Recruitment firms have been hurt severely by the economic damage caused due to the pandemic, which forced SThree to cease all hiring activities in April and slash its dividend and management pay. Business had reopened for a while since then, but fresh curbs enforced in the UK recently pose further challenges.

However, SThree said last month it observed an improvement in overseas hiring through October and early-November.

Net fees in the United States was up 2% for the year and higher by 11% in the fourth quarter, the company said, adding that its headcount was down by 17% at the end of the twelve months ended Nov. 30.

SThree, which hires employees for finance, energy, banking, pharmaceutical, engineering and tech sector, said net fees earned for the twelve months was 310.9 million pounds ($414.96 million), down 8% from a year ago.

($1 = 0.7492 pounds)

(Reporting by Indranil Sarkar in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)