DPA Group (DPA: NL), the Dutch staffing firm, reported revenue for the half year ending 30 June 2017 of €64.5 million, an increase of 1.6% compared with €63.5 million the previous year.

The group announced that CFO Stefan Heesakkers of DPA Group departed the company in April. During the reporting period, DPA initiated, among other things, the new PA Jones business units (recruitment, selection and posting for highly-qualified personal assistants) and DPA Intelligent & Robotic Process Automation (support for organizations using IRPA). In addition, DPA invested heavily in addressing the lack of Privacy Officers. DPA also invested in various start-ups and scale-ups including Yobz, a recruiting agency and Lyrico, which specialises in online communication professionals.

Earlier this year DPA Group agreed to purchase 61.1% of Your Professionals, a company that mediates professionals for permanent and interim positions within the specialization fields of finance, IT, technology, engineering and housing associations. It is expected this new activity will contribute directly to the profitability of DPA. The acquisitions contributed to the group’s results.

DPA operates in three segments: Finance, Banking & Insurance, Technology & ICT and Legal & Public. Results are broken down as follows:

Eric Winter, CEO of DPA, commented on the results, "Partly because of the DBA Act, DPA has invested rapidly in the recruitment, selection and training of new professionals. As a result, the number of salaried employees has grown by 11% in the past six months: a good performance in the current tight labor market. It is expected that these investments will also pay off in the second half of 2017. "

"The attractive labour market widens the opportunities for highly educated professionals,” Winter said. “At the same time, it is more than ever a matter of anticipating new developments and investing in the development of professional knowledge and personal skills that organizations like to see in the workplace. Our approach brings together all these aspects, so we can really make a difference for our professionals and the organizations that employ them.”

In trading today DPA Group traded at €1.63, down 3.44% on the day and 4.82% above its 52-week low of €1.56, set on 5 December 2016. Based on its current share price the company has a market value of €84.43 million.