Robert Walters' annual profit plummets as pandemic wallops hiring globally

(Reuters) - Robert Walters Plc said on Tuesday its annual profit slumped 75%, hit by dismal job hiring globally during the COVID-19 pandemic, though the British recruiter did see signs of recovery in the labour market in the last few months of 2020.

"With new or extended lockdowns still occurring across much of the world, market conditions remain challenging and visibility is limited," Robert Walters, chief executive officer of the eponymous company said.

Recruiters around the world have struggled with a sharp drop in fees that led some of them to downsize their workforce, while the global health crisis prompted most sectors to freeze hiring.

Trading in early 2021 was in line with market expectations, the company said, adding that it saw some signs of hiring improvement in Asia Pacific, its largest business.

The company, which operates in more than 30 countries, said pretax profit came in at 12.1 million pounds ($16.79 million) for the full year ended Dec. 31, compared with a profit of 47.4 mln pounds last year.

Analysts on an average had expected profit to be roughly 18 million pounds, according to Refinitiv data.

($1 = 0.7206 pounds)

(Reporting by Indranil Sarkar in Bengaluru, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)