Pleasing trading performance, despite unhelpful market

In an encouraging year-end trading update Gattaca said NFI improved c.5% on a sequential half-yearly basis during H2, achieved against a backdrop of a challenging market. The increase in fee income was driven by the first consistent rise in the contract book for 8 years, resulting in productivity levels rising +6% yoy.

Net cash was a healthy £21m, ahead of expectations. Guidance is unchanged for FY25, albeit any improvement in the underlying market is likely to result in an upward revision to estimates.

Gattaca is undoubtedly outperforming most of the quoted sector in NFI terms, declining by just 5% yoy during FY24, compared to a sector average of -11%. The group has benefitted from the strategy of investing in areas of structural growth, including defence (NFI +7% yoy), infrastructure (+12% yoy) and Projects (+31% yoy).

The group looks a highly attractive recruitment stock from the point of view of valuation, particularly as the net cash equates to 75% of its market cap. With no change to our estimates, we also retain our Fair Value at 140p / share.