Gattaca interim profit surges though outlook remains 'measured'
Gattaca PLC on Tuesday raised its interim payout on the back of first-half profit growth, but acknowledged that market conditions remain volatile.
The Fareham, England-based recruitment agency booked £2.6 million in pretax profit for the six months ended January 31, more than trebled from £809,000 on-year. Gattaca booked a £95,000 loss from discontinued operations, however, swinging from £137,000 profit the year prior.
Revenue was up 9.8% in the first half to £212.4 million from £193.5 million on-year, as net fee income rose 13% to £21.4 million from £18.9 million. On a like-for-like basis, NFI ticked up 7.9% to £20.4 million from £18.9 million.
Contract fees accounted for about 77% of continuing underlying NFI, compared with 74% in the first half of financial 2025, while 19% came from permanent fees, versus 20% on-year.
Infrastructure income grew 5.9% from the year prior to £7.2 million, while the Defence segment’s NFI jumped 29% to £4.1 million from £3.2 million.
Gattaca completed a strategic review of Defence in the middle of 2025, noting that ‘commitment to spend is still slow’ in this area, and that the company is prioritising ‘growing our market share with key clients.’
‘Our strong position in the UK defence market, serving over half of the [Ministry of Defence]’s top 100 suppliers places us well to support rising demand driven by increased geopolitical uncertainty and sustained government investment, in a market where skill shortages are common. This will lead to long term growth opportunity,’ Gattaca said.
Mobility, Energy and Digital technology all registered growth, while Gattaca Projects NFI declined 45% on-year to £600,000, due to ‘timing delays on major client programmes following a strong comparative period’, and Other NFI remained flat at £1.5 million.
Basic earnings per share more than doubled to 5.6 pence from 2.0p, with the company raising its interim dividend by 33% to 1.33p per share from 1.0p.
Gattaca shares rose 1.0% to 106.00p on Tuesday afternoon in London.
The company ended January with a headcount of 360, down 6.7% from a year earlier.
‘This decrease was due to ongoing plans to shift headcount from ancillary sales functions towards front-line sales teams, and investment in embedded back-office systems enabling a leaner support function,’ Gattaca said.
It stressed that it ‘is committed to growing sales staff above 75% of overall employees longer term’, with the ratio of sales to support staff at 71:29 as of January 31. The company plans to grow its workforce by approximately 10% in financial 2026.
Gattaca noted that ‘persistent macroeconomic headwinds’ in the recruitment sector have hurt ‘client demand and candidate sentiment, reducing volume and extending recruitment timelines.’
‘Specifically, permanent recruitment remains subdued, and we anticipate this trend to continue in the medium term. Despite this backdrop, our strategic focus remains on the sectors where we believe we have the capability to become the dominant provider, expanding our service offering to support our customers further, and continue to take market share as we have in 2026 H1,’ Gattaca said.
Chief Executive Matthew Wragg noted that the company was ‘trading in line with upgraded expectations’, and has made progress on the integration of recently acquired InfoSec People Ltd.
‘With a strengthened technology platform, a growing customer base and continued improvements in operational efficiency, the group is well positioned for further growth. However, given the volatility of the external environment, we remain measured in our outlook as we focus on delivering sustainable, long-term growth,’ Wragg commented.
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