Recruitment, training and conference specialist ATA Group saw annual pre-tax profits slip by almost 20 per cent to £746,000.

The Derby-based company increased turnover by 30 per cent to £23.6 million last year and more than doubled operating profits on the recruitment side to £973,000. Chairman Bill Douie says market conditions were ‘benign’, enabling AIM-quoted ATA to improve profitability and consolidate its balance sheet, although year-end cash was down from £939,000 to £266,000.

However, the company’s significant railway-related business continued to lose money following the earlier switch of infrastructure maintenance to Network Rail, though this division nearly halved its operating loss to £226,000. The 2007 result anyway suffered by comparison with the previous year, when profits were swollen by a £974,000 ‘key man’ insurance payment on the death of its former chief executive.

Earnings rose by 13.5 per cent to 6.07p a share, reflecting both continuing and discontinued operations. Dividends are increased 33 per cent to 4p a share.

Andy Pendlebury, formerly of British Aerospace and GKN, joined as chief executive in October. He and Douie now face a situation in which the chairman says it is ‘difficult to forecast the impact on trading of the turmoil in the global financial sector and slowing world economies’.

Still, Douie insists ATA is serving ‘solid industries’, with ‘a strong balance sheet and no borrowings’. Floated 10 years ago at 134p, the shares had fallen all the way to 27.5p by last month, but have since then rallied modestly to 36p, up 6.5p this morning, where they value the company at £2.95 million.

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