Search Firm Heidricks Revenue Rises 28 Percent

First-quarter net revenue at Heidrick & Struggles International Inc. rose 27.5 percent on a year-over-year basis to $113.7 million. The Chicago-based executive search firm said it got a boost from its financial services business.

“The financial services practice was the first to show a significant decline beginning in 2007 and has been the strongest driver of growth coming out of the recession,” CEO L. Kevin Kelly said in a press release.

This year’s first-quarter report is a sharp contrast to the same quarter a year ago. First-quarter net revenue in 2009 fell 41.8 percent year over year to $89.1 million as the number of executive searches confirmed fell 38.4 percent. The executive search firm also announced a $13.4 million restructuring charge for the quarter that primarily involved severance payments.

Average revenue per executive search was $98,400 in the first quarter, compared with $98,900 in the year-ago quarter. The number of executive search confirmations rose 26.9 percent in the first quarter compared with the first quarter of 2009.

Heidrick’s Americas net revenue rose 24 percent to $57.5 million. The Americas segment includes the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Latin America.

The company posted a first-quarter net loss of $1.8 million, compared with a net loss of $18.9 million in the first quarter of last year.

Heidrick said the first quarter of 2010 included $4.7 million in charges related to moving to a smaller office in London and a judgment against the company in a court case involving a former European employee.

“Operating expenses in the quarter were higher than we had forecasted,” Kelly said. “In addition to the $4.7 million in other charges noted above, margins were negatively impacted by certain other unanticipated costs which we do not expect to recur.”

The company posted a loss per diluted share of 10 cents. Analysts had expected earnings of 15 cents per share, according to Yahoo.com.

The company estimated second-quarter revenue of $117 million to $123 million, a year-over-year increase of 26 to 32 percent.

Heidrick estimated full-year 2010 revenue of $440 million to $480 million, year-over-year growth of 11 to 21 percent.  

Filed by Staffing Industry Analysts, a sister company of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.

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