Brunel International (BRNL: NL), the Dutch staffing firm reported revenue for the second quarter ending 30 June 2016 of €231.2 million, a decrease of 25% in constant currency (CC) compared with the same period last year.

Jan Arie van Barneveld, CEO of Brunel International N.V.: “Our business in the Oil & Gas market remains very challenging, and at this moment we feel that this market will not improve in the coming twelve months. We continue to improve our operational performance and processes in Energy to remain profitable in this challenging environment. In the past Brunel has shown the capability to use difficult circumstances to make the company stronger, with Germany and The Netherlands being the most recent examples. I am very proud of our achievements in the German organisation, where we found the growth path again and I am confident we will stay on this track.”

Brunel Energy revenue fell to €119.8 million, a 43% decrease in constant currency but 46% in normal terms, compared to €220.8 million last year.

“Revenue in Q2 decreased by 46% year on year, and 7% compared to Q1. Our clients continue to delay and terminate projects and to reduce the number of staff. The focus in the industry on capex (capital expenditure) cuts and cost savings keeps influencing our business significantly. Consequently our headcount decreased by 29%. The decline in revenue is also affected by reductions of our contractors’ rates,” Barneveld said.

Revenue broken down by geography is as follows:

In Germany, the limited growth in Q1 accelerated as projected in Q2 to double-digit growth, helped by 2.7 additional working days. Revenue per working day increased by 10%. The group’s workforce continued to grow during the second quarter. June showed the strongest growth so far in this year.

In the Netherlands, the growth in Q2 was helped by two additional working days. Revenue per working day increased by 10%. The business line IT was again a very strong performer comparing Q2 year on year, followed by the business line Marketing & Communications. Engineering and Finance remained flat.

“The difficult circumstances in the Energy market still cause uncertainty around the developments for the rest of the year, and will continue to impact our results,” Barneveld said. “Our organisation continues to win new clients and projects, also outside Oil & Gas. However, these developments are not yet sufficient to compensate the decline in our existing business. We are adjusting our organisation and business model to the changing market circumstances. In The Netherlands, our growth will be temporarily affected by the reduction in freelancers following the recent change in labour law, and we expect limited growth in the remainder of the year. We will continue to invest in our organisation by strengthening our sales force, but also by further improving our online sourcing capabilities. In Germany we foresee continued strong growth. For the full year, we expect revenue between €850 million and €900 million and EBIT between €30 million and €35 million.”

In trading today, Brunel International NV traded at €16.85, down 6.57% on the day and 20.70% above the 52 week low of €13.96 set on Jan 20, 2016. Based on its current share price the company has a market value of €895.42 million.