CPL EXPECTED its full-year earnings to be 15 per cent lower than the market's previous consensus forecasts, as a result of a slowdown in recruitment in the financial services sector.

The Dublin-based company, which is the only recruitment firm listed on the Irish market, said that it now expected to post pretax profits of around

21 million for the 12 months to the end of June compared to analysts' previous estimates of around

24 million, or 55 cent per share.

This compares to pretax profits of

19.3 million in 2006/07, and interrupts five years of profits growth of between 50 and 80 per cent.

Chief executive Anne Heraty said CPL's financial services business, which accounts for around 14 per cent of the company's net fee income, had been worst hit by the slowing in the economy, and earnings in this division were back by as much as 25 per cent.

The slowdown in permanent recruitment, which accounts for around 55 per cent of CPL's fee income, as opposed to temporary recruitment, had also been more pronounced.

"In March we started to see a change but we thought the way that Easter fell we felt that we would have a recovery in April," Ms Heraty said.

"But we have not seen that recovery."

Wealth management in particular had been hardest hit of the financial sectors, Ms Heraty said, but recruitment in "key skill" areas such as accounting and internal audit had proved more resilient so far.

"Where there are skill shortages and firms have had difficulties recruiting in the past, they are continuing to recruit where they can," Ms Heraty said.

Recruitment to fill information technology vacancies was up 5 per cent and healthcare was performing "reasonably well".

Goodbody, which views CPL as "a valued window into the entrails of the Irish economy", followed other brokers and downgraded the stock to a "hold".

The profit warning underlined findings from the Economic and Social Research Institute yesterday that private-sector vacancies remained unchanged at 10 per cent last month, the lowest level since August 2005.

Construction vacancies fell by 3 per cent to 5 per cent, while industrial firms reporting vacancies increased by two percentage points to 17 per cent.

The number of firms expecting to take on more workers fell eight percentage points to negative seven per cent, indicating more employers expected to shed staff over the coming months in March than was the case in February.