Sweden-based healthcare and education staffing firm NGS Group AB (NGS: SS) reported revenue yesterday for the fourth quarter ended 31 December 2020. Revenue declined by 19.7% from the year-ago quarter.

The fourth quarter continued to be negatively affected by the pandemic. For interim services and recruitments, the market has continued to be restrictive. For the group’s activities in school and executive search, the market situation has been more favourable.”

Government support packages with short-time work positively impacted the quarter's operating profit.

“The last quarter of the year meant a continued positive development for several of our of businesses, while others had lasting challenges to deal with in the wake of the pandemic,” Ingrid Nordlund, CEO, NGS Group, said.

“The reduced demand for medical staff continued this quarter and both outpatient and inpatient care has significantly lower turnover,” Nordlund said. “The pandemic continued to shape demand both within specialist recruitment and interim activities in the private sector during the fourth quarter and we assess that our turnover loss is on a par with the market.”

Revenue by Geography

Nordlund said the group’s activities within Swedish nurse staffing met increased demand and developed well during the quarter.

The group’s Norwegian operations were negatively affected this quarter due to comprehensive quarantine rules related to the pandemic.

NGS Group also reported revenue for the full year 2020 of SEK 432 million (€42.8 million), a decrease of 21.2% compared to the previous year.

In January 2021, NGS Group announced that it acquired Qsearch, a recruitment firm also based in Sweden.

Shares in NGS Group closed yesterday at SEK 15.75 (€1.56), down 0.63% on the day. The company has a market cap of SEK 141.65 million (€14.0 million).