Specialist recruitment services provider Nakama Group (NAK: AIM) reported results for the year ending 31 March 2017 with revenue of £22.5 milion, an increase of 7% compared to £21.0 million last year.

The group made a pretax loss of £270,000 for the full year period, compared to a breakeven result the year before.

"We had been expecting a stronger second half performance, however fluctuations in headcount that we had seen in the first half and inconsistency in some of the global markets of our businesses meant that it regrettably took longer than expected to correct and the knock-on effect led to a slower than anticipated recovery, as reflected in the results,” Rob Sheffield, CEO of Nakama, said. “The business has benefitted from the infrastructure improvements over the past 12 months and we have seen improvements in efficiency of operations. The business will continue to invest in improving and increasing the consistency and output of its sales staff globally and ensuring that cost savings and improvements are implemented through the use of technology."

"From a wider perspective, however and while organic growth in the short to medium term will serve the business well for it to meet long-term objectives, we will and have continued our efforts to identify suitable businesses to join the Group, so as to enhance profitability, add new service lines and expand into new geographies. This includes identifying businesses within the staffing and technology space that provide the use of technology platforms and Human Capital services".

Sheffield added that the investment in staff training and development and the introduction of a new CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system will enhance the results going forward, but had a direct effect on the group results to March 2017.

The group operates in Europe, Asia, US and Australasia. A breakdown of revenue is as follows:

“The Board looks to 2018 as a year in which the group will continue to grow organically in terms of net fee income and profit, while reviewing other options to build scale in its core markets,” Sheffield said.

In trading today, Nakama Group traded at £1.70, down 5.56% on the day and 36.0% above the 52 week low of £1.25 set on 7 November 2016. Based on its current share price the company has a market value of £2.12 million.