Never has a year been more different than what we had expected. In November 2019 we set out our purpose, strategy and ambitions at our Capital Markets Day with excitement and confidence for the years ahead. Whilst our first year following this path has seen us, and the wider world, face a myriad of unexpected challenges, we have remained resolute in our focus and determination to deliver on those ambitions. I am pleased to say that we have made significant progress along that path. We have delivered financial performance above previous market expectations and are outperforming our peers on many measures, demonstrating the resilience of our model with its recurring revenue and attractive cash characteristics, alongside our strength of focus and clarity of strategy.

We have seen our purpose - bringing skilled people together to build the future - brought to life this year more than ever. Our teams worked closely with our clients and candidates to be their partner through the COVID-19 health crisis and gradual emergence of a 'new normal', filling key STEM roles at a time of extraordinary upheaval.

Internally, our leadership team brought our people together and showed decisiveness, strength and sensitivity. This year has been tough on all of us, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the exceptional teams around the world at SThree not only for their hard work, but also for their fortitude and endurance in such challenging times.

The Board has worked hard during the year to act in the long-term interests of all stakeholders, balancing complex and sometimes conflicting interests and priorities. We implemented a number of cost management initiatives which were required during the year, but also were able to maintain necessary investment in the future of the Group, notably in technology and some key appointments to drive operational change, project delivery and agility.

Whilst the health crisis and its economic impacts will eventually pass, we believe that the recent acceleration in the two key long-term, secular trends at the heart of our strategy - STEM and flexible working - will continue to grow in importance around the world as we all look to build a better future. That will require ongoing investment in operational scale, agility and effectiveness, together with ever-closer client and candidate relationships.

The effective use of data will be critical to success in that environment. We have already established a comprehensive market intelligence programme to ensure that we understand what is most important to our clients and candidates, both now and in the future, and we plan to grow our expertise, staying ahead of the curve in the coming years.

Lastly, but importantly, during the year we have deepened our focus on the Group's impact on the wider world and the communities in which we operate. Whilst Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance ('ESG') has long been on the agenda at SThree, it is now increasingly woven into everything we do, with particular emphasis on building a green future, developing a fully inclusive workforce and ensuring that we operate our business to the highest ethical standards, overseen by FTSE 250-appropriate corporate governance.

Our opportunity is significant, our strategy is right and the improving sequential trends in our specialist STEM markets are favourable. We remain confident that the Group is primed to deliver for the long-term benefit of all of our stakeholders.

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER'S STATEMENT

Our purpose of 'bringing skilled people together to build the future' has never been more relevant and we have the right strategy, positioned at the centre of the secular trends of STEM and flexible working, to best capitalise on this growing opportunity in the future.

As an example, our DACH business explored new opportunities within Life Sciences in the period, working closely with BioNTech - our client in Germany - to place the experts leading the research efforts to find a vaccine for COVID-19. In the UK, we worked closely with Thermo Fisher Scientific - a global life sciences company specialising in pharma, IVD, and medical devices - in placing medical device professionals across validation, quality, and regulatory roles. In the USA, our specialist IT team has worked alongside a higher education institution - Teachers College of Columbia University - to implement the digital infrastructure that enables them to build virtual communities for the incoming college students. Further examples of our purposeful work in the year can be found in our 2020 Annual Report and Accounts.

At our Capital Markets Day in November 2019, we set out a clear strategy and in the first quarter were delivering in line with it. As the global health crisis accelerated, rapid adjustments to our business were made to ensure that we were able to best look after our teams, service our clients and navigate the new economic and working landscape. I am pleased to say that we never lost sight of our purpose or our strategy, and these principles continue to guide us.

This unrelenting focus on our strategy has delivered a financial performance ahead of where we reset our expectations when COVID-19 first hit. Group net fees in the year were down only 8%*, with Contract net fees showing particular resilience with a 7%* decline. We have continued to take market share in the USA, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK and made progress against several of our 2024 ambitions. In the second half of the year, as our strategic management of the crisis took effect, we saw significant sequential improvement of Group performance with sales activity, contractor retention rates and consultant productivity increasing quarter-on-quarter from Q3.

Despite all the challenges this year, it is evident from our performance that we have the right strategy, are in the right markets and our teams are executing well. While 2020 has not turned out as we had thought it would at our Capital Markets Day in November 2019, what is clear is that we are well positioned for the future and for capturing the growth opportunities ahead. The key strategic ambitions we outlined at the Capital Markets Day, if anything, have been reinforced by our experience and actions over the last year.

Our response to the health crisis

As we saw the impact of the virus starting to take shape across the globe, on 28 February we set up a dedicated COVID-19 health crisis team made up of key senior managers from across the business, tasked with monitoring operations and reacting as appropriate. The committee met daily to make sure all possible action to help mitigate any impact were considered and then taken quickly and effectively, ensuring that the Group kept its people safe, could operate regardless of the conditions and maintain its financial strength. So that we would be in a strong position to continue executing on our growth strategy, we created a framework for the organisation to work with. This involved breaking the crisis down into operational phases, each with its own set of priorities; these phases were Emergency Response, Ongoing Crisis Management and Recovery to the Next Normal.

As the virus moved from mainland China and become a global health crisis, we saw an immediate impact across all our markets. Our Emergency Response was triggered, focused on maintaining the safety of our people, candidates and clients whilst at the same time maintaining the full operational capability of the Group. We were able to quickly and efficiently adjust, as around 98% of our employees began working from home. Despite these changes, our teams went above and beyond to serve our customers and meet their objectives.

The wellbeing and engagement of our team has been an ongoing priority. With over 95% of our colleagues continuing to work remotely, we've made sure we are providing them with all the necessary tools to operate effectively. We have supplied support digitally ranging from advice on how to manage remote teams and guidance on remote working, through to full online learning and development programmes. Having the tools to operate effectively doesn't just mean physically, and in order to protect the wellbeing of our employees we launched our THRIVE wellbeing platform in May offering comprehensive support and advice on the areas of identified concern. Under this banner, we've also hosted a number of roundtable discussions on working from home where our people shared their tips on how to get by in lockdown. 'Build trust' and 'Care then act' are two of our three operating principals, and as an organisation, we've whole-heartedly embraced these as working hours have become more flexible to adapt to personal commitments.

We have also created dedicated resources on our digital platforms for our candidates, to ensure that they are fully supported, with information, articles and guidelines on remote working, as well as information on how to contact us and other tips for getting through the health crisis. Illustrating the success of these programmes, our net promoter score ('NPS') from our clients and candidates has improved by eight points to 52.

I am proud to say that our teams have helped to place many candidates whose STEM talent is being utilised to solve the health crisis. As an example, in DACH we were able to place multiple freelancers in key roles with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies, supporting the development of potential COVID-19 vaccine candidates. In the USA we collaborated on a large-scale Clinical Research Associate ('CRA') project, quickly deploying over 50 CRAs nationally to help in the fight to treat COVID-19.

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January 25, 2021 02:02 ET (07:02 GMT)