in its total revenue for 2024, amounting to £892m.
º£½ÇÊÓƵ jobs market sees ‘small burst’ in demand
Recent statistics unveiled last month show that the º£½ÇÊÓƵ's labour market experienced a modest increase in job demand in June, although vacancy numbers are still not up to the previous year's figures.
According to data from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) and Lightcast, job vacancies reached 757,594 in June, with London contributing significantly to this monthly growth.
Job postings in the capital saw an 8.1% surge, a development REC chief executive Neil Carberry hailed as a promising "leading indicator" for broader positive trends across the nation.
The research attributed this "small burst of hiring" primarily to substantial growth in certain sectors, notably the heightened need for transport and logistics professionals.
Hays issues bleak forecast for recruitment market
In June, Hays, the recruiter listed on the London Stock Exchange, revised its profit forecast downwards and cautioned that it expects "challenging market conditions to persist into 2026".
The group is now projecting pre-exceptional operating profits to be around £45m for 2025, which falls considerably short of the analyst consensus of £56.4m.
At that point, Hays projected group like-for-like net fees would drop by nine per cent year-on-year in the fourth quarter.
The FTSE 250 company had previously issued warnings in April regarding economic volatility and challenging employment market conditions.
Last month, London-listed PageGroup disclosed that its gross profit had tumbled from £444.1m to £389.3m during the opening half of its financial year.
The business described its performance as "resilient" despite facing "market uncertainty" and experiencing "mixed results" throughout the organisation.
Adzuna falls into the red
In an exclusive opinion piece penned for City AM in June, James Reed, chairman and chief executive of recruitment behemoth Reed, declared the º£½ÇÊÓƵ employment market the bleakest he had witnessed following 35 straight months of deterioration.
These remarks followed City AM's reporting that recruitment firms are closing down at their swiftest pace in 15 years as businesses abandon recruitment strategies amid escalating taxation and global economic instability.
As many as 120 recruitment enterprises have engaged liquidators over the past six months, insolvency disclosure analysis revealed, representing a 17 per cent surge compared to the previous year and the steepest rate since the banking crisis.
Earlier this year, it emerged that employment website Adzuna had slipped into losses as its revenue was cut by a third whilst grappling with a "turbulent" economy and declining recruitment activity. The London-based firm reported a pre-tax loss of £276,797 for the year ending 30 June, 2024, a significant drop from the previous year's pre-tax profit of £1.5 million.
Documents filed with Companies House also revealed that Adzuna's turnover decreased from £30.7 million to £20.5 million due to a "turbulent macro-economic environment and reduced recruitment advertising activity."
