Robert Walters PLC (LSE:RWA) saw its shares slump over 18% in opening trade on Wednesday after the recruitment company issued a profit warning for the current year.
With net fee income falling 10% in the first two months of the second quarter to 30 June 2023, compared with flat growth in the first quarter, the company said it now expects profit for 2023 to be “significantly lower" than market forecasts.
At 8.40am, the shares were 66p lower at 400.00p, having recovered somewhat from the opening price of 378p.
Robert Walters said it has yet to see any sustained improvement in the lower levels of candidate confidence and longer hire times signalled in the latter half of 2022.
On a more positive note, the company said “recruitment market fundamentals such as job flow, candidate shortages and wage inflation remain solid, suggesting that when market confidence recovers there will likely be a return to meaningful growth”.