Dutch staffing firm Brunel International (BRNL: NL) reported revenue for the first quarter ending 31 March 2017 of €196.4 million, a decrease of 18% compared with €238.4 million in the same period last year. 

Gross margin was up 24.0% in Q1 2017 compared to 20.1% last year.

Brunel also announced that the Energy division has been renamed as the Global Business division in order to “reflect the diversification in our global infrastructure”.

Revenue broken down by division is as follows:

Revenue in Brunel Europe was driven by growth in Germany which saw its revenue jump by 14% to €56.3 million in Q1 2017. Revenue in the Netherlands fell by 7% to €47.9 million due to a slow start to the year and the continued impact of the reduction in the number of freelancers during 2016, according to Brunel. Other Europe reported revenue of €10.1 million.

The company states that, given the current market circumstances in Global Business, it remains difficult to provide an outlook for the rest of the year. Germany will continue to grow, while the Netherlands will return to growth in the second half of the year.

Jan Arie van Barneveld, CEO of Brunel International N.V., commented, “I’m optimistic that after a challenging first half year our results will start improving. The developments in our Global Business suggest we will see the trough somewhere in the middle of this year. With The Netherlands exceeding last year’s headcount somewhere in Q2, all divisions will contribute to the improvement of our results.”

In trading today, Brunel International traded at €14.75, down 6.53% on the day and 13.46% above the 52-week low of €13.00 set on 9 November 2016. Based on its current share price the company has a market value of €795.3 million.