Recruitment firm Marlborough International has posted a pre-tax loss of €1.17 million (£921,000) for the half year ended August 31st, 2001.

This compared with a profit of €5.3 million for the same period last year. Gross fee income in the first half fell by 16 per cent to €41.25 million, compared to the first half of 2000.

Marlborough said it had decided to write down its goodwill by €15.75 million following an impairment review of operations.

Earnings showed a loss of 8.93 cents per share from a profit of 9.62 cents before amortisation and impairment of goodwill, and a loss of 61.79 cents from a profit of 6.77 cents after amortisation and impairment of goodwill.

Marlborough chief executive Mr David McKenna attributed the first-half loss to difficult market conditions and what he said were the once-off costs of cutting 180 staff, 30 per cent of the firm's total, between March and August.

"There is a cost associated with those 180 people leaving the company," he said. "If you take that the average person was on a salary of £25,000 to £30,000 and multiply that by 180, that's our cost savings going forward."

The company was forced to cut back following a downturn in certain markets, particularly the Irish IT and technical sectors and the London financial services market.