Staffing firm Empresaria expects to see challenging trading conditions in the final quarter of the year which will weigh on its full year results.
In a statement to the markets this morning, the AIM-listed firm said: “The challenging, industry wide, market conditions that have persisted for the last two years continue to adversely impact the Group with conditions worsening in a number of markets and permanent recruitment demand generally remaining extremely subdued”.
In the third quarter, Empresaria reported that net fee income was down four per cent year-on-year.
While this was better than the sluggish performance during the first half of the year, when fees were down nine per cent, things were expected to deteriorate over the remainder of the year.
“We now expect results in the fourth quarter to be worse than previously forecast with market conditions in Germany particularly challenging,” it said.
It also anticipated “continued deterioration” in markets in APAC, some of which had previously been resilient. These challenging conditions are expected to persist through to the first half of 2025.
The firm said that its full year adjusted pretax profit is now expected to be no less than £2m.
Its shares plummeted nearly 20 per cent when markets opened this morning.
“We are confident that the actions we have taken, and are taking, will ensure the Group is well positioned to deliver on our growth potential when the market recovers,” the company said.