DPA Group (DPA: NL), the Dutch staffing firm, reported revenue for the full year ending 31 December 2017 of €137.3 million, an increase of 9.3% compared to the previous year.

Last month DPA Group announced that it had postponed the publication of its annual results stating that “with the stricter requirements imposed on the audit of a listed company, this has meant that the production of the annual accounts has not yet been fully completed.”

Investment in new headcount saw sales costs increase to €18.0 million from €14.4 million in 2016 and resulting in an operating profit decline of 60%.

During the financial year 2017, DPA Group agreed to purchase 61.1% of Your Professionals, a company that mediates professionals for permanent and interim positions within finance, IT, technology, engineering and housing associations. The acquisition contributed €9.4 million to the DPA Group’s revenue in 2017 and €3.2 million to its gross profit.

The group also stated that the lack of clarity surrounding the Deregulation Assessment of Labour Relations Act (DBA Act) had a ‘major impact’ on its revenue ‘from mediation by independent professionals’. In the first half of 2017, the group stated that revenue increase was limited to 1.6% and gross margin declined. However, DPA stated that during the second half of the year it took steps to resolve this issue by increasing the number of salaried employees. DPA stated that as a result of this adjustment, revenue share of professionals in salaried employment rose by 20% in 2017. 

“Turnover generated by our own professionals creates a higher gross margin than turnover realized by independent professionals,” the group stated. DPA also generated more revenue from recruitment and selection activities from this adjustment.

The group reports in three segments: Finance, Banking & Insurance; Technology & ICT; and Legal & Public.

"The 2017 financial year was dominated by growth and long-term value creation,” Eric Winter, CEO, said. “In the first half of the year we had to deal with the negative consequences of the DBA Act, but we were able to compensate by increasing the percentage of salaried employees. Our investments in our own professionals, new activities and technological innovations are expected to bear fruit in 2018 as well. We see that our role as an intermediary continues to grow to that of the labour market service provider.”

Looking ahead the group said it would continue to build on the added value of its services and expects to further strengthen its market position in 2018.

In trading today DPA Group traded at €1.71, down 4.47% on the day and 6.21% above its 52-week low of €1.61, set on 29 August 2017. Based on its current share price the company has a market value of €84.07 million.