The results, released this morning, reveal NFI rose from £74.7m to £78.9m, while revenue was also up – from 4% £642.4m to £667.5m in the previous year. 

NFI growth was driven by 1% and 4% growth for the group’s engineering and IT businesses respectively, offset by a 20% decline in NFI for the group’s telecoms business. NFI growth was also led by the group’s US and China operations – up 28% and 6% respectively.

In the UK, the group saw NFI grow 1% year-on-year for its engineering division, offset by a 3% decline for its technology business.

The group also reported a statutory pre-tax loss of £24.9m.

Since 1 October, the group has had a new CEO, Kevin Freeguard, while it has also been embarking on a cost reduction programme, which has eliminated £3m of costs.

This has seen the group leave the telecoms infrastructure markets within Africa, Asia and Latin America, and close underperforming offices in Dubai, Qatar and Malaysia.

The group has closed its Bromley office in the UK and fully integrated its UK finance, legal and HR functions from Matchtech, Networkers and Resourcing Solutions Ltd (RSL) under a unified team based at its Whiteley hub. It has also opened an office in Atlanta in the US.

Commenting on a “year of change” for the group, chairman Patrick Shanley said: “We decided to reset the business – reorganising it to establish stable foundations for future growth. Since the half year, we have simplified our operations, removing less stable and non-core businesses which were not expected to contribute to ongoing profits. With Kevin now in place as CEO, we look forward to building on our core resilient businesses – in particular UK engineering, UK IT and our North American operations through our Matchtech, Networkers and Gattaca Solutions brands.”

In a separate announcement, the group revealed non-executive director Mark Mamone has tendered his resignation from the group’s board with effect from 4 December 2018.

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