Recruitment company Nigel Wright Group has seen its turnover fall after the firm was hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
During the year ending April 20 2020, Nigel Wright's turnover fell by nearly £1.5m, from £18.5m to £17.13m.
In its accounts, the firm said that it suffered a "slowdown" of work during the 2019 election and that trading was also hit because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The company said: "In their assessment of going concern the directors have considered the ongoing impact on the business as a result of the Covid-19 virus. The impact of this on the company's operations was felt mainly from March to August 2020 where trading reduced significantly but has subsequently recovered to normal levels.
"To mitigate the impact of reduced trading, steps were taken to utilise the various support mechanisms instigated by governments in the group's territories, in addition to short-term salary sacrifices made by employees.
"A financial restructuring exercise was also undertaken in October 2020 which included all loan notes and interest, and a portion of other debt, being converted to equity prior to the group being acquired by NWGH Ltd as part of a management buy-out."
A spokesperson for Nigel Wright said the company had acted "proactively" during the pandemic and implemented some measures to cope with its effects.
Commenting on how the group had adapted during the pandemic, the spokesperson said: "We operate in seven countries around Europe with different degrees of government responses and advice to its populations. So we reacted proactively because our systems enabled us to implement 100% homeworking before governments told their populations to work from home.
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"[We] continued business as usual from home but with all client meetings, candidate interviews and internal meetings being held virtually.
"We accessed financial support that was available such as furloughing, HMRC employers’ national insurance taxes, reduction in rent for leased properties, etc. We also had a period of salary sacrifice and we deferred bonuses which are now fully repaid."
During the 12 month period, Nigel Wright also reduced its headcount from 123 to 108. The reduced team sized, coupled with the salary sacrifices, helped to bring down the company's staffing costs by £868,000.
But despite these issues, the company managed to increase its operating profit figures significantly. In 2019, the group made an operating loss of £81,000 but managed to make an operating profit of £229,000 in 2020.
The loss in 2019 was largely down to costs associated with the group's discontinued operations in Spain, which led to an exceptional administrative cost of £173,000. While the closure of the Spanish operations did lead to an added cost in 2020, it far smaller, coming in at just £74,000.
While the group did make an operating profit, the company's bottom line showed a loss of £2.1m, a slight improvement on the loss of £2.2 in 2019. These losses are largely caused by interest payments on loans and a foreign currency revaluation, which together last year cost the firm £2.15m.
The company added that since January, employers have been hiring "enthusiastically" and that the group is now performing strongly.