- Robert Walters
- 11 March 2026 07:51:54
Source: Sharecast
In the year to the end of December 2025, the company swung to an operating loss of £14.9 from a profit of £5.2m a year earlier - including £4.4m of redundancy costs - and a pre-tax loss of £19.6m from a profit of £0.5m.
Net fee income fell 15% to £274.2m against a backdrop of still cautious client and candidate sentiment, while revenue declined to £781.1m from £892.1m.
Looking to 2026, Robert Walters said cautious client and candidate sentiment was expected to remain. As a result, it still expects 2026 group net fees to be slightly below 2025, as reflected in current market expectations of £265.4m.
The board did not propose a final dividend, versus 23.5p a share in 2024. It said it was "mindful of the importance of a strong balance sheet position to enable execution of the group's strategic and operational priorities in the near term" and highlighted the still volatile macro backdrop.
Chief executive Toby Fowlston said: "2025 was a third challenging year for global hiring markets, with client and candidate sentiment still cautious given the considerable macro and geopolitical volatility of the first half of the 2020s. The resultant decline in group net fees, over half of which was offset through cost actions, resulted in a loss for the year.
"The financial result, which includes restructuring costs, is unsatisfactory to everyone at Robert Walters - but 2025 was not defined by it. In the face of the challenging conditions, we continued to implement self-help measures, focused on ensuring a robust balance sheet and moved to further position the business to address the significant long-term market opportunity."