Specialist engineering and professional services staffing firm Matchtech (MTED: LSE) reported revenue for the six months ending 31 January 2015 of £220.2 million, a slight decrease of 0.3% compared with £220.9 million during the same period last year.

Brian Wilkinson, CEO of Matchtech, commented: “The Group has delivered a steady performance in the period. We continue to sharpen the focus in our core business areas, in line with our strategy. We now enter the next phase in our development of the Group, following the completion of the acquisition of Networkers and are very excited by the prospects of the enlarged group. We continue to see major opportunities in our core markets.”

It was announced on 28 January 2015 that Matchtech had reached an agreement in principle to acquire staffing firm Networkers International. During the last week in March, the deal received court approval, with the acquisition closing on 2 April 2015 for a total consideration of £57.9 million. 

Mr Wilkinson continued: “The addition of telecoms recruitment to our portfolio creates an even stronger specialist Group. The acquisition also adds long-standing, substantial, and profitable overseas operations to the Group, which enables us to accelerate the introduction of our Engineering services to our international customers, also in line with our strategy.”

“We are now working on the integration of Networkers to ensure the combined operations provide an enhanced client experience and a stronger platform for future growth. Based on opportunities won, trading in the two months since the half year, and continued close cost management, the Board anticipates the Group’s results for the year to 31 July 2015 will be in line with expectations with an additional maiden four-month contribution from Networkers from April to July,” he concluded.

Matchtech operates two primary business segments: Engineering and Professional Services. Revenue and net fee income for each division during the period was as follows:

Engineering:

Engineering accounted for 62% of group net fee income during the period. High demand for skilled engineering personnel in the Infrastructure sector saw net fee income in that particular sector increase by 26.3% compared with last year.

The Energy sector remained challenging with net fee income down by 12.5% compared with last year. Similarly the Maritime sector reported a decline of 6.3% following the closure of shipbuilding at Portsmouth Naval Base.

Professional Services:

Professional Services delivered contract net fee income growth of 2%, however this was offset by a 10% decrease in permanent fees. Growth in Technology was below expectations but the company believes that the shortage of permanent candidate availability will lead to an increase in demand for temporary labour.

The Electronics market remains busy, while the fall in oil price has affected Controls & Automation. The company has re-aligned its structure in order to better capitalise on an improving market, focusing on higher value roles and offering a niche service.

In trading today, the company’s share price decreased by 1.4% to £5.28, a decrease of 13% compared with a year ago. Based on its current share price, the company has a market value of £161.9 million.