Gattaca on Tuesday reported underlying profit before tax of £6.1m for the year ended 31 July, up 85% on the prior year and ahead of its initial guidance of £4m.
The specialist staffing group, which recruits across sectors including Infrastructure, Defence, Energy, Mobility and Digital Technology, posted revenue of £443.3m for the full year, up 11% on the £398.9m reported in the year to 31 July 2025.
Net fee income (NFI), the group's preferred measure of gross profit, rose 11% to £43.2m, or 7% on a like-for-like basis.
Reported profit before tax more than doubled to £5.7m, from £2.6m a year earlier, while basic earnings per share rose to 12.7p from 7.0p.
Contract recruitment remained the largest part of the business and the main driver of growth, with contract NFI up 16% as contractor numbers rose by more than 10% across the group's core sectors.
Permanent NFI rose 4% overall, lifted by the August 2025 acquisition of InfoSec People, though it fell 5% like-for-like.
The group's Statement of Work business, Gattaca Projects, saw NFI fall 44% after its largest defence-sector client delayed or cancelled programmes, prompting the group to diversify that business's client base across civil nuclear, aerospace, defence and oil and gas.
Net cash stood at £15.4m at year-end, broadly flat against £15.7m a year earlier, after operating cash generation funded the InfoSec People investment, dividend payments and higher lease liabilities.
The board proposed a final dividend of 4.67p per share, taking the total dividend for the year to 6.0p, double the 3.0p paid in FY25, in line with the group's policy of paying out approximately 50% of profit after tax.
Read more about Gattaca
During the year Gattaca consolidated its recruitment brands under a single identity, Matchtech, and achieved ISO27001 certification, while NFI per sales head rose 20% and NFI per total head rose 19%.
"Our continued focus on our strategy, a healthy opportunity pipeline and a robust balance sheet, places us well to continue to build sustainable growth for FY27 and beyond," said chief executive Matthew Wragg.
The board said it expects further growth in continuing underlying profit before tax in FY27, in line with current market expectations of £6.5m, citing resilient demand for specialist STEM skills, increased market share and a broader contractor base despite continuing macroeconomic uncertainty in some hiring markets.
The final dividend, subject to shareholder approval, will be paid on 30 December to shareholders on the register on 13 November.