Gattaca – already working and has good prospects, this recruitment group’s shares, which are up 58% in under five months, have a lot further to climb

Mark Watson-Mitchell - 03.08.2026

This Hampshire-based recruitment business is capitalised at £50.6m and has already shown an excellent 58% share price advance since I featured the group five months ago.

This coming Wednesday, 5^th August, Gattaca (LON:GATC) will issue a Trading Update for its year to end-July.

Market expectations are that the strong momentum in its contract recruitment side saw the year end with group pre-tax profits up some 80%.

The shares are now 164p, up 60p since Tuesday, 17^th March, which was when I commented upon the group’s Interim Results.

Hopefully the imminent statement will help the shares to continue to advance in price.

The Business

With its headquarters in Fareham, Hampshire, Gattaca is a human capital resources business providing contract and permanent recruitment services in the private and public sectors across the UK, Europe and North America regions.

Its segments include Mobility, Energy, Defence, Digital Technology, Infrastructure, Commercial & Professional, Gattaca Projects and International.

The group offers a range of recruitment solutions, such as workforce solutions, technical recruitment solutions, engineering and technology solutions, workforce insights, events, and resources, and others.

It also provides a range of engineering and technology services to support clients’ needs, from engineering design services to analysis.

The business serves various markets, such as aerospace, automotive, defence, and banking and financial services.

Gattaca Projects solves complex technical and operational challenges through tangible outcome-based services.

The company’s brands include Gattaca Solutions, Gattaca Projects, Matchtech, and Barclay Meade.

Net Fee Income remains its primary measure of financial performance, representing the gross margin earned across all of its revenue streams.

This includes:

Contract income: The margin generated on time worked by Independent and Employed Contractors over the duration of their assignments.

Permanent placement fees: One-time charges calculated as a percentage of a candidate’s starting salary.

Statement of Work outsourcing: Margins earned from managing defined projects or deliverables where it takes responsibility for outcomes, timelines, and quality standards.

The group’s strategic weighting towards contract and SOW engagements provides resilience and strong forward visibility, as these arrangements typically generate repeatable, predictable fees and foster long-term client relationships.

Full-Year Guidance

On Thursday, 14^th May, the group upgraded its full-year guidance for the year to end-July, expecting continuing underlying profit before tax to be not less than £6.0m, an increase from the previous guidance of £4.5m.

That positive revision was driven by strong performance in contract recruitment, which had exceeded market expectations, with growth observed across most of the company's core sectors.

The company attributed that success to strategic investments and continued operational discipline, maintaining confidence in its strategy despite challenging market conditions.

Management Comment

CEO Matthew Wragg stated that:

"The Group has continued to make good progress through the second half, with strong contract growth across our core sectors and continued operational discipline supporting performance ahead of previous market expectations.

Our strategic investments are delivering, and the majority of our sectors are showing year-on-year growth.

The Board remains confident in the Group's strategy and is focused on building momentum in the challenging market conditions."

The Equity

There are 31.53m shares in issue.

Mutual Funds and ETF’s hold 5.18%, other Institutional Investors hold 57.27%, while Public Companies and Retail Investors hold 37.56% of the equity.

The larger holders include MMGG Acquisition (22.8%), Hargreaves Lansdown Asset Management (4.19%), Chelverton Asset Management (3.74%), Interactive Investor Services (3.65%), Hargreaves Lansdown Fund Managers (1.73%), IG Markets (0.72%), HSBC Global Asset Management (0.34%), Seven Investment Management (0.32%) and HSBC Bank (Market Maker) (0.13%).

Brokers View

At Panmure Liberum, its analysts Sanjay Vidyarthi and Joe Brent, on the mid-May Update news, reiterated their Buy rating for the group’s shares, whilst raising their Target Price to 185p (160p).

They stated that:

“We increase our FY26E adj. PBT estimate by 33% to £6.0m to reflect management’s upgraded guidance.

Our outer year forecasts remain cautiously set, with risks to the upside.

Management is reaping the benefits of the self-help initiatives undertaken in recent years.

The business is materially outperforming peers in the UK and there is plenty more to go for.”

Their estimates for the year to end-July are for net fee income of £43.0m (£38.8m), with pre-tax profits of £6.0m (£3.3m), lifting earnings to 13.3p (7.6p) and doubling its dividend to 6.0p (3.0p) per share.

For the coming 2027 year, they see £44.8m NFI, £6.5m profit, 14.4p earnings and 6.9p per share in dividend.

Looking further ahead into 2028, they see £47.4m NFI, £7.5m profit, 16.5p earnings and a dividend raised to 8.0p per share.

My View

I am very pleased with the market-beating performance of this group’s shares since my mid-March Profile.

In fact, you could say that Gattaca is already working and has good prospects!

I feel that 58% advance to 164p, can be bettered, with 200p being an easily broken price barrier, depending upon the positivity of this Wednesday’s Update.

(Profile 16.03.26 @ 104p set a Target Price of 125p*)

(Profile 08.06.26 @ 147.50p set a Target Price of 165p*)

(Profile 03.08.26 @ 164p set a Target Price of 200p)

Making the right selection