The board of Norman Broadbent (AIM: NBB) – a leading Professional Services firm specifically focussing on Leadership Acquisition & Advisory Services (Board & Leadership Search, Senior Interim Management, Research & Insight, Leadership Consulting & Assessment, and executive level Recruitment Solutions) – this morning announced its final results and annual accounts for the year ended 31 December 2017.
— Overall revenue increased by GBP0.86m (+15%) to GBP6.5m with lower, but higher quality headcount. New businesses grew substantially in line with the strategy to create a more balanced business of high quality revenue
— Cross selling between brands has increased significantly resulting in c.50% of NB Solutions deals being generated by NB Executive Search
— NB Interim revenues increased by GBP1.1m (140%), NB Leadership Consulting revenues increased by GBP0.4m (148%), NB Solutions revenue increased GBP0.2m (45%), and our recently (2018 H2) launched Research & Insight service starting to contribute. These increases are offset by the decline in Search revenues (due to the transformation) of GBP0.9m (-23%)
-- Strong Q4 for NB Executive Search
— Loss after tax increased by GBP0.6m (60%) to GBP1.6m reflecting restructuring costs and associated short term impact on fee earner numbers in Search but masked a strong Q4 2017 performance
-- April 2018 office relocation to generate GBP300k in savings pa for lease duration -- Group now more relevant and competitive in terms of pricing, proposition and people
— Trading update: Q4 2017 strongest quarter for new wins and revenue during the last financial year – positive trend continuing into Q1 2018; Q1 2018 ahead of Board plan at EBITDA and revenue level. In summary significant progress made, but still a way to go in completing this phase of our transformation.