Specialist engineering and professional services staffing firm Gattaca (GATC:LSE) published a trading update for the 12 months ended 31 July 2017 and expects profits to be broadly in-line with market expectations.

Net Fee Income on a like-for-like basis was broken down as follows:

Broken down by segment, Gattaca reported Net Fee Income on a like-for-like basis as follows:

Gattaca reported that overall Net Fee Income declined in the year by 4% as the ongoing Brexit negotiations, IR35 tax changes and the UK General Election all eroded confidence. While Q1 to Q3 NFI was down between 4% and 5%, the rate of decline improved with Q4 being 2.4% lower than last year.

“Whilst we continue to pursue a targeted International strategy which is clearly bringing benefits, we do remain highly dependent on the UK,” the group stated.

In the engineering segment, Gattaca experienced double digit percentage growth in Aerospace and Engineering Technology, however these were offset by more challenging markets in Infrastructure, Maritime, Energy and Automotive as well as in the group’s professional staffing brand, Barclay Meade. The group also stated that the acquisition of Resourcing Solutions Limited has strengthened its position in Rail and is delivering in expected benefits.

Meanwhile, technology NFI declined 6% against the prior year, which was solely the result of a decline in telecommunications which was down 10%, as demand for the group’s network infrastructure market declined and gains from their strategic segmentation could only partially offset this.

"The UK continues to be our biggest market by some margin and, while we have seen some recovery following the initial uncertainty caused by the outcome of the EU referendum, continuing political uncertainty and its impact on business confidence is unlikely to lead to an increase in customer demand and candidate availability in the near and medium term,” Brian Wilkinson, Chief Executive Officer, said.

"That said, Gattaca's exposure to skill-short STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) markets should mitigate to an extent the effects of the business uncertainty that we are seeing in the UK economy relative to less specialist players,” Wilkinson said. “As government sponsored infrastructure and defence programmes roll out we expect to see a positive impact on our business which should offset any weakness in the overall economy. This strong position in Engineering and Technology markets, particularly where they converge, allied to our rapidly growing international business puts us in a robust position for the future."

Gattaca stated that the investments made in their international infrastructure and headcount are showing results, with the growth of the US business which showed an increase of 21% for the full year. Year on year, NFI for the Americas region as a whole was up 9% for the full year. Asia's FY NFI is up 2% YoY while MEA was down 17% due to contract reductions in South Africa and weak demand in Oil and Gas in the Middle East. Total International NFI performance for the year was -3%. Regarding its international operations, Gattaca stated that they will begin reporting it as a third reporting segment in their 2017 annual report and thereafter, along with UK Engineering, UK Technology .

The group expects to announce its full year results for the 12 months to 31 July 2017 on Thursday 9 November 2017.

In trading today Gattaca traded at £275.50, down 9.08% on the day and 14.79% above the 52 week low of £240.00 set on 13 April 2017. Based on its current share price the company has a market value of £95.71 million.