LONDON (ShareCast) - (ShareCast News) - Net fee income (NFI) grew in line with market expectations at British human capital resources group Gattaca's over the financial year ended 31 July, but the firm failed to translate its increased revenues into profits.
In its preliminary results for the twelve month trading period, Gattaca said it had boosted its underlying income 4% to £642.4m and its NFI 2% to £74.7m, yet the group fell significantly short of last year's mark for underlying pre-tax profits, which came in 21% lower at £16.2m.

NFI declined in the firm's UK engineering and technology divisions, and Gattaca's strong performance in the North American market was more than offset by fewer contracts in South Africa that brought its international NFI down a total of 4%.

Basic earnings per share slipped 23% to 35.3p.

The firm noted that, excluding the impact of acquisitions such as Resourcing Solutions and Networkers, discounted operations, administrative expenses, non-recurring items and amortisation of intangibles, administrative expenses increased by £3.9m on a reported currency basis, principally due to the impact of exchange rate fluctuations and further investment in international sales staff.

Speaking on the results, chief executive Brian Wilkinson said: "Whilst the group's headline results reflect a challenging year, there has been significant progress in many areas of the business and we are confident of further improvement in 2018."

"Our Gattaca Solutions offering is gaining traction with a number of contract extensions and upgrades last year and an exciting pipeline of opportunities for 2018. Whilst this roll-out led to increased group support costs during the year, these investments will deliver returns in 2018 and beyond," he noted.

These increased costs led the group from a £15.3m cash positive position at the end of its previous financial year to £40.3m of net debt as of 31 July 2017.

"Our positive Q4 exit rates in North America and Asia lead us to expect further significant growth in these markets over the coming year," Wilkinson concluded.

As of 1000 GMT, shares had lost 1.61% to 305.00p.

Email this article to a friend

or share it with one of these popular networks:

• DIGG
• FACEBOOK
• STUMBLEUPON
• MIXX
• YAHOO BUZZ
• DELICIOUS
• REDDIT
• NEWSVINE