Technology-focused consultancy and staffing company Parity Group PLC (LON:PTY) reported a 73% jump in full year pre-tax profit as it streamlined the business.
Pre-tax profit rose to £1.66mln in 2017 from £0.96mln the previous year and revenue fell to £83.82mln from £91.76mln as growth in its Parity Consultancy Services arm was offset by a decline in its Parity Professionals recruitment business.
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The group has been simplifying its structure to focus on more profitable areas, particularly in higher margin consultancy services. As part of that strategy, it exited its loss-making talent management services business.
"Our results reflect the affirmative steps taken to focus the group on higher value services, and realign our two divisions to support mutual collaboration, which is proving successful for both our overall business and for our clients,” said John Conoley, non-executive chairman.
"Our integrated model is becoming more balanced and the flexibility that we offer to our clients with access to a broad range of services has mitigated a challenging backdrop as our market was impacted by UK tax reforms."
The company did not declare a dividend but said it looks forward to restoring it in the “medium-term”.
Net debt was slashed to £1.6mln to £4.4mln thanks to strong cash generation.
Parity said trading in the current financial year is in line with expectations and remains confident in the outlook.
“We believe our continued drive to rebalance revenues towards the higher margin consulting arm of the business positions us well to deliver both growth and further improvements in profitability in 2018 and beyond.”