Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on July 15, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
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Robert Walters reports a 13% drop in fee income due to macroeconomic uncertainty and tariffs, predicting continued weakness in hiring markets.
(Reuters) - British recruiter Robert Walters does not expect hiring markets to improve in the near term, it said on Tuesday, after "more pronounced" macroeconomic uncertainty led to a 13% decline in the income it earns from fees in the second quarter.
The company's update reflects a continuing downturn across the recruitment industry as concerns over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs have made people across Europe reluctant to switch jobs and firms are wary of hiring.
"With the external environment continuing to constrain client and candidate confidence, our planning assumption remains that there will be no material improvement in hiring markets in the near term," CEO Toby Fowlston said in a statement.
Fowlston in April cited tariffs as a slight deterioration in activity levels and trading in Continental Europe.
Robert Walters reported net fee income of 72.7 million pounds ($97.70 million) for the quarter ended June 30, down from 84.8 million pounds a year ago.
The company also said it had shut down its operations in Brazil to cut costs. Brazil made up less than 1% of the company's fee income last year.
($1 = 0.7441 pounds)
(Reporting by Nithyashree R B in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Barbara Lewis)
Robert Walters does not expect hiring markets to improve in the near term due to ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty.
The company reported a 13% decline in net fee income, falling to 72.7 million pounds for the quarter ended June 30.
Concerns over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs have made people across Europe reluctant to switch jobs, impacting client and candidate confidence.
Robert Walters has shut down its operations in Brazil to cut costs, as Brazil contributed less than 1% of the company's fee income last year.
The company's planning assumption remains that there will be no material improvement in hiring markets in the near term.
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