Marlborough annual loss reaches €1.48m

Recruitment group Marlborough International, which may be the subject of a takeover bid from a management group headed by its chief executive, Mr David McKenna, has plunged into heavy losses for the year to the end of February. Total losses were €1.48 million (£1.17 million), in line with expectations after two profit warnings in the first half of this year.

The write-off against uncollectable debts has been increased to €3.5 million while the write-off against the online recruitment subsidiary fillthejobs.com was €350,000. These exceptional losses were partly balanced by a €457,000 gain on a property sale.

Even taking those exceptional charges into account, Marlborough's results at the operating level make depressing reading with losses of €99,000 compared to profits last year of €6.6 million. Gross fee income was 28 per cent higher on €92.5 million, while net fee income was 17 per cent higher, on €36.1 million. No dividend is being paid.

While the Ann O'Brien and Margaret Hodge/Scotjobs subsidiaries performed well, the core Marlborough recruitment business had a bad year.

Marlborough has cut 50 jobs since March.

Marlborough shares are trading at €0.53, valuing the company at €16.7 million. Mr McKenna already owns 44.5 per cent of the company so he and his management buyout team would only need to secure the remaining 55.5 per cent. Most of the remaining shares are held by institutional investors, headed by Merrill Lynch Asset Management with 10 per cent and Quinn Direct Insurance with 6.5 per cent.