A RECRUITMENT and training group based in Elland has issued a profits warning.
Quantica told investors that full-year profits would be significantly lower than expected.
The group blamed the downgrading on the loss of key senior employees in its recruitment business covering the transport, legal and manufacturing sectors.
While they had some success recruiting replacements, it was taking longer than expected to translate that into higher revenues and earnings.
Quantica said the full-year results would also be affected by the performance of its healthcare business in the run-up to the £4.5m sale of those operations.
It announced last month that it planned to sell subsidiary Quantica Healthcare to the Advantage Healthcare Group.
Quantica shareholders approved the sale at a special meeting this week.
Issuing the profits alert, Quantica chairman and chief executive Les Lawson said that some of its professional services and recruitment businesses continued to make satisfactory progress.
Quantica's training division was looking forward to its best ever year, he added.
One leading City analyst has downgraded Quantic's forecast for full-year profits to £3.8m from £4.85m.
Quantica made pre-tax profits of £2.6m in 2005 on turnover totalling £16.5m.
