Well placed to weather even the harshest of storms

Gattaca today reported in line H1’23 results (6M ending Jan’23). Underlying NFI climbed +5.2% to £22.7m (£21.6m LY) thanks to two new client wins and strategic price initiatives (+9% contract & 6% perm). 
 
On top, there were standout performances (see note) from defence (+32%), energy (20%) and infrastructure (7%) - partly offset by the shedding of low margin business (2 large accounts) and a not surprisingly less buoyant TMT backdrop (-43.5%, tough YoY comps). We believe the group remains on track to achieve both its ongoing turnaround and longer-term targets, after raising fee earner productivity (+14% revs/head), employee engagement and EBIT/NFI margins to +4.2% (-0.5% LY). This has delivered an H1’23 adjusted PBT and diluted EPS of £0.9m (-£0.3m LY) & 2.0p (-0.8p) respectively.
 
Despite the economic conditions, we’ve held our conservative FY’23 and FY’24 PBT forecasts at £1.8m (£256k LY) and £4.25m respectively on NFI up 5.3% (£46.5m) and 8.9% (£50.6m), along with reiterating the valuation of 130p/share.