Recruiter SThree blames Brexit uncertainty for UK profit fall

(Corrects to show full-year rise and to specify 12 pct fall refers to UK and Ireland (Other OTC: IRLD - news) , paragraphs 1,3)

Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) 9 (Reuters) - Recruiter SThree posted a 2 percent rise its full-year gross profit on Friday weighed by an 8 percent fall in Britain and Ireland hurt by a slowdown in finance and the public sector partly due to Britain's vote to leave the EU.

Adjusted pretax profit for the year to Nov. 30 is expected to be slightly above the top end of market guidance of 37.3 million to 39 million pounds.

Fourth-quarter gross profit in constant currency for the UK and Ireland fell 12 percent, a steeper fall that the 9 percent drop seen in preceding two quarters.

SThree (Other OTC: SERTY - news) said it was focusing on expanding its UK and Ireland business placing people in science and engineering jobs, given the challenging market conditions in the finance and energy markets.

It currently generates 75 percent of its gross profit outside the UK and Ireland.

"Looking ahead to 2017, global political and macro-economic uncertainties have increased across a number of our key regions," CEO Gary Elden said in a statement. (Reporting by Esha Vaish in Bengaluru)