SThree’s H1 results underscored how it continues to outperform the other three quoted UK recruitment companies, which mainly reflects its more defensive profile with Contract comprising 84% of net fees (up from 74% in FY19), which saw net fees decline by 4%, compared to Permanent, accounting for only 16% of net fees, which reported an 18% decline in net fees. In contrast, the other three quoted UK recruitment companies have, on average, a 40/60% net fee exposure to Contract vs Permanent. We maintain our FY24 forecast of £69.0m but reduced our FY25 PBT estimate by 14%, reflecting a lower assumption for net fees and operating profit conversion ratio (OPCR). In FY26, we lower our PBT estimate by 4%, due to the knock-on effect of lower FY25 net fees, albeit we have maintained our assumption for net fee growth and the conversion margin in FY26.