robert walters plc annual report  accounts 2014
annual report  accounts 2014
robert walters plc over the last 29 years  
robert walters has grown 
and so have our ambitions
we now operate in 24 countries and 
businesses worldwide rely on us to find 
their very best specialist professionals 
why because those same professionals 
trust us to manage their careers for the 
long term robert walters plc   01
annual report  accounts 2014
strategic report
2014 highlights
strategic report
01 2014 highlights
02 robert walters at a glance
04 our mission and strategy
06 delivering strategy people  culture
09 growth through innovation 
10 chairman’s statement
12 chief executive’s statement
16 financial review
18 corporate responsibility statement
22 principal risks and uncertainties
directors’ report
24 directors’ report
26 directors and advisors
27  corporate governance statement
32  report of the audit committee
35  report of the remuneration committee
53  directors’ responsibility statement
financials
54 independent auditor’s report to the  
members of robert walters plc
57 consolidated income statement
57 consolidated statement of comprehensive income
58 consolidated balance sheet
59 consolidated cash flow statement
60 consolidated statement of changes in equity
61 statement of accounting policies
64 notes to the group accounts
80 company balance sheet
81 notes to the company accounts
83 our offices
£6796m
revenue
2013 £5977m
£182m
operating profit
2013 £108m
153p
basic earnings per share
2013 84p
£2153m
net fee income
2013 £1992m
£182m
profit before taxation
2013 £101m
see page 06
see page 07
see page 09
our people  
and culture
highlights
delivering  
strategy focus  
on san francisco
growth 
through 
innovation 02   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
strategic report
robert walters 
at a glance
our services
our core  
disciplines
  accounting  finance
  banking  financial services
  engineering
  human resources
  information technology
  legal
  sales  marketing
  secretarial  support
  supply chain  procurement
  recruitment process outsourcing
our business in what is an increasingly complex and  
everchanging global recruitment market 
the group provides our clients from the 
largest corporates through to smes and 
start ups with an endtoend recruitment 
offering on a global basis
our business is all about the development of longterm and 
highquality relationships with our clients and candidates the 
recruitment industry is unique in that we have two very distinct  
but overlapping stakeholders – our candidates are our clients  
of the future and our clients are our potential candidates 
quality in terms of relationships and service levels integrity  
and professionalism are the group’s watchwords and we  
believe provide a clear point of differentiation for the  
robert walters group
specialist professional recruitment
permanent contract and interim recruitment across the core 
disciplines of accounting  finance banking  financial 
services engineering hr it legal sales  marketing 
secretarial  support and supply chain  procurement
recruitment process outsourcing
resource solutions is a market leader in recruitment process 
outsourcing rpo and managed services resource solutions 
designs and deploys tailored recruitment outsourcing solutions 
for clients across the globe robert walters plc   03
annual report  accounts 2014
  69  permanent 
  31  contract
permanentcontract recruitment 
net fee income
the group’s international 
network of offices spans 24 
countries and enables us to 
meet the demands of clients and 
candidates whose needs extend 
beyond local markets whilst our 
strong local foundations provide 
us with unique insights into local 
industry and culture
 europe uk
 asia pacific  other international 
20 33
£711m
£99m
£438m
£905m
42 5
2631
employees
24
countries
geographic net fee income 04   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
strategic report
our mission and 
strategy
our mission
our mission is to be the world’s 
leading specialist professional 
recruitment consultancy with a 
clear differentiation based on the 
quality of service delivered to our 
clients and our candidates
our strategy
the group’s strategy for growth  
is centred on international expansion  
and discipline diversification
driving growth through expansion 
into new geographic locations 
growth is largely organic with the 
group having made only three 
marketentry acquisitions in its  
29 year history 
driving growth through the 
building of scale in existing 
disciplines and the launch of 
new disciplines
international 
expansion
discipline 
diversification
the group’s strategy ensures that the business 
has a wellbalanced international footprint covering 
both mature and developing recruitment markets 
underpinned by a blend of revenue streams 
that together provide resilience when economic 
conditions are tough but present an opportunity 
for rapid growth through operational gearing 
when economic conditions improve
there is no shortage of opportunities to enter new 
markets and develop new disciplines it’s always a 
question of timing and management a new market 
or new discipline must represent a longterm growth 
opportunity for the group and secondly the right 
management must be in place to ensure we 
effectively maintain and grow our robert walters 
group culture
1988 
belgium
1994 
us
1985 
uk
1990 
netherlands
1996 
australia robert walters plc   05
annual report  accounts 2014
the group invests in new offices markets and 
disciplines on a longterm basis in line with a clear 
business plan to ensure profits are generated 
quickly this longterm approach also means 
that we aim to maintain our presence in markets 
through close cost control when times are tough 
the group has successfully followed this strategic 
approach through the most recent global financial 
crisis and has been able to immediately benefit from 
an improvement in market conditions
local senior management have the responsibility 
for identifying new market and new discipline 
opportunities and are required to present a clear 
business case to the board for approval the group 
has benefited greatly over the years from early entry 
and accelerated growth in new and developing 
recruitment markets where firstmover advantage 
can be critical this will remain a key focus point of 
our strategy moving forward we feel we have the 
right blend of a structured due diligence process 
coupled with speed and agility to maximise 
opportunities as and when they arise
7
  new countries entered  
since 2010
15
  countries with record  
net fee income during  
the year
37
  staff transferred 
internationally in 2014
1998
south africa 
singapore
2007
spain
2001 
luxembourg
2009 
switzerland
2011 
indonesia
taiwan
vietnam
1999 
ireland
france
japan
2008 
thailand
china
2006 
malaysia
2010 
germany
brazil
korea
2013 
middle east
1997 
hong kong 
new zealand delivering strategy 
people  culture
06   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
strategic report
“ at robert walters whilst an 
individual’s contribution is 
critical everyone gets rewarded 
as a team – it’s at the heart of 
our business”
ingrid armstead group hr director
find out more about our people and culture including  
video case studies of our people in our sustainability  
report investorsrobertwalterscom
noncommission teambased profit
our teambased approach starts with giving staff 
support from the outset through our training and 
mentoring programmes a noncommission model 
is integral to this teambased ethos we don’t pay 
individual commission unlike the majority of our 
competitors but instead focus on teambased profit 
share this is fundamental to our culture and our 
success it ensures the needs of our clients and 
candidates come first and that our candidates are 
marketed to a broad range of organisations
this teambased model is scalable and means we 
are able to rapidly increase headcount to benefit 
from positive market conditions or conversely scale 
back in more challenging periods in the case of 
challenging market conditions whilst recognising 
that cost control is essential to protect shortterm 
profitability we do take a longerterm view and it is 
the group’s policy to maintain headcount wherever 
possible so as to ensure we are well positioned to 
benefit from a recovery
homegrown management team
we’ve built a homegrown management team 
and encourage longterm career development 
within the business in fact the average tenure of 
our senior management team is currently 11 years 
the longterm development and retention of 
homegrown management is critical to the  
success of the group
our people and culture are critical to  
the successful delivery of the group’s 
strategy for growth
our culture is meritocratic with clear opportunities for 
progression and promotion based on performance 
to aid key senior staff retention we encourage senior 
management to participate in equity incentive 
programmes more details can be found in note 18  
to the accounts
longterm and international careers
we’re proud that many of our senior management 
team have been with us since joining as consultants 
and have grown the business across the globe 
taking our unique culture with them now they are 
leaders of our largest businesses providing a career 
path into management is something we’ve 
traditionally been very good at and that really 
benefits us by preserving and growing our culture
organic growth
focusing on longterm international careers and 
a teambased approach supports our strategy 
of organic sustainable and profitable growth 
by promoting our international mobility programme 
we encourage successful staff to move around the 
world building new businesses and strengthening 
existing ones
maximising productivity 
the group is always focused on the maximisation  
of our consultants’ productivity across the globe  
it is essential that new consultants disciplines 
and offices become productive and profitable as 
quickly as possible through the provision of training 
deskside management support effective systems 
and bestinclass marketing
some recent examples of international moves
kate williams 
manager melbourne  singapore
kate joined the melbourne 
business in 2008 as a graduate 
consultant in the it banking 
team in 2010 she set up a  
new it commerce team two 
years later kate relocated to 
singapore where she manages 
it commerce
katy friedman 
director t okyo  new york  
london
katy joined us in 2001 as an 
associate consultant in tokyo’s 
banking division she then 
moved to new york in 2007 as 
manager of sales  marketing 
recruitment today she’s group 
talent director in london
jeankarim vandenberghe 
senior consultant paris  dubai
jk joined our walters people 
paris business in november 
2009 as a consultant in 2011  
he became a top biller and was 
promoted to senior consultant 
he relocated to dubai in january 
2013 to help develop our first 
office in the middle east
crystal zang 
group internal auditor  
shanghai  melbourne
crystal joined us in 2011 as 
finance director – china after 
three years she relocated to 
melbourne to take responsibility 
for group internal audit in the  
asia pacific region robert walters plc   07
annual report  accounts 2014
opening offices in new territories is key to our 
strategy for growth it’s our dedicated people putting 
this strategy into action that makes the difference  
we focus on two case studies kuala lumpur and 
san francisco
sally raj 
managing director malaysia 
sally joined robert walters in 2006 as our second employee in 
malaysia in 2010 she became country manager and in january 
2015 sally was promoted to managing director 
“robert walters was one of the first multinational recruiters in malaysia 
and we saw huge potential for growth
growing the business
in those first three years it was all about deliberate steady growth  
and building talent within the team 
discipline diversification 
as we grew in scale and more international organisations opened 
offices in the region we started new disciplines including a supply chain 
recruitment business growth accelerated as clients heard about the 
quality of the work we did and the calibre of the candidates we could 
find we’re now entering a more mature growth phase and are spinning 
off new pls from our major disciplines 
team profit share and productivity
developing the fundamentals has been essential – particularly thinking 
about the career growth and kpis of each team member team profit 
sharing is absolutely key to the group’ s business model – people can see 
that they can make money but that there’s a longerterm purpose too 
regional and international reach
an important part of our success has been our focus on headhunting 
we can utilise the group’s network in thailand singapore vietnam and 
indonesia for example but we can also source returning malaysians 
from elsewhere across our global footprint these regional and 
international candidates are very hard for clients to source 
sustainable growth
we’ve experienced yearonyear growth across the board that’s 
happened because we spend time developing people – so we now 
have more mature consultants doing even more senior work earning 
bigger fees 
hiring the right people
the economy is growing in malaysia and of course that helps growth 
but crucially we’re growing market share that’s down to our people 
too we take people from industry we hire them for attitude and 
potential so highly competent individuals who speak the same 
language as our clients
longterm careers longterm relationships 
the consensus amongst clients is that the personalities of our people 
stand out as they focus on building a longterm working relationship – 
it’s not just a onetime deal 
the challenge
developing the next layer down is a continual process our ability  
to offer international moves within the group helps enormously  
with retention as we are able to meet people’s career aspirations”
simon bromwell 
managing director san francisco
simon joined our tokyo office in 2003 after spending two years  
on the jet programme in rural japan he worked his way up to 
become director of commerce recruitment in 2012 he moved  
to san francisco to open our west coast us business 
“i had worked in our japanese business for nine years and was having 
a lot of conversations with us tech companies – all trying to get a 
foothold in the japanese market
i went to san francisco on a fact finding and due diligence visit and 
was impressed by the phenomenal growth plans of the businesses i 
was meeting we quickly realised that if we built strong relationships in 
san francisco not only would we have a gateway of revenue for japan 
but a profitable local business and access to organisations across the 
west coast of america 
the first year 
the first year was about understanding the local market developing 
brand recognition and focusing on headhunting – building the brand 
one relationship at a time 
growing the team
we hire people with the right attitude who buy into the robert walters 
brand and like our teambased culture we all sit together and desk
side mentoring plays a critical part in getting new team members 
making a profitable contribution as soon as possible
longterm relationships with clients and candidates
many organisations were used to a transactional relationship with 
a recruiter – rather than a relationship you actually want to continue 
our longterm approach absolutely resonated with clients and 
candidates it made us different 
growing by word of mouth
2013 was a milestone year because the investment in our people  
and relationships started to pay dividends candidates we had  
placed were using us to hire their own teams and we were  
generating a lot of referrals 
the key to success
the group’s teambased focus and the quality of our people has 
also been critical each individual is respected and has a breadth of 
knowledge across their markets our local management team has  
30 years of collective robert walters experience and in addition to  
the hires we have made locally we have benefited from international 
movers from the group’s tokyo sydney shanghai and paris teams
historically the group opened new businesses with accounting and 
finance recruitment but we took a different approach in san francisco 
starting with sales  marketing recruitment which better suited the  
local market dynamics
the future 
we’ve doubled revenue every year in operation and we have solid 
foundations to build on the consultants we’ve trained are becoming 
managers and we’ll continue to specialise and grow our range 
of disciplines” 08   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
at the 
forefront  
of industry 
innovation
innovation continues to be central to our 
strategy for growth providing unique ways  
to strengthen relationships with clients  
and candidates robert walters plc   09
annual report  accounts 2014
strategic report
growth through  
innovation
we pride ourselves on being at the forefront 
of industry innovation and creativity it 
means doing things differently it’s at the 
heart of who we are we’re proud of what 
we’ve achieved so far but we don’t look 
back – we are always innovating 
innovation reinforces our qualityfocused brand 
positioning and ensures clients want more than 
a oneoff relationship with us
global salary survey
when it comes to thought leadership many profess 
to lead the way but we were the first to launch a 
global salary survey a comprehensive 500page 
guide to salaries and contract rates around the 
world the first edition was released in 2000 and the 
book is now in its sixteenth year – recognised by our 
clients and candidates as the de facto barometer of 
salary trends
thought leadership
throughout the year we produce regular recruitment 
market reports and research on key recruitment 
topics our annual compensation and bonus 
surveys also serve as crucial decisionmaking tools 
for clients our jobs indices in asia and europe 
track advertising volumes to provide clients and 
candidates with key insights into the job market
resource solutions
we were the first recruitment consultancy to launch 
a recruitment outsourcing business in 1997 today 
resource solutions is a global business using its 
proprietary technology talentsource to shape our 
clients’ hiring strategies worldwide
digital innovation
the group’s mobile apps have been downloaded in 
excess of 150000 times in the last two years the 
salary checker now available on itunes and google 
play has received a total of 250000 downloads  
an average of 66000 a year the app has regularly 
been in the top 10 business apps and the number 
one business app in multiple countries
sponsorships
we sponsor and support a range of diverse 
partners from international sporting brands to art 
galleries and notforprofit institutions worldwide 
our landmark sponsorship of the british  irish lions 
tour to hong kong and australia in 2013 was an 
industry first our partnership with one of the world’s 
most iconic brands matched our own values of 
professionalism integrity and teamwork
our new sponsorship of japan’s national rugby team 
builds upon our successful partnership with the 
lions and further cements the group’s position as  
a key supporter of established and emerging rugby 
brands japan is a growing force in international 
rugby and has been selected as the host nation for 
the 2019 rugby world cup
corporate sponsorship of institutions like the 
saatchi gallery and the victoria  albert museum in 
london allows us to create bespoke events private 
viewings and artistled gallery tours that offer our 
clients a different perspective the international 
nature of the exhibitions and focus on artists and 
designers from across the globe aligns with our 
international brand positioning
awards
 
best marketing team 2014 
robert walters corporate marketing team was praised 
for its range of recruitment intelligence digital innovations 
and groundbreaking sponsorships across the world at 
the recruiter awards

hr network national awards 2014 
resource solutions’ onsite team at morgan stanley 
won the attraction  resourcing and hr officer of the 
year award

supply chain recruiter of the year 2014 
our hong kong business was singled out for its dedication 
to clients at the recruiter international asia awards

great place to work 2014 
our french business was named a top 50 employer brand

human resources vendors of the year award 2014 
our singapore business was voted by senior hr 
professionals and csuite leaders in singapore as the 
most preferred recruitment firm for roles in the 
sgc500010000 per month category

hr recruitment company of the year 2014 
our japan business was rewarded for the quality of their 
service at the recruitment international asia awards
in 2014 robert walters was ranked in the top 25 most influential 
brands globally on linkedin and was the most followed specialist 
professional recruitment brand on twitter in japan 10   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
strategic report
chairman’s statement
leslie van de walle
i am very pleased to report that the 
group delivered an exceptionally strong 
performance in 2014 increasing profit 
before taxation by 80 91 
our strategy of longterm investment in the business 
across both our established businesses and 
highgrowth potential emerging recruitment 
markets has enabled us to leverage the group’s 
operational gearing to deliver an excellent result  
for the year 
revenue was up 14 19 to £6796m  
2013 £5977m and gross profit net fee income 
increased by 8 14 to £2153m 2013 £1992m 
operating profit was up 68 78 to £182m 
2013 £108m and earnings per share increased  
by 82 to 153p per share 2013 84p per share 
the group has a strong balance sheet with net cash 
of £143m as at 31 december 2014 31 december 
2013 £186m permanent recruitment represents 
69 2013 69 of recruitment net fee income
in line with our strategy we have grown staff 
numbers in emerging markets and in mature 
markets where activity levels are increasing and 
additionally we have won a number of new 
resource solutions clients in the uk and asia 
headcount at the end of the year increased by  
14 to 2631 2013 2307 
the board will be recommending a 13 increase  
in the final dividend to 435p per share which 
combined with the interim dividend of 165p per 
share will result in a total dividend of 60p per share 
2013 54p in 2014 13m shares were purchased 
at an average price of £311 for £40m through the 
group’s longterm share buyback programme the 
board is authorised to repurchase up to 10 of the 
group’s issued share capital and will be seeking 
approval for the renewal of this authority at the 
annual general meeting on 3 june 2015
finally i would like to thank everyone in the group 
for their hard work drive commitment and loyalty
leslie van de walle
chairman
25 february 2015
 constant currency is calculated by applying prior year exchange 
rates to local currency results for the current and prior years £6796m
revenue
2013 £5977m
£182m
operating profit
2013 £108m
153p
basic earnings per share
2013 84p robert walters plc   11
annual report  accounts 2014
investment 
through 
economic 
cycles
our strategy of longterm investment in  
both established and emerging markets  
has enabled us to deliver an exceptionally 
strong performance in 2014 12   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
strategic report
chief executive’s 
statement
robert walters
the excellent performance in 2014 served 
to further highlight the strength depth and 
diversity that the group now has in terms 
of both geography and discipline 
we have been able to leverage this strength to 
deliver an 80 91 increase in profit before 
taxation a result that was particularly impressive 
given that market conditions in two of the group’s 
largest markets australia and france remained 
challenging for much of last year 
we have a strong blend of permanent and contract 
recruitment net fee income a truly global footprint  
of growing businesses across both established and 
embryonic recruitment markets plus a marketleading 
recruitment process outsourcing business – all of 
which is underpinned by a powerful international 
brand and a strong and experienced senior 
management team
the recruitment industry continues to evolve 
through the advent of new resourcing strategies and 
technologies and we remain firmly at the forefront of 
these developments the role of a highquality 
specialist professional recruitment consultancy 
such as robert walters to filter and manage the 
increased volume of data and the number of 
communication channels available to candidates 
and clients has never been more important in 
addition our resource solutions business ensures 
we are extremely well placed to benefit from the 
trend towards an outsourced recruitment model
review of operations
asia pacific 42 of net fee income
revenue was £2514m 2013 £2601m and net fee 
income was £905m 2013 £921m an increase of 
8 in constant currency this delivered an operating 
profit increase of 45 59 to £105m £115m 
2013 £72m
in asia we have benefited from strong growth 
within our larger more mature and marketleading 
businesses in japan singapore and hong kong 
and very encouragingly we are also now seeing 
positive returns from our more recent investments 
in a number of the region’s emerging recruitment 
markets our operations in malaysia thailand and 
vietnam in particular have delivered excellent net fee 
income growth and critically have the capacity to 
grow into substantial businesses 
australia returned to growth in the fourth quarter 
and in new zealand our businesses in auckland 
and wellington both delivered record performances 
resource solutions in asia won a number of new 
clients and also successfully extended a number  
of existing client deals
uk 33 of net fee income
revenue was £3119m 2013 £2357m net fee 
income increased by 24 to £711m 2013 £572m 
and operating profit more than doubled to £52m 
2013 £25m
the uk had an excellent year as both client 
and candidate confidence continued to improve 
growth was broadbased and spread across both 
london and the regions with disciplines such as 
commerce finance legal and sales  marketing 
delivering particularly strong performances also of 
particular note was the beginning of a recovery in 
the permanent financial services market in london 
with recruitment levels across risk compliance and 
projects particularly high
to continue to build on this performance and further 
extend our regional presence we have opened a 
new office in st albans
resource solutions continued to deliver impressive 
results increasing net fee income significantly  
yearonyear
 constant currency is calculated by applying prior year exchange 
rates to local currency results for the current and prior years
£905m
net fee income – asia pacific
2013 £921m
£105m
operating profit – asia pacific
2013 £72m
£711m
net fee income – uk
2013 £572m
£52m
operating profit – uk
2013 £25m robert walters plc   13
annual report  accounts 2014
strength 
depth and 
diversity
our geographic reach and discipline  
diversity are underpinned by a powerful 
international brand and experienced  
senior management team 14   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
strategic report
chief executive’s 
statement
continued
europe 20 of net fee income
revenue was £1064m 2013 £939m and net fee 
income increased 4 10 to £438m £461m 
2013 £420m producing a 73 increase in 
operating profit to £22m £23m 2013 £13m
market conditions across the eurozone were 
mixed in france our largest business in the region 
the permanent recruitment market remained 
challenging however our contract business 
continues to go from strength to strength and 
produced excellent growth 
recruitment activity levels across the benelux 
region were more favourable with our business in 
belgium the standout performer across both the 
permanent and contract markets we continue to 
focus on germany as a key growth market for the 
group and are also very encouraged by the strong 
performance in a number of our smaller markets in 
the region such as spain and ireland
other international 5 of net fee income
revenue was £99m 2013 £80m and net fee 
income increased by 25 35 to £99m £107m 
2013 £79m producing an operating profit of  
£03m operating profit of £02m 2013 operating 
loss of £02m
other international comprises the us south africa 
the middle east and brazil our business in the us 
had a record year with both san francisco and 
new  york delivering excellent growth in new york 
much like london we have seen a recovery in the 
permanent financial services market with areas 
such as compliance particularly active whilst the 
technologydriven san francisco market remains 
extremely buoyant 
client and candidate confidence in brazil remains 
low our office in dubai more than doubled net fee 
income yearonyear whilst in south africa net fee 
income grew strongly and we are now one of the 
largest international players in the market
current trading and outlook
having entered seven new countries since 2010  
the robert walters group now has over 2600  
staff spanning 24 countries we have focused on 
increasing the profitability and productivity of our 
fledgling businesses and the group as a whole 
delivering an 80 uplift in profit before taxation  
and an increase in consultant productivity 
early trading in 2015 has been in line with 
expectations whilst we are mindful of continued 
eurozone uncertainty we believe we are very well 
positioned to capitalise on both current and future 
growth opportunities
robert walters
chief executive
25 february 2015
 constant currency is calculated by applying prior year exchange 
rates to local currency results for the current and prior years
£438m
net fee income – europe
2013 £420m
£22m
operating profit – europe
2013 £13m
£99m
net fee income – other international
2013 £79m
£03m
operating profit – other international
2013 operating loss of £02m robert walters plc   15
annual report  accounts 2014
well placed 
to deliver 
enhanced 
profitability
80 increase in profit before taxation despite 
challenging conditions in australia and france 16   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
strategic report
financial review
revenue
revenue for the group is the total income from 
the placement of permanent and contract staff 
and therefore includes the remuneration costs of 
contract candidates and the total cost of advertising 
recharged to clients it also includes outsourcing 
fees consultancy fees and the margin derived from 
payrolling contracts charged by resource solutions 
to its clients
revenue increased 14 19 to £6796m  
2013 £5977m with 544 2013 517 of the 
annual total being generated in the second half  
of the year the group continues to focus on 
consultant productivity and hiring in the areas  
of the business where recruitment activity levels 
are increasing
gross profit net fee income
net fee income is the total placement fees of 
permanent candidates the margin earned on the 
placement of contract candidates and the margin 
from advertising it also includes the outsourcing 
consultancy and payrolling margin earned by 
resource solutions
net fee income for the year increased by 8 14 
to £2153m 2013 £1992m net fee income was 
£1134m in the second half compared to £1019m 
in the first half 2013 1h £978m 2h £1014m the 
increase in net fee income was due to growth in 
both the permanent and temporary robert walters 
divisions and the resource solutions business
operating profit
operating profit increased by 68 78 to £182m 
2013 £108m and administrative expenses were 
£1971m 2013 £1884m the principal reason 
for the 5 11 increase in costs was due to an 
increase of 11 in the group’s average headcount 
to 2512 in 2014 up from 2273 during 2013
interest and financing costs
the group incurred a net interest charge for the 
year of £03m 2013 £07m the group has a 
£350m threeyear committed financing facility until 
november 2016 at 31 december 2014 £234m 
was drawn down under this facility the group also 
has an outstanding loan of £05m which was used 
to finance the growth in working capital of our 
business in china this renminbidenominated 
loan is secured by cash deposits in hong kong and 
is repayable in instalments over four years more 
details are provided in note 13 to the accounts
a foreign exchange gain of £03m arose during  
the year on translation of the group’s intercompany 
trading accounts and external borrowings  
2013 loss of £01m
taxation
the tax charge in 2014 was £69m 2013 £39m 
which gives an effective rate of 380 2013 389 
the tax rate is higher than the standard uk rate  
of 215 primarily as a result of higher rates of 
overseas taxation in japan australia and france  
the impact of adjustments to accounting profit in  
the tax calculation and disallowable entertainment
earnings per share
basic earnings per share were 153p 2013 84p 
and the weighted average number of shares for 
the year was 738m 2013 730m
dividend 
a final dividend of 435p 2013 386p per ordinary 
share is being proposed by the board together 
with the interim dividend of 165p 2013 154p 
per ordinary share paid in october 2014 the total 
dividend per share would amount to 60p 2013 54p 
the final dividend if approved which amounts to 
£32m will be paid on 12 june 2015 to those 
shareholders on the register as at 22 may 2015
balance sheet
the group had net assets of £774m at 
31 december 2014 31 december 2013 £739m 
including goodwill of £80m 2013 £80m  
the increase in the group net assets of £35m 
comprises profit for the year of £113m and credits 
relating to share schemes of £17m offset primarily 
by dividends paid of £41m own shares purchased 
of £40m and currency movements of £16m
cash flow and net cash position
at 31 december 2014 the group had net cash 
balances of £143m 31 december 2013 £186m 
cash inflow from operating activities was £112m 
2013 £192m the significant payments made from 
operational cash flow were £23m of fixed asset 
expenditure £32m of corporation tax payments 
£41m of dividends £40m of own shares purchased 
and £10m on computer software the group  
had positive cash flows from operations and  
is currently well placed to meet future working 
capital cash requirements
surplus cash balances are invested with financial 
institutions with favourable credit ratings that offer 
competitive rates of return
subsidiary undertakings
the subsidiary undertakings principally affecting 
the profits or net assets of the group in the year 
are listed in note 10 to the accounts
going concern
details on the directors continuing to adopt the 
going concern basis in preparing the accounts can 
be found on page 25
 constant currency is calculated by applying prior year exchange 
rates to local currency results for the current and prior years
  robert walters plc   17
annual report  accounts 2014
net fee income 
£2153m
2013 £1992m
definition
net fee income is the total placement fees of 
permanent candidates the margin earned on the 
placement of contract candidates and the margin 
from advertising it also includes the outsourcing 
consulting and payrolling margin earned by 
resource solutions
analysis
net fee income grew by 8 14 mainly in line with 
the group’ s strategy for growth through investment in 
headcount in both mature and developing 
recruitment markets and the rpo business 
productivity
£1427k
2013 £137 1k
definition
productivity represents the total net fee 
income generated per fee earner in the 
recruitment business
analysis
in 2014 productivity improved in constant 
currency by 41 as the group capitalised 
on improving market conditions across many 
of our markets and especially in the uk
t otal shareholder return tsr
695
2013 98
definition
tsr is share price growth plus dividends 
attributable to shareholders over a threeyear period
analysis
the increase reflects the upturn in share price 
growth over the threeyear period ended 
31 december 2014
debtor days
28
2013 26
definition
debtor days represents the length of time it takes 
the group to receive payments from its debtors 
it is calculated by reference to the number of days’ 
billings it takes to cover the debtor balance
analysis
tight control over debtor collection assists in 
reducing the overall risk profile of the business 
key performance indicators
earnings per share
153p
2013 84p
definition
earnings per share is defined as profit for the year 
attributable to the group’s equity shareholders 
divided by the weighted average number of shares 
in issue during the year
analysis
the increase reflects the increase in profitability  
of the group during the year
international mix
67
2013 71
definition
international mix represents the percentage of  
net fee income generated outside uk operations 
expressed as a percentage of total net fee income
analysis
there has been a 4 reduction in the international 
mix primarily due to the pace of the recovery of the 
uk business during 2014 and the weakness of foreign 
currencies such as the yen and the australian dollar
operating profit
£182m
2013 £108m
definition
operating profit represents net fee income less 
administrative expenses
analysis
strong net fee income growth along with  
improved productivity driving a 68 increase  
in operating profit
net cash
£143m
2013 £186m
definition
net cash represents the group’s cash and short 
term deposits less bank overdrafts and loans
analysis
net cash decreased during the year to £143m as 
£41m was returned to shareholders in the way of 
a dividend with a further £40m returned through 
the purchase of own shares in line with the 
group’s share buyback programme
  constant currency is calculated by applying prior year exchange rates to local currency results for the current and 
prior years 18   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
strategic report
our approach 
building a sustainable approach to business has been at the 
heart of the robert walters culture through the past 29 years 
the business started with the creation of a fulfilling environment 
for our people to work in and instilling a belief in doing 
recruitment the right way we are particularly proud that so 
many of our people stayed with us have developed their 
careers for the long term and have helped to grow our 
business across the globe
for more detail view the sustainability report at 
investorsrobertwalterscom or search for robert walters 
publications in itunes or the google play store
our people
growing tomorrow’s leaders
the group’s strategy for growth is centred on international 
expansion and discipline diversification our people are 
integral to the success of this strategy and as a result 
we’ve always focused on building longterm careers a  
homegrown management team and international mobility 
to deliver organic sustainable growth 
diversity
diversity is at our heart in such an international business 
we are an equal opportunities employer and aim to provide 
a working environment and culture that values difference – a 
diverse workforce allows us to fully realise the group’s potential 
right across the globe our diversity policy forms a critical part 
of our staff induction programme and all employees participate 
in our diversity workshops
diversity is as critical an issue for our candidates and clients 
as it is for our own people all candidates are encouraged 
to complete an equal opportunities form on registration the 
data from which is important to both the group and our 
clients to ensure we are introducing candidates from the 
widest possible talent pool and helping clients fulfil their own 
diversity programmes
in accordance with the companies act 2006 strategic report 
and directors’ report regulations 2013 the group has 
provided the following table on gender diversity
2014 2013
male female total male female total
board directors 6 1 7 6 1 7
senior managers
1
115 52 167 103 39 142
other employees 869 1469 2338 812 1312 2124
total 990 1522 2512 921 1352 2273
1 a senior manager is a person who has responsibility for planning directing or 
controlling significant activities within the group or who is strategically important 
to part of the group this will include any operating country or regional directors 
and functional heads of department
the board has a policy to encourage diversity including 
gender from 1 january 2014 the board has a policy to ensure 
that there will be an equal gender quota for any future long list 
for a board appointment
the board recognises its responsibilities in 
respect of social environmental and ethical see 
matters the board monitors all significant risks to 
the group including see risks which may impact 
the group’s short and longterm value during 2014 
no significant see risks were identified
in 2014 we produced a digitally published 
sustainability report detailing our approach 
to corporate responsibility covering four key 
sustainability themes people clients  candidates 
communities  culture and the environment
corporate responsibility statement robert walters plc   19
annual report  accounts 2014
clients  candidates
productive longterm relationships
we have always focused on building relationships and 
retaining our candidates and clients for the longterm 
ensuring that enough time is taken to deliver a high level of 
service means clients use us again and candidates trust us 
to manage their careers doing things the right way means 
candidates become our clients – a continual reinvestment  
in the future of the business
communities  culture
charity initiatives supporting local communities
our approach is to keep charity and community initiatives 
relevant to our local communities building on the strengths 
of our people and making them integral to our business 
whether that’s back to work interview skills for the longterm 
unemployed or working together as a team to help make a 
child’s dream come true through the make a wish foundation
commitment to our local communities continued during the 
year with a range of activities taking place across the world 
in total the group made charitable donations of £47000 
2013 £32000 
staff in every country also participated in our third annual 
global charity day on friday october 2014 raising £66000 
through a winning display of teamwork and initiative 
running for good causes was a key theme across many 
countries the thailand team ran the bangkok marathon for 
the phayathai babies home and staff from our japan 
business took part in run for the cure foundation’s leading 
event vertical marathons and stair challenges were popular 
in london china and hong kong the resource solutions 
team in london completed their vertical marathon at our 
headquarters in aid of macmillan cancer and our hong 
kong team had a choice of climbing 29 or 75 storeys to 
support the hong chi association 
 
staff members globally donated to wear ‘casuals for a 
cause’ and bake sales ice bucket challenges head shaves 
and a host of other initiatives raised money across the 
world for example france took part in a giant zumba class 
for vaincre le mucoviscidose and the belgian office set up  
a stall to sell fries to support the make a wish foundation
 
volunteering was another key activity with the indonesian 
team visiting the bersinar orphanage donating toys clothes 
and books to the children our south african business 
donated and planted trees to support food  trees for 
africa and our us team conducted mock interviews with the 
per scholas organisation helping to prepare students for 
graduation in the middle east the team created charity gift 
boxes for immigrant workers arriving from india to work on 
construction sites in the middle east
marco lavedo md of our spanish office helped 
200 longterm unemployed professionals 
improve their job prospects through interview 
training and workshops
“i got involved with a city hall sponsored project as  
part of our global charity day the difficult economic 
conditions in spain impacted everyone so i wanted  
to try and give something back and use my knowledge  
to help a big part of the day was about giving people 
confidence letting them know they do have the skills  
to get back into work – they need that reassurance  
and boost to their self esteem 
using the real recruitment skills from my daytoday 
working life to help people get back on their feet was so 
rewarding – watching people’s confidence grow you feel 
you’re making a difference to help them reach their goals 
and improve their situation” 20   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
strategic report
environment
although our impact on the environment is minimal as an  
officebased organisation we’re working towards becoming  
a carbonbalanced business that means we’re investing  
in projects that offset emissions through reforestation  
initiatives in 2015 the whole of robert walters’ uk  
operations will be carbon neutralised through a new 
partnership with the woodlands trust 
the group is active in working towards the achievement of 
local environmental management standards in 2014 25 of 
the group’s employees worldwide were operating in locations 
which were certified to iso14001 the international standard 
for environmental management the standard provides a 
framework for achieving the balance between maintaining 
profitability while setting targets for improving the organisation’s 
environmental performance 
greenhouse gas reporting
in september 2013 the mandatory carbon reporting 
requirements prescribed by the greenhouse gas emissions 
directors’ regulations report came into effect this section 
includes our mandatory reporting of greenhouse gas emissions 
pursuant to the companies act 2006 strategic report and 
directors’ report regulations 2013 the regulations
reporting year
the greenhouse gas emissions report has been prepared 
based on a reporting year of 1 january to 31 december 2014 
which is the same as the group’s financial reporting period
ftse4good index
the group has held ftse4good status since 2008 
ftse4good index inclusion criteria covers a number of 
corporate responsibility themes such as environmental 
management climate change countering bribery and supply 
chain labour standards our continued inclusion in the index 
recognises that our policies and management systems enable 
us to address and mitigate key corporate responsibility risks
organisational boundary
the group has chosen to report based on an operational 
boundary and all entities and offices which are either owned 
or under operational control have been included
methodology and scope
the methodology used to calculate the group’s emissions is 
based on the ‘environmental reporting guidelines including 
mandatory greenhouse gas emissions reporting guidance’ 
june 2013 issued by the department for environment food 
and rural affairs defra the group has also utilised defra’s 
2014 conversion factors within the reporting methodology
the greenhouse gas emissions data has been prepared with 
reference to ghg protocol which categorises greenhouse gas 
emissions into three scopes reporting on emissions from 
scope 1 direct ghg emissions and scope 2 indirect ghg 
emissions activities are mandatory the reporting of scope 3 
other indirect emissions from sources not owned or controlled 
by the company emissions are voluntary and therefore the 
group reports on all those scope 3 activities which it feels 
have a significant impact on its greenhouse gas emissions 
all other scope 3 activities have been considered but the 
group feels that the impact of these was so limited in respect 
of potential impact so as to be negligible and has decided not 
to disclose these activities within this report this decision will 
be reviewed on an annual basis or sooner if changes are made 
to regulatory reporting requirements
emissions data has been reported for all of the offices we 
operate in globally 
intensity metric
the group has recorded the total global emissions in tonnes 
of co
2
e and has decided to use an intensity metric of tonnes 
of co
2
e per head which the group believes is the most 
relevant indication of our growth and provides the best 
comparative measure over time
in 2015 the whole of robert walters’ uk 
operations will be carbon neutralised
corporate responsibility statement
continued robert walters plc   21
annual report  accounts 2014
global greenhouse gas emissions data
the table below shows the total global emissions in tonnes of 
co
2
e and tonnes of co
2
e per head for the group
greenhouse gas emission source
2014  
tco
2
e
2014
tco
2
e  
per head
2013  
tco
2
e
2013 
tco
2
e  
per 
head
scope 1
vehicle fleet 461 022 401 021
total scope 1 emissions 461 022 401 021
scope 2
purchased electricity and heat 2246 108 2146 111
total scope 2 emissions 2246 108 2146 111
scope 3
business travel – air 708 034 489 025
business travel – land
1
284 014 231 012
transmission and distribution 173 008 166 009
total scope 3 emissions 1165 056 886 046
total group emissions 3872 186 3433 178
carbon offset 1167 057 1015 052
total net emissions 2705 129 2418 126
1  land travel includes all forms of land transport such as rail and taxi but excludes 
travel in the group’s vehicle fleet the appropriate conversion factor for the 
method of transportation is applied to the distance travelled
the increase in emissions is due to very strict control of air 
travel in 2013 the group will continue to closely monitor 
emissions and will aim to increase the amount of carbon offset 
in future years to meet its carbon reduction target by 2023
base year
the 2013 financial year is the base year for the group’s 
greenhouse gas reporting being the first year the group 
completed a global calculation
the base year will be recalculated for changes to the scope  
of operation and measurement going forward including any 
additions to measured scope 3 data the base year and 
previous year’s data will also be recalculated if in carrying out 
future years’ analysis better quality data for the previous year  
is identified
reducing carbon 
the group is targeting to reduce co
2
e per head emissions 
by 20 across the group by 2023 from a fy 2013 baseline
the group continues to actively reduce the carbon footprint 
of the business through
 – consulting closely with the carbon trust and considering 
its recommendations as environmental objectives
 – establishing objectives for minimising travel to that which  
is totally necessary and
 – offsetting travelrelated carbon emissions through an 
accredited reforestation scheme covering the uk europe 
and asia pacific 
human rights and ethical behaviour
the group respects all human rights and in conducting  
its business the group regards those rights relating to  
nondiscrimination fair treatment and respect for privacy  
to be the most relevant and to have the greatest potential 
impact on its key stakeholder groups of clients candidates 
employees and suppliers
the board has overall responsibility for ensuring the group 
upholds and promotes respect for human rights the group 
seeks to anticipate prevent and mitigate any potential negative 
human rights impacts as well as enhance positive impacts 
through its policies and procedures and in particular through 
its policies regarding employment equality and diversity  
group policies seek both to ensure that employees comply 
with all applicable legislation and regulation and to promote 
good practice
the group’s policies are formulated and kept up to date by 
the relevant business areas authorised by the board and 
communicated to all employees
the group has a zero tolerance approach to bribery and 
corruption the group’s antibribery policy with specific 
reference to the bribery act is issued to all employees
the group undertakes extensive monitoring of the 
implementation of all of its policies and has not been made 
aware of significant breaches of policy or any incident in 
which the organisation’s activities have resulted in an abuse 
of human rights
health and safety
the chief executive has overall responsibility for the 
implementation of the group’s health and safety policy with 
specific operational responsibility delegated to managers at 
each location every effort is made to ensure that all national 
safety requirements are met at all times and there were no 
notable injuries or identified health and safety issues identified 
during the year
political donations
the group made no political donations during the year 
2013 £nil 22   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
strategic report
risk actions to mitigate risk
economic environment – job availability 
and the level of candidate confidence in 
the employment market are important 
factors in determining the total number 
of recruitment transactions in a given 
year candidates are less inclined to 
move jobs when the number of jobs 
available is stagnant or in decline which 
could lead to a deterioration in the 
group’s financial performance
the group is geographically diversified with offices in 24 countries which reduces the 
reliance on the success of any particular market the group also continues to develop 
its contract and resource solutions businesses both of which provide more resilient 
revenue streams in the event of an economic downturn
the board’s strategy when facing a slowdown in a market is to balance the cost base 
such that the impact on profit is mitigated against the perceived future benefit from the 
retention of key staff historically the group has benefited substantially from increased 
operational gearing as a result of its policy of deliberately retaining key staff through 
economic downturns
people management – the group 
relies heavily on recruiting and retaining 
talented individuals with the right 
skillsets to grow the business in 
addition as the group expands its 
operations in emerging markets the 
supply of people with the required skills 
in specific geographic regions may be 
limited the failure to attract and retain 
key employees with the required sales 
management and leadership skills  
may adversely affect the group’s 
financial results
the group’s policy of linking bonuses to profitability in discrete operating units has a 
high correlation to the retention of efficient and effective members of staff
the longterm incentive schemes that are detailed in note 18 to the accounts also form 
a key part of a wider strategy to improve levels of staff retention particularly of the 
group’s senior employees
other elements of the strategy to improve staff retention and maximise career 
opportunities include significant investment of time and financial resources in employee 
training and development including regular weekly appraisals aimed at core consultant 
competencies and focused on enhancing management potential a comprehensive 
approach to succession planning is also in place across the group
the group offers international career opportunities and actively encourages the 
redeployment of existing talent to international offices and also to establish new offices
brand and reputation – there is 
an inherent risk that the brand and 
reputation of the group could be 
impacted by a failure to maintain  
highquality service levels to both 
candidates and clients
quality control standards are maintained and reviewed for each stage of the 
recruitment cycle with all new employees receiving appropriate levels of training 
applicable to their role
candidate and client satisfaction surveys are carried out on a regular basis with 
directors addressing any negative feedback directly with the client or candidate
a ‘contact us’ email address is available on the group’s website so any negative 
feedback or improper conduct can be acted upon swiftly by the group marketing 
director and local senior management
risk management process
the board recognises the importance of identifying and 
actively monitoring the full range of financial and nonfinancial 
risks facing the business at both a local and group level by 
regularly reviewing the risk profile of the business the board 
ensures that the risk exposure remains appropriate at any point 
in the cycle the effectiveness of the risk management process 
is monitored by the audit committee the process involves 
identifying and prioritising the key risks within the group and 
developing and implementing appropriate mitigation strategies 
to address those risks
we review our risks in terms of likelihood of occurrence and 
potential impact on the business and the audit committee 
reviews and considers the extent to which management has 
addressed the key risks through appropriate controls and 
actions to mitigate those risks each local management team 
continues to consider key risk areas on an ongoing basis with 
a specific periodic review at least once a year of their system 
of internal controls to ensure that each risk area is addressed 
within the business the internal audit function reviews and 
tests the effectiveness of these controls to ensure that risk is 
being managed properly and effectively
a summary of the key risks that we believe could potentially 
impact the group’s operating and financial performance 
together with associated key actions is shown below
principal risks and uncertainties robert walters plc   23
annual report  accounts 2014
the strategic report outlined on pages 1 to 23 incorporates the 2014 highlights robert walters at a glance our mission and 
strategy delivering strategy people and culture growth through innovation the chairman’s statement the chief executive’s 
statement the financial review corporate responsibility statement and principal risks and uncertainties
by order of the board
alan bannatyne
chief financial officer
25 february 2015
strategic report approval
risk actions to mitigate risk
laws and regulations – the group 
operates in a number of diverse 
jurisdictions and has to comply with 
numerous domestic and international 
laws and regulations any change to 
which could have a detrimental effect 
on the group’s financial performance
to ensure compliance our legal department works with leading external advisors as 
required to monitor potential changes in employment legislation across the markets in 
which we operate
contractual terms and conditions are thoroughly reviewed before signing to ensure 
contract provisions are fully understood and risks are fairly allocated between parties
an escalation process exists such that contracts with nonstandard terms are reviewed 
and approved by the general counsel and chief financial officer as appropriate
technology – the group is reliant 
on its technological infrastructure to 
maintain client and candidate data 
a critical infrastructure or system 
disruption could have a material impact 
on the group’s financial results whilst 
a loss of confidential and competitive 
information can have an adverse impact 
on operations local disasters can also 
impact the daytoday operations of 
the business
the group maintains a comprehensive it security policy which is reviewed on  
a regular basis covering all areas of it security from user access through to  
server access
all sensitive candidate and customer information is held securely with restricted access
the group continues to review and improve its business continuity plan to mitigate 
against any critical infrastructure disruptions 24   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
directors’ report
directors’ report
overview
the directors present their annual report on the activities of the 
group together with the financial statements for the year ended 
31 december 2014 
the strategic report provides information relating to the group’s 
activities its business and strategy the principal risks and 
uncertainties faced by the business and environmental and 
employee matters these sections together with the corporate 
governance and the directors’ remuneration reports provide 
an overview of the group and give an indication of future 
developments in the group’s business so providing a balanced 
assessment of the group’s position and prospects in 
accordance with the latest narrative reporting requirements
results and dividends
the group’s audited financial statements for the year ended 
31 december 2014 are set out on pages 57 to 77 and the 
company’s audited financial statements are set out on pages 78 
to 80 the group’s profit after taxation for the year ended 31 
december 2014 was £11255000 2013 £6156000
the directors recommend a final dividend of 435p per ordinary 
share 2013 386p to be paid on 12 june 2015 to shareholders 
on the register on 22 may 2015 which together with the interim 
dividend of 165p paid on 17 october 2014 makes a total of 60p 
per share for the year 2013 54p
directors
the directors who served during the year and at the date of this 
report are shown as follows
leslie van de walle
1
 
robert c walters
giles p daubeney
alan r bannatyne
brian mcarthurmuscroft
1
andrew d kemp
1
carol hui
1
1 nonexecutive directors
details of the directors’ service contracts are shown in the 
report of the remuneration committee on page 52
details of share options granted to directors and the interests of 
the directors in the ordinary shares of the company are shown 
on pages 40 to 42
the company has made qualifying thirdparty indemnity 
provisions for the benefit of its directors which were in place 
during the year and remain in force at the date of this report
employees
the group continues to give full and fair considerations to 
applications for employment by disabled persons bearing in 
mind their aptitudes and abilities in the event of an employee 
becoming disabled whilst working for the group every effort will 
be made by the group to ensure their continued employment 
and to provide retraining where practicable and appropriate
capital structure
details of the authorised and issued share capital together with 
details of the movements in the company’s issued share capital 
during the year are shown in note 17 each share carries the 
right to one vote at general meetings of the company further 
information on the voting and other rights of shareholders 
including deadlines for exercising voting rights are set out in 
the company’s articles of association and in the explanatory 
notes that accompany the notice of the annual general 
meeting which are available on the company’s website at  
investorsrobertwalterscom
restrictions on securities
there are no specific restrictions on the size of a holding nor on 
the transfer of shares which are both governed by the general 
provisions of the articles of association and prevailing legislation 
the directors are not aware of any agreements between holders 
of the company’s shares that may result in restrictions on the 
transfer of securities or on voting rights awards of shares under 
the company’s incentive arrangements the performance share 
plan and the executive share option scheme are subject to 
restrictions on the transfer of shares prior to vesting 
certain share awards under the company’s incentive 
arrangements are held in trust on behalf of the beneficiaries 
the trustee of the robert walters employee benefit trust  
does not seek to exercise the voting rights on these shares
substantial shareholdings
on 25 february 2015 the company has been notified  
in accordance with chapter 5 of the disclosure and 
transparency rules of the following voting rights as  
a shareholder of the company
name of shareholder 
number  
of shares 
blackrock 12587561 1634
aberforth partners 7279088 945
aberdeen asset management 5928850 770
kames capital 5781226 750
standard life investments 5475454 711
robert walters plc ebt
1
3956688 500
schroder investment management 3910032 507
legal  general investment management 3270350 424
jpmorgan asset management 3184470 413
1 robert walters plc ebt is restricted to 5 voting rights
appointment and retirement of directors
the directors may from time to time appoint one or more 
additional directors the board may appoint any person  
to be a director so long as the total number of directors does 
not exceed the limit prescribed in the articles of association 
the uk corporate governance code recommends that all 
directors be subject to annual reelection by shareholders 
therefore all directors will offer themselves for reelection  
at the 2015 annual general meeting robert walters plc   25
annual report  accounts 2014
power of company’s directors and acquisition of 
company’s own shares
the business of the company shall be managed by the 
directors who may exercise all powers of the company subject 
to legislation the provisions of the articles of association and 
any directions given by special resolution
the directors were authorised at the company’s last annual 
general meeting held on 23 may 2014 to make market 
purchases of ordinary shares representing up to 10 of  
its share capital at that time and to allot shares within certain 
limits permitted by shareholders and the companies act  
the directors intend to renew this authority annually and will 
continue to exercise this power only when in the light of market 
conditions prevailing at the time they believe that the effect of 
such purchases will be to increase earnings per share and will 
likely promote the success of the company for the benefit of its 
members as a whole
during the year ended 31 december 2014 the company 
purchased ordinary shares of the company at an average price 
of £311 for a total cost of £40m
provisions on change of control 
the company’s revolving credit facility agreement for £350m 
includes a provision for a lending counterparty to amend alter or 
cancel the relevant commitment to the group following a change 
of control of the company
the company does not have agreements with any director  
or employee that would provide specific compensation for loss 
of office or employment resulting from a takeover except that 
provisions of the company’s share plans may cause options  
and awards to vest on a takeover
articles of association
the company’s articles of association may only be amended 
by a special resolution of the members
going concern
the group’s business activities together with the factors likely to 
affect its future development performance and position are set 
out on pages 16 and 17 
the directors have assessed the longterm prospects of the 
group based upon business plans and upon cash flow 
projections for the fiveyear period ending 31 december 2019 
the fiveyear period was chosen as it is considered the longest 
timeframe over which any reasonable view can be formed given 
the cyclical nature of the market in which the group operates 
the forecasts and cash flow projections being used to assess 
going concern have been comprehensively stresstested by 
using simulation techniques involving sensitivity analysis it 
should be noted that the group has limited forward visibility and 
consequently there is a high degree of uncertainty in respect of 
future outcomes cash risk is mitigated to an extent as in the 
event of a reduction in the overall number of contractors 
working capital is released
in forming their opinion the directors have performed a robust 
assessment of the principal risks and uncertainties facing the 
group as set out on pages 22 and 23 in addition note 16 to  
the accounts includes the group’s objectives policies and 
processes for managing its capital its financial risk management 
objectives details of its financial instruments and hedging 
activities and its exposure to credit risk and liquidity risk
the group had £143m of net cash at 31 december 2014 and 
further details of the financial position of the group its cash 
flows liquidity position and borrowing facilities are described 
within the financial review 
the group has a strong balance sheet and considerable 
financial resources and remains confident of the group’s 
longterm growth prospects together with a diverse range 
of clients and suppliers across different geographic locations 
and sectors as a consequence the directors believe that the 
group is well placed to manage its business risks successfully
after making enquiries the directors have formed a judgement 
at the time of approving the accounts that there is a reasonable 
expectation that the group has adequate resources to continue 
in operational existence and meet its liabilities as they fall due 
over the fiveyear assessment period for this reason the 
directors continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing 
the accounts
auditor and disclosure of information to the auditor
as required by section 418 of the companies act 2006 each of 
the directors as at 25 february 2015 confirms that
 – so far as the director is aware there is no relevant audit 
information of which the company’s auditor is unaware and
 – the director has taken all the steps that they ought to have 
taken as a director to make themselves aware of any relevant 
audit information and to establish that the group’s auditor  
is aware of that information
deloitte llp has expressed their willingness to continue  
in office as auditor and a resolution to reappoint them will  
be proposed at the forthcoming annual general meeting
annual general meeting
the annual general meeting will be held on 3 june 2015  
and the notice of the annual general meeting including  
an explanation of the special business of the meeting  
will be sent out in due course
by order of the board
alan bannatyne
chief financial officer
25 february 2015 26   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
directors’ report
leslie van de walle 58
chairman
leslie is nonexecutive chairman of sig plc and he is also  
a nonexecutive director of cape plc and dcc plc he was 
formerly chief executive officer of rexam plc executive vice 
president of global retail a division of royal dutch shell plc and 
a nonexecutive director of aegis group plc and aviva plc he 
also previously held a number of senior management positions 
with cadbury schweppes plc and united biscuits limited leslie 
was appointed as nonexecutive chairman of robert walters 
plc with effect from 1 october 2012
robert walters 60
chief executive
after three years at touche ross robert joined the recruitment 
firm michael page as one of its very first employees following 
an eightyear period which included setting up the new york 
office he returned to london and established in 1985 robert 
walters specialising in junior to middle management 
professional positions 
giles daubeney 53
chief operating officer
after working in recruitment for accountancy selection limited 
and badenoch  clark limited giles joined the group in 1988 
from 1990 to 1994 he was based in amsterdam and was 
responsible for the group’s dutch and belgian operations giles 
was appointed to the role of chief operating officer in 1999 and 
was appointed to the board of robert walters plc in july 2000
alan bannatyne 45
chief financial officer and company secretary
after qualifying as a chartered accountant with deloitte  
touche alan was commercial manager of primecom and then 
financial director of foresight both subsidiaries of primedia a 
listed south african media group alan joined robert walters plc 
as group financial controller in september 2002 and was 
appointed to the board of robert walters plc as chief financial 
officer in march 2007
andrew kemp 64
nonexecutive director
andrew was latterly group hr director at de la rue plc he 
previously held group hr director appointments at bovis 
transport development group plc news international aegis 
and rentokil initial plc prior to bovis andrew held a number of 
hr appointments at the rank of captain and major in the british 
army andrew was appointed to the board of robert walters plc 
in november 2007
carol hui 58
nonexecutive director
carol is a qualified lawyer and a senior executive with extensive 
legal and commercial experience she is the general counsel 
and group company secretary of baa and a member of its 
executive committee previously she has held the positions of 
board director and general counsel of amey plc group legal 
director and company secretary of tdg plc and deputy 
general counsel of bg plc she was also a solicitor with 
slaughter and may carol was awarded european general 
counsel of the year by the international law office and 
association of corporate counsel she also served as a 
member of the review body on doctors’ and dentists’ 
remuneration she is a nonexecutive director and trustee 
of the national charity action for blind people carol was 
appointed to the board of robert walters plc in january 2012
brian mcarthurmuscroft 50
nonexecutive director
brian is currently the chief financial officer of optimal  
payments plc he qualified as a chartered accountant with 
pricewaterhousecoopers in london and in 2012 was chosen as 
the icaew’s ftse 250 finance director of the year brian has 
held the positions of group finance director at telecitygroup 
viatel and eckoh technologies plc and also cfo of cable  
wireless hktmultimedia he holds a law degree is a member 
of the corporate development board for the nspcc and the 
responsible officer for hockerill anglo european college a 
leading secondary school in hertfordshire brian is also a trustee 
of touraid a children’s charity which brings disadvantaged 
children and young adults to the uk through the creation of 
longterm links with uk schools and clubs brian was appointed 
to the board of robert walters plc in may 2013
directors and advisors
registered office
11 slingsby place
st martin’s courtyard
london wc2e 9ab
registered number
3956083
auditor
deloitte llp
chartered accountants
2 new street square
london ec4a 3bz
solicitors
dechert
160 queen victoria street
london ec4v 4qq
stockbrokers
investec
2 gresham street
london ec2v 7qp
principal bankers
barclays
level 28
1 churchill place
canary wharf
london e14 5hp
registrars
capita registrars
the registry
34 beckenham road
beckenham
kent br3 4tu robert walters plc   27
annual report  accounts 2014
dear shareholder
i am pleased to report that your company has again complied in full throughout the year with the uk corporate governance code
as a board we are pleased with the progress that the group has made to ensure high standards of corporate governance are 
maintained we monitor developments and trends in corporate governance both in the uk and internationally adopting any emerging 
practice we feel would improve our governance whether or not it becomes mandatory
one of our core values that is continually communicated within the group is a belief that the highest standards of integrity are 
essential in business as a group we have an expressed aim of respecting the needs of shareholders employees clients 
candidates contractors and suppliers
the board has a wide range of responsibilities and it is my duty to ensure it has the right mix of skills and talent and to ensure  
that it works effectively as a team towards shared goals the board has a policy to encourage diversity including gender and  
from 1 january 2014 the board implemented a policy to ensure diversity and specifically that there will be an equal gender quota  
for any future long list for a board appointment in our relatively small board we already have one female director the board has 
been refreshed recently but we will aim at increasing female representation on our board when replacements will be sought in  
a few years’ time
the board committees have had a successful year the audit committee continued to see significant improvements in all areas  
of risk management with the internal audit function granted additional resource to increase its focus on the group’s risk register and 
overall risk environment ensuring that local management formed an integral part in developing and managing the risk profile of the 
group the remuneration committee has continued to engage with our shareholders completing a comprehensive restructuring of 
executive directors’ pay during the year and incorporating current best practice 
a key aspect for ensuring your board’s effectiveness is our annual board and committee evaluation process which had a positive 
outcome we will continue to look to enhance the positioning of the business and continue to adapt and improve the group’s risk 
culture and framework
on the following pages we describe our corporate governance framework in more detail
leslie van de walle
chairman
25 february 2015
corporate governance statement 28   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
directors’ report
statement of compliance with the uk corporate 
governance code
the company has complied fully throughout the year ended 
31 december 2014 with the code provisions set out in the 2012 
uk corporate governance code the code
the board of directors is committed to the highest standards  
of corporate governance and has applied the principles set  
out in the code including the main principles the supporting 
principles and the provisions by complying with the code  
as reported above further explanation of how we integrate  
the main principles of the five sections of the uk corporate 
governance code into our business these being leadership 
board effectiveness relations with shareholders accountability 
and remuneration is set out below our principles and policy  
in relation to remuneration are covered separately in our 
remuneration report on pages 35 to 52
leadership
the board and its role
the board is responsible to the group’s shareholders for the 
conduct and performance of the group’s business having 
strong governance processes and oversight helps drive the 
culture of the business so that it can better deliver on its 
responsibility to all of our stakeholders
the board has developed a board governance framework  
which sets out the governance structure of the board and  
its committees the board considers that it has shown  
its commitment to leading and controlling the group by
 – having a board constitution which details the board’s 
responsibility to the group’s shareholders for the 
management of the group’s affairs it exercises direction  
and supervision of the group’s operations throughout the 
world and defines the line of responsibility from the board  
to the chief executive and the executive directors in whom 
responsibility for the executive management of the business 
is vested
 – the board retaining specific responsibility for agreeing the 
strategic direction of the group the approval of accounts 
business plan budget and capital expenditure the review of 
operating results the effectiveness of governance practice 
and risk management and also the appointment of senior 
executives and succession planning
 – a high level of attendance by the directors at the six board 
meetings held during the year there were no apologies
 – the provision of appropriate training to all new directors at 
the time of appointment to the board and by ensuring that 
existing directors receive such training as to be equipped 
with the skills required to fulfil their roles and
 – delegating responsibilities to subcommittees  
audit committee remuneration committee  
and nominations committee
audit committee
the audit committee’s primary focus is to assist the board 
in fulfilling its oversight responsibilities during the year the 
committee met three times and reviewed the following
 – halfyear results and the annual financial statements
 – the effectiveness of the group’s system of internal controls 
internal audit and risk management
 – the performance of the external auditors their terms of 
engagement the scope of the audit and audit findings 
including findings on key judgements and estimates in the 
financial statements and
 – the opinions of management and the auditor in relation  
to the appropriateness of the accounting policies adopted 
significant estimates and judgements and whether 
disclosures were balanced and fair
further information on the work of the committee during the 
year can be found on pages 32 to 34
nominations committee
the nominations committee met once during the year and its 
activities included
 – monitoring the board’s structure size composition and 
diversity to achieve a balanced and effective board in terms 
of skills knowledge and experience
 – reviewing the leadership needs and succession planning  
of the group including identifying and developing talent
 – recommending any changes in the membership of the  
board committees
 – assessing potential conflicts of interest of all directors and
 – an annual review of progress achieved including the diversity 
objectives of the group to increase the level of female 
representation on the board
remuneration committee
the remuneration committee met four times during the year 
and its activities included
 – engaging with our largest shareholders to ensure a strong 
level of communication and dialogue
 – designing and recommending a new framework for  
executive remuneration incorporating current guidance  
on best practice
 – determining the individual remuneration packages for 
executive directors
 – approving the targets and performance assessments for 
performancerelated incentive schemes and 
 – overseeing the operation of all incentive schemes and 
awards and determining whether the performance criteria 
had been met
further information on the work of the committee during the 
year can be found in the remuneration report on pages 35 
to 52
corporate governance statement continued robert walters plc   29
annual report  accounts 2014
attendance at meetings
the number of scheduled board meetings and committee meetings attended as a member by each director during the year are set 
out below
board 
6 meetings
audit 
committee  
3 meetings
nominations 
committee  
1 meeting
remuneration 
committee  
4 meetings
leslie van de walle 6 na 1 na
robert walters 6 na 1 na
giles daubeney 6 na na na
alan bannatyne 6 na na na
andrew kemp 6 3 1 4
carol hui 6 3 1 4
brian mcarthurmuscroft 6 3 1 4
division of responsibilities between chairman and  
chief executive
the board has shown its commitment to dividing responsibilities 
for the board and running the company’s business by keeping 
the roles of chairman and chief executive separate the roles 
are set out in writing and have been approved by the board  
the key responsibilities of the chairman and chief executive  
are summarised below
 – during the year as chairman leslie van de walle was 
responsible for leading the board its effectiveness and its 
integrity the chairman sets the tone for the company and 
ensures the links between the board and shareholders 
are strong 
 – as chief executive robert walters is responsible for  
the daytoday management of the group’s operations 
implementing board approved strategic objectives and 
policies and developing vision and strategy for the board’s 
review and approval
board balance and independence
the board comprises the chairman three executive directors 
and three independent nonexecutive directors the board 
annually reviews its composition to ensure there is an 
appropriate balance between executive and nonexecutive 
directors and by promoting diversity ensures the board has 
the appropriate mix of skills experience and knowledge 
the group’s commitment to achieving a balance of executive 
and nonexecutive directors is shown by
 – the nonexecutive directors comprising more than half of the 
board of directors and
 – the nonexecutive directors leslie van de walle brian 
mcarthurmuscroft carol hui and andrew kemp being 
considered to act independently of management and free 
from any business or other relationship that could materially 
interfere with the exercise of their independent judgement
senior independent director
the board has appointed andrew kemp as the senior 
independent director andrew kemp is available to shareholders 
when they may have issues or concerns where contact through 
the normal channels of either the chairman or the executive 
directors has either failed to resolve concerns or contact is 
deemed inappropriate 
board effectiveness
transparency of board appointments
the nominations committee is responsible for nominating 
candidates to fill board vacancies considers the ongoing 
succession of the board and its committees and makes 
recommendations on board composition and balance the 
members of the committee are the nonexecutive directors and 
robert walters during the year the nominations committee 
met to consider and approve the reelection of the remaining 
directors at the may 2014 annual general meeting
the board has a policy to encourage diversity including gender 
and this was a focus of the nominations committee during the 
current year the board implemented a policy to ensure that 
there will be an equal gender quota for any future long list for  
a board appointment
the nominations committee has written terms of reference 
which are available on request the procedure for appointments 
to the board includes the requirement to specify the nature  
of the position in writing and to ensure that appointees have 
sufficient time available to meet the demands of the position 
the terms of the contracts for the nonexecutive directors are 
available upon request 30   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
directors’ report
understanding the business
the board has sought to ensure that directors are properly 
briefed on issues arising at board meetings by establishing 
procedures for
 – distributing board papers in advance of meetings in 
the appropriate form including detailed reports and 
presentations to enable it to discharge its duties
 – presentations on different aspects of the company’s 
business from members of the executive committee  
or other members of senior management
 – the nonexecutive directors meet senior  
operational management at the annual global  
senior management conference
 – regularly reviewing financial plans including budgets  
and forecasts 
 – adjourning meetings or deferring decisions when directors 
have concerns about the information available to them and
 – making the company secretary responsible to the board 
for the timeliness and quality of information
professional development
on appointment the directors receive relevant information about 
the group the role of the board and the matters reserved for its 
decisionmaking the terms of reference and membership of the 
principal board committees and the powers delegated to those 
committees the group’s corporate governance policies and 
procedures and the latest financial information about the group 
throughout their period in office the directors are regularly 
updated on the group’s business and the environment in which 
it operates by written briefings and by meetings with senior 
executives who are invited to attend and present at board 
meetings from time to time they are also updated on any 
changes to the legal and governance requirements of the group 
and those which affect them as directors and are able to obtain 
training at the group’s expense to ensure they are kept up to 
date on relevant new legislation and changing commercial risks
performance evaluation 
in line with the code a formal and rigorous performance 
appraisal of the board its committees the directors and the 
chairman is conducted annually as we recognise that our 
effectiveness is critical to the group’s continued success
in 2014 a detailed review was completed by each director 
and individual discussions took place between the chairman 
and each of the directors and in the case of the chairman’s 
performance and leadership this was reviewed by the senior 
independent nonexecutive director subsequently there was  
a full board discussion of the matters that were raised and a 
process to ensure that the decisions taken were appropriately 
implemented overall the outcome of the evaluation process 
was very positive with good progress noted on the areas of 
focus raised in previous evaluations this process did not identify 
any material issues that needed to be addressed
regular reelection of directors
in line with the recommendations of the code the board has 
agreed to submit all directors for annual election as a result 
of their annual performance evaluation the board considers that 
their individual performances continue to be effective with each 
director demonstrating commitment to their role the board is 
therefore pleased to support their reelection at the forthcoming 
annual general meeting
succession planning 
a clear focus on career progression for employees is core to the 
group’s growth and helps attract and retain talented individuals 
the group remains committed to maximising career 
opportunities through significant investment in training and 
professional development executive succession planning 
discussions were held in 2014 and a clear succession plan is 
in place for all board members and their direct reports
relations with shareholders
dialogue with institutional shareholders
the directors seek to build on a mutual understanding of 
objectives between the company and its institutional 
shareholders by
 – making annual and interim presentations to institutional investors
 – meeting shareholders to discuss longterm issues and obtain 
their views
 – providing direct access to the chairman for regular meetings 
with shareholders
 – communicating regularly throughout the year and
 – regular meetings of the board being used as the forum  
to ensure that nonexecutive directors are updated on the 
views of major shareholders that have been communicated  
to the executive directors
constructive use of annual general meeting
the board seeks to use the annual general meeting as an 
opportunity for all shareholders to question the board and the 
chairmen of the board committees on matters put to the 
meeting including the annual report the board seeks to 
encourage shareholder participation by
 – inviting shareholders to submit questions in advance and 
 – providing a balanced and understandable assessment of the 
group’s position and prospects
the results of voting at general meetings are published on the 
company’s website investorsrobertwalterscom as required 
by the uk corporate governance code
corporate governance statement continued robert walters plc   31
annual report  accounts 2014
accountability
internal control
the board is responsible for the effectiveness of the group’s 
system of internal control a review has been completed by 
the board for the year ended 31 december 2014 and up to 
the date of approval of the annual report in accordance with 
the recommendations of the turnbull report the board’s 
monitoring covers all controls including financial operational 
and compliance controls and risk management it is based 
primarily on reviewing reports from management to consider 
whether significant risks are identified evaluated managed and 
controlled and whether any significant weaknesses are promptly 
remedied and indicate a need for more extensive monitoring 
the audit committee assists the board in discharging its review 
responsibilities during the course of its review of the system 
of internal control the board has not identified nor been advised 
of any failings or weaknesses which it has determined to 
be significant 
the group’s system of internal control is designed to safeguard 
the group’s assets and to ensure the reliability of information 
used within the business and for publication such a system is 
designed to manage rather than eliminate the risk of failure to 
achieve business objectives and can provide only reasonable 
and not absolute assurance against material misstatement 
or loss 
the full board meets regularly and has a schedule of matters 
which are required to be brought to it or its duly authorised 
committees for decision aimed at maintaining full and effective 
control over appropriate strategic financial operational and 
compliance issues on an ongoing basis
the board has put in place an organisational structure with 
clearly defined responsibilities and delegation of authority  
the board constitution clearly sets out those matters for which 
the board is required to give its approval the board delegates 
the implementation of the board’s policy on risk and control  
to executive management and this is monitored by the internal 
audit function which reports back to the board through the 
audit committee
the internal audit function provides objective assurance to both 
the audit committee and to the board the internal audit annual 
plan is submitted for approval by the audit committee and 
the reviews and tests of key business processes and control 
activities are reported on throughout the year including follow  
up in respect of the implementation of management action  
plans to address any identified control weaknesses or potential 
improvements it was pleasing to note that once again there 
were no findings that indicated the existence of key control 
weaknesses and that for areas capable of improvement 
identified in 2013 improvements had been made during 2014 
in conclusion there were no areas that were deemed to be unfit 
for purpose
audit committee and auditor
a separate report of the audit committee is set out on pages 
32 to 34 and provides details of the role and activities of the 
committee and its relationship with the external auditor
leslie van de walle
chairman
25 february 2015 32   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
directors’ report
report of the audit committee
dear shareholder
i would like to give you an overview of the operation and 
scope of the audit committee and report on our work over 
the past year 
composition of the audit committee
the audit committee is appointed by the board from the 
nonexecutive directors of the company the audit committee’s 
terms of reference include all matters indicated by disclosure 
and transparency rule 71 and the 2012 uk corporate 
governance code the terms of reference are considered 
annually by the audit committee and are available upon request
members of the audit committee include myself – brian 
mcarthurmuscroft chairman carol hui and andrew kemp  
all of whom are nonexecutive directors the committee  
met three times during the year with full attendance at each  
of the meetings
the audit committee is required to include one financially 
qualified member with this requirement currently fulfilled by 
myself all audit committee members are considered to be 
financially literate the composition of the committee was 
reviewed during the year and the board and committee 
are satisfied that it has the expertise and resource to fulfil 
its responsibilities effectively including those relating to risk 
and control
as audit committee chairman i invited the chairman  
of the board and the executive directors to each meeting  
in addition the group financial controller internal auditor and 
representatives from the group’s external auditor deloitte llp 
were present at each meeting
role of the audit committee
the audit committee meets at least three times a year to review 
the interim and annual financial statements the accounting 
policies of the group its internal financial control procedures 
and compliance with accounting standards business risk legal 
requirements and the requirements of all other matters indicated 
by the terms of reference
a process has been in existence throughout the period that this 
report relates to in order to assess the risks within the business 
and to report and monitor such risks the audit committee 
regularly receives reports identifying the key internal controls  
in existence and also risk reports from the business the audit 
committee then evaluates the effectiveness of those controls 
and the management of key risks within the group
the audit committee discharges its responsibility in respect 
of the annual financial statements by reviewing the terms of 
the scope of the external audit in advance of the audit and 
subsequently evaluating the findings of the external audit as 
presented to the audit committee by the auditors prior to the 
approval of the annual financial statements
significant accounting judgements and estimates
the committee reviewed the group’s draft full year and half
yearly results statements prior to board approval and reviewed 
the external auditor’s detailed reports thereon in particular the 
committee reviewed the opinions of management and the 
auditor in relation to the appropriateness of the accounting 
policies adopted significant estimates and judgements and 
whether disclosures were balanced and fair the main areas  
of focus in 2014 and matters where the committee specifically 
considered the judgements that had been made are set 
out below
revenue recognition
revenue in respect of permanent placements is deemed to be 
earned when a candidate accepts a position and a start date is 
determined a provision is made by management based on 
historical evidence for the proportion of those placements where 
the candidate is expected to reverse their acceptance prior to the 
start date the committee reviewed the detailed criteria for 
revenue recognition and a report on the cutoff testing performed 
on earned but not invoiced revenue and were satisfied by the 
judgements made by management
the committee also reviewed the backout provision applied 
to this revenue whereby a percentage of candidates may in 
reality reverse their acceptance prior to their start date and the 
level of provision is considered to be appropriate based on 
historical evidence
bad debt provisioning
at each balance sheet date each subsidiary evaluates the 
collectability of trade receivables and records a provision based 
on anticipated recoverable cash flows nature of counterparty 
past due date geographical location the costs of recovery 
and the fair value of any guarantee received 
the committee reviewed the ageing profile of trade receivables 
and considered this to be consistent with previous periods they 
also considered that the level of the bad debt provision is 
appropriate given the risk profile of the group’s trade receivables
deferred tax
the judgement to recognise a deferred tax asset is dependent 
upon the group’s expectations regarding the future profitability 
of certain businesses which contain a degree of inherent 
uncertainty the committee reviewed the judgements 
made in respect of tax including deferred tax assets their 
recoverability and the nature of the requirements under 
international financial reporting standards to satisfy recognition 
on the balance sheet
the committee concluded that based on management’s 
assumptions and current forecasts the level of recognition 
appears reasonable  robert walters plc   33
annual report  accounts 2014
other significant matters considered by the committee
the committee considered other significant matters as set 
out below
 – in order to support the going concern assumption the 
committee was presented with detailed forecasts showing 
the current group financing position and future cash flows 
the group’s financing arrangements consist of
 – net funds totalling £143m this is net of the facility drawn 
down to the extent of £234m at 31 december 2014
 – a further £05m renminbi denominated loan
 – a guaranteed borrowing facility of £350m expiring 
november 2016
 – net current assets of £531m
 based on the current financing position and projected cash 
flows the committee concluded that the going concern 
assumption was appropriate
 – in reviewing the results for 2014 the committee reviewed the 
assessments made for goodwill impairment this included 
measuring the carrying value of goodwill against the 
discounted cashflows of each cash generating unit cgu 
each local business is considered to be a cgu there are a 
number of judgements made by management including the 
forecast of future performance discount rates used the 
growth rates applied and the sensitivity analysis undertaken 
the committee confirmed based on management’s 
expectations of future performance of certain business units 
that no goodwill impairment charges were required in 2014
 – a final draft of the annual report is reviewed by the audit 
committee prior to consideration by the board and the 
committee considered whether the 2014 annual report was 
fair balanced and understandable and whether it provided 
the necessary information for shareholders to assess the 
group’s performance business model and strategy they 
were satisfied that taken as a whole the annual report is 
fair balanced and understandable and provided the 
necessary information for shareholders to assess the group’s 
performance business model and strategy and
 – the committee received an update on future accounting 
standards changes and the potential impact that these may 
have on the group’s financial statements some of these new 
accounting standards will apply for the financial year 2015 
and the committee will continue to assess the impact on the 
group’s financial statements
internal audit and risk
at the end of 2013 the committee approved the internal audit 
plan for 2014 during the year the internal audit function has 
delivered both significant geographic and financial coverage  
as well as riskbased assurance across a wider remit including 
operational activities and support departments such as human 
resources onsite audit reviews at resource solutions’ clients 
have also been carried out internal audit reports on key 
business processes and control activities including following  
up the implementation of management action plans to address 
any identified control weaknesses at each meeting the 
committee received a summary of new audit findings and a 
progress update on previously raised audit recommendations 
the committee reviewed the independence and objectivity  
of the internal audit function and approved the internal audit 
plan for 2015 
assessment of effectiveness of external audit process
the committee assessed the effectiveness of the external audit 
process by obtaining feedback from all parties involved in the 
process including management and the external auditor as part 
of a formal review process audit effectiveness questionnaires 
are completed by members of the audit committee and senior 
finance employees from across the group a summary report 
of these responses including recommendations for future 
improvement was presented to the committee for their 
consideration it was concluded that the external audit  
process was operating effectively the committee held private 
discussions with deloitte llp deloitte at both of the audit 
committee meetings which considered the financial statements 
to provide an opportunity for open dialogue and feedback 
without management being present matters discussed included 
the preparedness and efficiency of management with respect  
to the audit the strengths and any perceived weaknesses of the 
financial management team confirmation that no restriction on 
scope had been placed on them by management and how they 
had exercised professional judgement
based on this formal feedback and its own ongoing 
assessment the committee remains satisfied with the efficiency 
and effectiveness of the audit 34   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
directors’ report
report of the audit committee continued
reappointment of auditor
the audit committee is responsible for making 
recommendations to the board regarding the appointment of its 
external auditors and their remuneration deloitte has been the 
group’s auditor since 2002 the audit committee following a 
review during the year remains satisfied with the effectiveness 
and independence of deloitte nevertheless in line with the new 
european union audit directive and regulation it is the intention 
that the group audit will be put out for tender in 2019 in line  
with our auditor independence policy the group audit partner  
is required to rotate after a maximum of five years edward 
hanson who had been in the role of group audit partner for the 
past five years was replaced by john charlton in 2014 there 
was a fourmonth handover between the two deloitte partners 
that ensured that there was a seamless transition during the 
year the audit committee will give further consideration during 
the incoming engagement partner’s term to the application  
of the audit tendering provision of the 2012 edition of the  
uk corporate governance code there are no contractual 
obligations restricting our choice of external auditors and  
no auditor liability agreement has been entered into
independence of our external auditor
the audit committee recognises the importance of ensuring 
the independence and objectivity of the group’s auditor and 
reviews the service provided by the auditor and the level of 
their fees any nonaudit fees greater than £25000 individually  
or in aggregate require the approval of the audit committee each 
financial year the audit committee has adopted a policy with 
respect to the provision of nonaudit services provided to the 
group by the external auditor that complies with the requirements 
of the code the board has delegated responsibility to the audit 
committee for making recommendations on the appointment 
evaluation and dismissal of the external auditor
after due and careful consideration taking account of the 
processes above the committee has recommended to the 
board that deloitte be reappointed as the company’s auditor
raising concerns in confidence
the audit committee also reviews the group’s whistleblowing 
procedures to ensure that appropriate arrangements are in place 
for employees to be able to raise matters of possible impropriety 
in confidence with suitable followup action the audit 
committee considers that the nomination of brian mcarthur
muscroft as a point of contact for raising any such matter  
is an appropriate measure and the procedure for raising  
such concerns is detailed on the group’s intranet
approved
this report was approved by the board of directors  
on 25 february 2015 and is signed on its behalf by
brian mcarthurmuscroft
audit committee chairman
25 february 2015 robert walters plc   35
annual report  accounts 2014
report of the remuneration committee
dear shareholder
i am pleased to introduce the report of the board covering the 
group’s remuneration policy and practice in respect of executive 
and nonexecutive directors
this remuneration report has been prepared in accordance 
with the applicable remuneration disclosure regulations and is 
split into two parts comprising
 – the annual report on remuneration detailing payments 
made to directors displaying the link between group 
performance and remuneration for the 2014 financial year 
and the intended approach to be applied to the 2015 
financial year
 – the directors’ remuneration policy setting out the group’s 
intended remuneration policy for directors as approved by 
shareholders in a binding vote at the 2014 annual general 
meeting and which will apply for the three years starting 
1 january 2015
the remuneration committee’s activities in 2014
we committed to continue to engage with our largest 
shareholders and during the period we consulted with 
institutional shareholders as well as a number of investor 
representative organisations and carefully listened to the 
feedback received in addition to the engagement process 
the key areas of focus during the period have been
 – a review of the basic pay benefits bonus and equity 
incentives for the executive directors
 – an assessment of the link between reward for individual and 
company performance to align the interests of the executive 
directors with those of shareholders 
 – consideration of executive directors’ remuneration in relation 
to the reward structures in place for other employees in the 
group and
 – reviewing and approving rules of the new share plan prior to 
formal approval at the 2014 agm
2014 business performance and reward
despite continued global market volatility the group delivered a 
strong set of results in 2014
the group delivered a 14 increase in revenue to £6796m and 
net fee income was up 8 to £2153m the group continued to 
drive performance improvement from its well positioned global 
network maintaining its geographical footprint and focusing 
upon the retention of our more experienced talented 
employees this ensures the business is well positioned to 
maximise future growth opportunities and this overall approach 
including an improvement in productivity delivered an uplift in 
profit before taxation to £182m an increase of 80
overall robert walters continues to be seen as one of the few 
truly diverse global professional recruitment consultancies with 
67 of net fee income derived from outside the uk and 81 of 
recruitment net fee income generated from outside the financial 
services sector
based on the group’s positive trading result and the strong 
performance against the stretching financial and nonfinancial 
targets set at the beginning of 2014 for the year the committee 
has determined that annual bonuses of 100 have been earned 
and fully deserved
despite the group’s strong performance during the year only 
18 of the longterm incentives awarded in 2012 vested as the 
majority of the stretching performance targets were not achieved 
over the threeyear performance period although the share 
price increased 91 since 2011 total shareholder return  
tsr over the threeyear period from 31 december 2011  
to 31 december 2014 was 69 compared to a relative result  
for the ftse small cap index of 67 resulting in only 36 of 
this performance target being met in addition the stretching 
earnings per share targets set over the threeyear period 
were not achieved and the earnings per share related awards 
did not vest
the structure of remuneration
in reviewing basic pay the committee has considered the overall 
employment market and also the average base pay increases for 
employees in both the uk and the overall group together with 
current trading conditions as a result the committee has 
decided to increase salaries by 3 with effect from 1 january 
2015 which is lower than our average employee salary increase 
for 2015 36   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
directors’ report
report of the remuneration committee continued
as noted in last year’s report the committee conducted a 
comprehensive review of total remuneration during 2013 and 
2014 the new structure which was approved at the 2014 
annual general meeting and is to be implemented in the 2015 
financial year will ensure pay is closely linked to the longerterm 
performance of the group reducing maximum pay potential 
whilst still providing a strong retention tool for executive 
directors these changes will also simplify the remuneration 
structure which was the most consistent point of feedback 
received from shareholders the approved changes resulted in
 – a simplified remuneration structure
 – reduction of separate equity incentives arrangements into 
one single plan and the elimination of share options
 – overall reduction in maximum pay potential
 – more demanding performance targets and a lower level of 
payout for threshold performance under the new 
performance share plan
 – maximum bonus and share awards under the performance 
share plan increased to replace in part the value of 
share options
 – introduction of a deferral requirement over a twoyear  
period and
 – introduction of share ownership guidelines and clawback 
provisions
2014 was a transitional year as the new remuneration structure 
and performance share plan rules were approved at the may 
2014 annual general meeting almost halfway into the financial 
year therefore the previous remuneration structure was in force 
for the 2014 financial year this means that 2014 was the last 
year in which the group made grants of options to the executive 
directors and the new remuneration policy will take full effect 
during 2015 full details of the new policy are set out on  
pages 47 to 52
i hope our shareholders will support the directors’  
remuneration report
andrew kemp
remuneration committee chairman
25 february 2015 robert walters plc   37
annual report  accounts 2014
annual report on remuneration
this section of the report provides details of the payments made to directors in respect of the 2014 financial year
single total figure audited
executive directors 
the total remuneration for 2014 and comparative prior year figures for each executive director is set out in the table below
2014
base  
salary  
£’000
other
1
 benefits 
£’000
pension 
£’000
total
fixed
pay
£’000
bonus 
£’000
ltips
2
 
£’000
total 
variable
 pay 
£’000
total 
£’000
r c walters 550 60 110 720 550 193 743 1463
g p daubeney 459 48 91 598 459 162 621 1219
a r bannatyne 336 27 67 430 336 119 455 885
1345 135 268 1748 1345 474 1819 3567
2013
base 
salary 
£’000
other
1
 
benefits 
£’000
pension 
£’000
total 
fixed 
pay 
£’000
bonus 
£’000
ltips
3
 
£’000
total 
variable 
pay 
£’000
total 
£’000
r c walters 537 60 107 704 537 – 537 1241
g p daubeney 448 48 89 585 448 – 448 1033
a r bannatyne 328 27 66 421 328 – 328 749
1313 135 262 1710 1313 – 1313 3023
1 each of the executive directors is entitled to a range of benefits comprising permanent health insurance private medical insurance car allowance and mortgage subsidy  
all benefits are subject to annual review 
2 the performance conditions targets and actual performance for both the performance share plan and executive share option scheme are detailed on pages 38 to 40 
3 fy 2013 ltips comprise share options and performance share awards granted in march 2011 vesting in march 2014 based on performance assessed over the threeyear 
period ending on 31 december 2013
chairman and nonexecutive directors audited
the total remuneration for 2014 and 2013 for the chairman and each nonexecutive director is set out in the table below
2014 2013
base 
salary  
£’000
total
1
 
fixed pay 
£’000
base
salary 
£’000
total
1
 
fixed pay 
£’000
l van de walle 103 103 100 100
a d kemp 64 64 62 62
b mcarthurmuscroft 62 62 42 42
c hui 52 52 51 51
m a griffiths – – 36 36
281 281 291 291
1 no other taxable benefits payable to the chairman and nonexecutive directors 
additional details in respect of the single total figure
base salary 
for 2014 the committee gave robert walters giles daubeney and alan bannatyne a base salary increase of 25 and this came 
into effect on the 1 january 2014 these salary increases were lower than the average salary increase for employees across the 
group of 36
other benefits
each of the executive directors is entitled to a range of benefits comprising permanent health insurance private medical insurance 
car allowance and mortgage subsidy all benefits are subject to annual review and for 2014 there was no changes to benefits for 
each of the executive directors
pensions
each of the executive directors is entitled to an annual defined contribution pension of 20 of salary into an approved money 
purchase scheme or cash in lieu of pension the chief executive takes his pension contribution as a cash allowance both the  
chief financial officer and the chief operating officer opted to take that element of their contribution over and above the limit  
set by hmrc in cash
the normal retirement age of each director is in line with government legislation and no additional benefit would become receivable 
by a director in the event that the director retires early 38   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
directors’ report
report of the remuneration committee continued
annual bonus
for 2014 the committee determined the annual bonus payment for the executive directors by reference to specific performance 
targets set at the beginning of the year the performance measures and bonus payment were as follows
bonus for profit before taxation 
performance
bonus for personal kpis 
performance total bonus
potential actual potential actual potential actual
r c walters £’000 330 330 220 220 550 550
 of salary 60 60 40 40 100 100
 of maximum 60 60 40 40 100 100
g p daubeney £’000 275 275 184 184 459 459
 of salary 60 60 40 40 100 100
 of maximum 60 60 40 40 100 100
a r bannatyne £’000 202 202 134 134 336 336
 of salary 60 60 40 40 100 100
 of maximum 60 60 40 40 100 100
 – profit before taxation for the group 60 weighting with full payment of this component requiring an increase in profit before 
taxation set at a challenging level at the beginning of the year the committee has determined that at this time the performance 
targets under the annual bonus represent commercially sensitive information although shareholders may prefer the public 
disclosure of these targets the board believes that this would be damaging to the company and useful to our competitors in 
short public disclosure is not in shareholders’ longerterm interests if the board decides that targets are no longer commercially 
sensitive they will be disclosed and
 – personal kpis 40 weighting which include strategic performance objectives such as the successful execution of the group’s 
investment strategy staff retention and development client and candidate satisfaction innovation and improvements to it 
infrastructure including the commencement of an upgrade to the front office software
the business exceeded the stretch target set for profit before taxation at the beginning of the year and all executive directors 
performed well against their personal objectives consequently bonuses of 100 of salary were awarded to all executive directors 
over the last five years the average total bonus payout has been 72 of salary
longterm incentive plans
the longterm incentive plan ltips figures that are presented in the single total figure table on page 37 is the total of share options 
and performance awards granted under the performance share plan psp which are detailed below
a share options 
the 2014 value represents an estimate of the value of the percentage of the share options held by the executive directors that were 
granted in march 2012 the share options are due to vest in march 2015 subject to the achievement of stretching performance 
conditions determined at the beginning of 2012 over the threeyear period that ended on 31 december 2014 details of the 
performance levels achieved over this threeyear period are set out below
performance measure weighting
performance required for  
minimum vesting  
ie 33 of award
performance required for 
maximum vesting  
ie 100 of award
actual  
performance
actual  
 of vesting  
achieved
compound annual increase in 
eps compared to the increase 
in rpi over three years
100 the group’s 
annualised eps 
growth rate must 
exceed the uk retail 
price index by at least 
an annual compound
growth of 8
rpi  8
the group’s 
annualised
eps growth rate must 
exceed the uk retail 
price index by at least 
an annual compound 
growth of 14 
rpi  14
the group’s 
annualised eps 
growth was below the 
minimum threshold 
vesting level
0
total to vest in march 2015 0
as the minimum threshold performance required was not achieved no share options will vest in march 2015 over the last five years 
the average actual percentage vesting of the options has been 20 of the initial award this is illustrative of the stretching nature of 
the eps targets over that period
the performance conditions for all outstanding share options can be found on page 40 robert walters plc   39
annual report  accounts 2014
the table below details the number of share options granted in march 2012 the potential value of these options at grant date and the 
expected value for share options included in the single figure table in 2014
options 
granted
grant price 
p
1
strike price or 
‘face value’
£’000
2
fair value 
£’000
3
 of 
vesting 
achieved
no of 
vested 
awards
value of 
vested
awards
£’000
r c walters 300000 227 681 226 0 0 0
g p daubeney 250000 227 568 188 0 0 0
a r bannatyne 200000 227 454 150 0 0 0
1  grant price is the market value at the time of grant
2  face value has been calculated as the maximum number of shares that would vest if all performance measures and targets are met multiplied by the share price at date of grant
3  fair value has been calculated as the fair value of one share as provided by hewitt new bridge street’s stochastic option pricing model multiplied by the number of options granted
b performance share plan psp
the 2014 value represents an estimate of the value of the percentage of the performance awards held by the executive directors that 
were granted in march 2012 psp awards granted in march 2012 are scheduled to vest in march 2015 subject to the achievement of 
stretching performance conditions over the threeyear period ending on 31 december 2014 details of the performance levels 
achieved over this threeyear period are set out below
performance measure weighting
performance required for  
minimum vesting  
ie 33 of award
performance required for  
maximum vesting  
ie 100 of award
actual  
performance
actual 
 of vesting  
achieved
compound annual increase in 
eps compared to the increase 
in rpi over three years
50 the group’s 
annualised eps 
growth rate to exceed 
the uk retail price 
index by at least an 
annual compound 
growth of 8
the group’s 
annualised eps 
growth rate to exceed 
the uk retail price 
index by at least an 
annual compound 
growth of 14
the group’s 
annualised eps 
growth was below the 
minimum threshold 
vesting level
0
relative tsr measured 
against the ftse small cap 
index over three years
50 relative tsr of the 
group matches the 
median relative tsr 
performance of the 
ftse small cap index
relative tsr of the 
group exceeds the 
median relative tsr 
performance of the 
ftse small cap index 
by at least an annual 
compound growth of 
125
tsr over the three
year period ended 31 
december 2014 was 
695 compared to 
a median tsr of the 
ftse small cap index 
of 673
364
total to vest in march 2015 182
the minimum threshold was met for the tsr performance condition with 364 vesting achieved however the minimum threshold 
performance required was not achieved for the eps performance condition as a consequence overall 182 of the shares awarded 
in 2012 under the performance share plan will vest in march 2015
the table below details the awards granted in march 2012 the potential value of these awards at grant date and the expected value 
for psp awards included in the single figure table in 2014
no of psp 
awards 
granted
grant price
p
1
face value 
£’000
2
fair value 
£’000
3
 of vesting 
achieved
no of vested 
awards
value of 
vested
awards
4
£’000
r c walters 243909 220 537 445 182 44452 129
g p daubeney 203356 220 447 371 182 37062 108
a r bannatyne 148922 220 328 272 182 27141 79
1  grant price is the market value at the time of grant
2  face value has been calculated as the maximum number of shares that would vest if all performance measures and targets are met multiplied by the share price at date of grant
3  fair value has been calculated as the fair value of one share as provided by hewitt new bridge street’s stochastic option pricing model multiplied by the number of options granted
4  the value of vested awards is calculated using the average share price for the final quarter of 2014 of 291p per share the actual value of the award may differ as it is dependent 
on the actual share price on the vesting date 40   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
directors’ report
the executive directors also participated in the coinvestment opportunity in march 2012 with each of them investing in shares at  
the maximum level of 25 of salary an award of coinvestment shares was then made over the number of shares which could have 
been acquired had the amount of salary invested been on a pretax basis the performance conditions are the same as the psp 
awards above and as a consequence 182 of the coinvestment awards will vest in march 2015
the table below details the expected value for the coinvestment awards included in the single figure table in 2014
no of psp 
awards 
granted
grant price
p
1
face value 
£’000
2
fair value 
£’000
3
 of vesting 
achieved
no of vested 
awards
value of 
vested
awards
4
£’000
r c walters 117719 220 259 215 182 21454 62
g p daubeney 98146 220 216 179 182 17887 52
a r bannatyne 71875 220 158 131 182 13099 38
1 grant price is the market value at the time of grant
2 face value has been calculated as the maximum number of shares that would vest if all performance measures and targets are met multiplied by the share price at date of grant
3 fair value has been calculated as the fair value of one share as provided by hewitt new bridge street’s stochastic option pricing model multiplied by the number of options granted
4 the value of vested awards is calculated using the average share price for the final quarter of 2014 of 291p per share the actual value of the award may differ as it is dependent 
on the actual share price on the vesting date
the committee has limited powers to exercise discretion in relation to the vesting of the psp or coinvestment awards subject  
to a genuine improvement in the underlying performance of the business and there was no discretion exercised in the current year 
the performance conditions for all outstanding psp awards can be found on pages 40 and 41
longterm incentives awarded in 2014 audited
share options
on 3 march 2014 the executive directors were granted market value options as follows 
options  
granted
grant price 
p
1
strike price 
or ‘face value’ 
£’000
2
fair value
 £’000
3
 award vesting at 
minimum threshold 
performance
maximum 
 of face 
value that 
could vest
r c walters 300000 353 1059 305 33 100
g p daubeney 250000 353 883 254 33 100
a r bannatyne 200000 353 706 203 33 100
1 grant price is the market value at the time of grant
2 face value has been calculated as the maximum number of shares that would vest if all performance measures and targets are met multiplied by the share price at date  
of grant 
3 fair value has been calculated as the fair value of one share as provided by hewitt new bridge street’s stochastic option pricing model multiplied by the number of options granted
the performance period is the threeyear period ending 31 december 2016 target ranges are set at the beginning of 2014 and 
assessed against information available at that point in time the vesting of share options granted is subject to the achievement of 
earnings per share growth which exceeds the percentage increase in the uk retail price index by at least an annual compound growth 
of 8 per annum over a period of three financial years of the group on satisfaction of this performance target 33 of the options 
vest the options vest in full only where earnings per share growth matches the uk retail price index plus an annual compound growth 
of 14 vesting between these points is linear to the extent that the performance targets are not met at the end of the threeyear 
period options will lapse the share options are only exercisable between three and ten years from the date of grant
performance share plan psp
on 23 may 2014 the executive directors were granted psp and coinvestment awards under the new performance share plan  
as approved by shareholders at the 2014 annual general meeting the value of these awards was approximately 150 of salary  
as follows
share  
awards
coinvestment 
awards
grant price 
p
1
face value 
£’000
2
 
fair value 
£’000
3
 award vesting at 
minimum threshold 
performance
maximum 
 of face 
value that 
could vest
r c walters 174673 82406 315 810 542 30 100
g p daubeney 145631 44479 315 599 401 30 100
a r bannatyne 106649 50313 315 494 331 30 100
1 grant price is the market value at the time of grant
2 face value has been calculated as the maximum number of shares that would vest if all performance measures and targets are met multiplied by the share price at date of grant 
3 fair value has been calculated as the fair value of one share as provided by hewitt new bridge street’s stochastic option pricing model multiplied by the number of options granted
report of the remuneration committee continued robert walters plc   41
annual report  accounts 2014
the performance period is the threeyear period ending 31 december 2016 the performance criteria for psp awards comprise two 
separate components half the shares awarded will vest subject to meeting earnings per share growth targets the earnings per 
share range is a minimum threshold of 115p at which point 30 of the award will vest the maximum threshold is 14p at which point 
100 of the award will vest with straightline vesting between these two points
vesting of the remaining half of the shares is determined by reference to relative tsr over a threeyear period no vesting occurs of 
such shares unless performance at least matches the performance of the ftse small cap index and full vesting occurs when tsr 
exceeds the ftse small cap index by annual compound growth of 125 this level of performance is deemed to be broadly 
equivalent to upper quartile performance to the extent that the performance targets are not met at the end of the threeyear period 
the shares will lapse
the psp also permits the award of coinvestment shares to participate in the coinvestment opportunity each participant must 
invest in shares using personal funds up to a maximum of 25 of salary and on the condition that these shares are held until the 
date of vesting an award of coinvestment shares will then be made over that number of shares which could have been acquired 
had the amount of salary invested been on a pretax basis
statement of directors’ shareholding and share interests audited
share options
details of the options to acquire ordinary shares in the company granted to or held by the directors under the company’s executive 
share option scheme or saye option scheme are as follows
options at 
1 january  
2014
options 
granted 
during the 
year
options 
exercised 
during the 
year
options lapsed 
during the year
options at 
31 december 
2014
1
price 
granted 
p
2
share price 
on exercise 
p
gain on 
exercise
 £
3
exercise  
dates
r c walters
executive options 300000 – – – 300000 208 – – mar 2013 – mar 2020
saye options 3713 – 3713 – – 243 305 2302 may 2014 – nov 2014
executive options 300000 – – 300000 – 329 – – mar 2014 – mar 2021
executive options 300000 – – – 300000 227 – – mar 2015 – mar 2022
executive options 300000 – – – 300000 211 – – mar 2016 – mar 2023
executive options – 300000 – – 300000 353 – – mar 2017 – mar 2024
saye options – 6792 – – 6792 265 – – may 2017 – nov 2017
1203713 306792 3713 300000 1206792 2302
g p daubeney
executive options 250000 – – – 250000 208 – – mar 2013 – mar 2020
saye options 3713 – 3713 – – 243 305 2302 may 2014 – nov 2014
executive options 250000 – – 250000 – 329 – – mar 2014 – mar 2021
executive options 250000 – – – 250000 227 – – mar 2015 – mar 2022
executive options 250000 – – – 250000 211 – – mar 2016 – mar 2023
executive options – 250000 – – 250000 353 – – mar 2017 – mar 2024
saye options – 6792 – – 6792 265 – – may 2017 – nov 2017
1003713 256792 3713 250000 1006792 2302
a r bannatyne
executive options 200000 – – – 200000 208 – – mar 2013 – mar 2020
saye options 3713 – 3713 – – 243 305 2302 may 2014 – nov 2014
executive options 200000 – – 200000 – 329 – – mar 2014 – mar 2021
executive options 200000 – – – 200000 227 – – mar 2015 – mar 2022
executive options 200000 – – – 200000 211 – – mar 2016 – mar 2023
executive options – 200000 – – 200000 353 – – mar 2017 – mar 2024
saye options – 6792 – – 6792 265 – – may 2017 – nov 2017
803713 206792 3713 200000 806792 2302
3011139 770376 11139 750000 3020376 6906
1  in total there are 750000 options that have vested but are unexercised
2 market price when awarded except for saye options which were granted at a 20 discount to the market price
3  gain on exercise is theoretical gain had all shares been sold on exercise all shares were retained by the executive directors 42   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
directors’ report
the performance criteria of the options are detailed in note 18
the market price of the ordinary shares at 31 december 2014 was 309p per share 2013 312p per share and the range during the 
year was 273p to 360p per share
performance share plan psp audited
there are currently 60 senior executives who participate in the psp  the maximum number of shares receivable by executive 
directors is as follows
date of  
grant
 share 
awards
coinvestment 
awards
 vested 
during year
 lapsed 
during year
at 
31 december 
2014
share price 
on date of
award p
1
 exercise 
date
r c walters
march 2011 163496 100104 – 263600 – 320 march 2014
march 2012 243909 117719 – – 361628 220 march 2015
april 2013 269901 112534 – – 382435 217 april 2016
may 2014 174673 82406 – – 257079 315 may 2017
851979 412763 – 263600 1001142
g p daubeney
march 2011 136304 84406 – 220710 – 320 march 2014
march 2012 203356 98146 – – 301502 220 march 2015
april 2013 224251 93823 – – 318074 217 april 2016
may 2014 145631 44479 – – 190110 315 may 2017
709542 320854 – 220710 809686
a r bannatyne
march 2011 99824 56380 – 156204 – 320 march 2014
march 2012 148922 71875 – – 220797 220 march 2015
april 2013 161789 68709 – – 230498 217 april 2016
may 2014 106649 50313 – – 156962 315 may 2017
517184 247277 – 156204 608257
1 market price when awarded
in accordance with the guidance issued by the investment association and consistent with the rules of the company’s share 
schemes the maximum number of new shares that may be issued in respect of all share schemes is limited to 10 of the issued 
share capital at 1 january 2015 the company had outstanding options representing 58 of issued share capital
the company also has an employee benefit trust that may acquire shares in order to meet contingent obligations under  
sharebased incentive schemes
in the event of a change of control the rules specify that all awards would vest subject to satisfaction of the performance conditions 
the awards would normally then be pro rated to reflect the period of time between the date of grant and the date of change of 
control further information relating to all equity awards currently available to executive directors is detailed on pages 41 and 42  
and in note 18 to the accounts
directors’ interests in shares
the directors who held office at 31 december 2014 had the following interests in the ordinary shares of the company
31 december  
2014  
number
31 december 
2013  
number
r c walters 2283006 2450805
g p daubeney 1610120 1798019
a r bannatyne 281178 250799
l van de walle 25587 15311
a d kemp 10000 10000
c hui 10000 10000
b mcarthurmuscroft 7140 7140
in 2014 there was no guideline for the directors to own shares in the group however the new remuneration structure has a 
recommended minimum holding of 200 of salary for executive directors for the avoidance of doubt directors are not permitted to 
take forward options or in any way securitise their holdings of robert walters plc shares 
report of the remuneration committee continued robert walters plc   43
annual report  accounts 2014
the percentage and value of the shareholdings of the executive 
directors based on the share price at 31 december 2014 and 
expressed as a percentage of salary are as follows
shares held
 of 
issued  
share 
capital
 of  
salary
r c walters 296 1283
g p daubeney 209 1084
a r bannatyne 036 259
performance graph
the following graph shows the company’s performance 
compared with the performance of the ftse small cap index 
selected because robert walters plc is a constituent measured 
by tsr 
tsr performance graph since 1 jan 2009
400
350
300
250
2009 2012 2013 2014 2011 2010
200
150
100
50
0
robert walters ftse small cap
tsr is calculated by datastream as the growth or fall in value of 
a shareholding from the date of initial investment over time with 
the assumption that dividends are reinvested to purchase 
additional shares in the company 
ceo information
the group believes strongly that remuneration should be 
linked to performance the following graph and table give 
a perspective of the chief executive’s pay over a period of 
ten years 
300
250
2004 2005 2014 2010 2011 2012 2013 2008 2009 2006 2007
200
150
100
50
0
ceo ftse small cap
ceo base pay and tsr performance graph
this graph shows how the chief executive’s base salary has 
increased since 2004 against the total shareholder return tsr 
of the ftse small cap index over the same period
the following table shows the chief executive’s pay over the last ten years
r c walters
total 
remuneration 
£’000
1
 of 
total bonus paid 
against maximum 
opportunity
2
 
 of 
ltips vesting
 against maximum 
opportunity
3
period over  
which the ltips  
performance targets  
are based on 
2014 1463 100 18 2011–2014
2013 1241 100 0 2010–2013
2012 1168 0 71 2009–2012
2011 1699 40 35 2008–2011
2010 2112 120 32 2007–2010
2009 630 0 0 2006–2009
2008 1017 40 8 2005–2008
2007 1329 100 58 2004–2007
2006 3732 100 100 2003–2006
2005 3740 100 100 2002–2005
total average 70 42
1 total remuneration is calculated as the total of fixed and variable pay based on the same calculation method used in the single total figure table on page 37
2   of total bonus paid against maximum opportunity is calculated as the annual bonus pay out in each respective year based on the same calculation method used in the single 
total figure table as a  of the maximum opportunity
3   of ltips vesting against maximum opportunity is calculated as the number of share options and psp awards that have vested in the year in which the performance conditions 
ends as a  of the maximum vesting opportunity 44   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
directors’ report
chief executive’s pay compared to employees
the table below shows the yearonyear percentage movement of base pay other benefits and annual bonus in 2014 for the  
chief executive compared with the average percentage change for group employees
the chief executive’s remuneration disclosed in the table below uses the same information for base salary other benefits and  
bonus as the single total figure on page 37 the group employee pay is calculated using the movement of the average remuneration 
per head for all group employees
base  
salary 

other  
benefits

bonus 

r c walters 25 0 25
all employees 36 11 122
relative importance of the spend on pay
the graph below shows details of the group’s profit after taxation dividends paid share buybacks total spend on pay and tax paid 
for the years ended 31 december 2013 and 2014
160
£m
2014 2013
140
120
100
60
40
20
80
0
spend on pay
proﬁt after tax 
£m
113
62
2014 2013
dividends paid 
£m
41 38
2014 2013
shares purchased 
by ebt £m
40
2014 2013
overall spend 
on pay £m
1432
1398
2014 2013
tax paid 
£m
32 28
7 83 100
2
16
1  overall spend on pay includes wages and salaries social security costs pension costs and sharebased payments for all employees including directors further details of the 
total remuneration of the group are given in note 4
2  the total dividend paid during the year ended 31 december 2014 was £41m based on a final dividend of £28m paid on 13 june 2014 and an interim dividend of £13m paid on 
17 october 2014 further details on dividends are given in note 6
3 tax paid during the year represents the corporation taxation paid for the group during the year ended 31 december 2014
4  the shares purchased by the ebt represent the total amount spent by the employee benefit trust ebt on shares during the year ended 31 december 2014
report of the remuneration committee continued robert walters plc   45
annual report  accounts 2014
statement of implementation of remuneration policy in 2015
the group’s policy on executive directors’ remuneration and implementation for the year ended 31 december 2015 will be as follows
i base salary
a executive directors
for 2015 the average salary increases for employees other than executive directors will be approximately 35 the committee has 
decided to give the executive directors salary increases lower than the average salary increase robert walters giles daubeney and 
alan bannatyne will each receive a base salary increase of 3 the graph below sets out the base salaries of the executive directors 
over the last three years and the salaries for 2015
600000
£
2012
537000
537000
550000
567000
448000
448000
459000
473000
328000
328000
336000
346000
2013
chief executive chief operating ofﬁcer chief financial ofﬁcer
2014 2015 2012 2013 2014 2015 2012 2013 2014 2015
500000
400000
300000
100000
200000
0
base salaries of the executive directors
b nonexecutive directors
for 2015 the fees for the chairman and the nonexecutive directors have been agreed as follows
2015 2014
base  
salary  
£’000
total
1
 
fixed pay  
£’000
base  
salary  
£’000
total
1
 
fixed pay  
£’000
l van de walle 106 106 103 103
b mcarthurmuscroft 64 64 62 62
c hui 54 54 52 52
a d kemp 66 66 64 64
290 290 281 281
1  no other taxable benefits payable to the chairman and nonexecutive directors
ii other benefits
after reviewing the value of the benefits the committee has decided that benefits will not be increased in 2015
iii annual bonus 
for 2015 the committee has determined that the annual bonus payment for the executive directors will be by reference to specific 
performance targets set at the beginning of the year the performance measures are
 – profit before taxation for the group 70 weighting and
 – personal kpis 30 weighting which include strategic performance objectives such as the successful execution of the group’s 
investment strategy opening of new offices staff retention and development client and candidate satisfaction innovation such as 
the roll out of the group’s social media strategy and cost effective improvements to it infrastructure including the completion of 
an upgrade to the front office software
for 2015 the ontarget bonus for each of the executive directors will be set at 975 of salary and the maximum bonus will be set at 
150 of salary one third of any earned bonus will be deferred for two years into shares payable in equal tranches at the end of 2016 
and 2017 46   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
directors’ report
iv longterm incentive plans
for 2015 it is proposed that each executive director will receive awards under the performance share plan psp to the value of 
180 of base salary as part of changes to the remuneration policy executive directors can no longer participate in coinvestments 
or share options 
the performance period is the threeyear period ending 31 december 2017 the performance conditions and weightings for these 
psp awards are set out as follows
performance condition weighting
 of award 
vesting at 
threshold
total shareholder return tsr relative to the ftse small cap index 50 15
earning per share eps growth over 3year period 50 15
total 100 30
in relation to the psp performance conditions the vesting criteria are split into the following two components
a in determining the threeyear eps targets the first year is set using a specific growth target which represents the most reasonable 
current expectation for year one performance of the committee taking into account all available data for 2015 the first year target 
is set at 15 years two and three targets are then based on a fixed rate of growth in earnings per share of uk rpi  8 the 
overall threshold target will be the compound result of years one two and three there is then a straightline increase in vesting 
with 100 vesting occurring where eps growth matches the annual compound growth rate of uk rpi  14 in respect of years 
two and three
b in relation to the tsr performance condition no vesting will occur unless performance at least matches the performance of  
the ftse small cap index and full vesting occurs when tsr exceeds the ftse small cap index by annual compound growth  
of 125 
v pensions
there are no proposed changes in the level of pension contributions as a percentage of base salary for each executive director 
in 2015
the remuneration committee
the remuneration committee comprises andrew kemp chairman brian mcarthurmuscroft and carol hui all of whom are 
independent nonexecutive directors and it is the intention of the chairman of the board leslie van de walle to be in attendance  
for all meetings 
the purpose of the committee is to consider all aspects of executive directors’ remuneration and to determine the specific 
remuneration packages of the executive directors including bonus schemes pension contributions and other benefits the 
committee also determines the remuneration of the chairman the committee ensures that the remuneration packages are 
competitive within the recruitment industry and reflect both group and personal performance during the year whilst also having 
regard to the broader levels of remuneration within the group itself and environmental social and governance issues the committee 
meets when required to consider all aspects of executive directors’ remuneration and received independent external advice from 
towers watson and hewitt new bridge street consultants llp during the year the committee has satisfied itself that the advice 
provided is independent and objective towers watson and hewitt new bridge street have been formally appointed by the 
committee neither firm provides other services to the committee and both are members of the remuneration consultants group 
and the committee is satisfied that no conflicts of interest have arisen the fees paid to these firms during the year were £19500  
to towers watson and £7 000 to hewitt new bridge street the terms of reference of the remuneration committee are available 
upon request
voting at general meeting
at the group’s agm in may 2014 shareholders approved the directors’ remuneration report for the year ended 31 december 2013 
and also approved the directors’ remuneration policy and the new robert walters performance share plan the table below shows 
the results in respect of the resolutions 
resolution votes for  votes against  votes withheld
approve the directors’ remuneration report 51099697 877 7131942 123 5654726
approve the directors’ remuneration policy 59842697 937 4044008 63 0
approve the performance share plan 54192465 930 4040174 69 5654726
the committee reviewed feedback from shareholders and noted that the majority of shareholders generally approved of the changes 
to remuneration namely an increased focus on longterm performance of the votes cast against these represented less than 1 of 
the total number of unique shareholders at the time
report of the remuneration committee continued robert walters plc   47
annual report  accounts 2014
directors’ remuneration policy
this section details the group’s remuneration policy for executive directors which is expected to be applicable for the 2015 to 2017 
financial years and was approved by the shareholders in a binding vote during the 2014 annual general meeting the policy detailed 
in this section took effect from 1 january 2015
how the committee sets remuneration
the committee reviews the group’s remuneration philosophy and structure each year to ensure the remuneration framework remains 
effective in supporting the group’s business objectives the review ensures the policy is in line with best practice and fairly rewards 
individuals for the contribution to the business having regard for the size and complexity of the group’s operations and the need to 
motivate and attract employees of the highest calibre 
the total remuneration package links corporate and individual performance with an appropriate balance between long and shortterm 
elements and fixed and variable components the policy is designed to incentivise executive directors to meet the company’s key 
objectives and therefore a significant portion of total remuneration is performance related
2015–17 directors’ remuneration policy
the table below sets out the detailed workings of each component of total remuneration which will be provided to executive 
directors from 2015 onwards this policy is intended to apply from 1 january 2015 to 31 december 2017 
element 
link to  
strategic objectives operation
maximum  
potential
performance conditions  
and assessment
base  
salary
the base salary of 
each executive director 
takes into account the 
performance of each 
individual and is set at 
an appropriate level to 
secure and retain the 
talent needed to deliver 
the group’s strategic 
objectives
salaries are reviewed 
annually on 1 january and 
are influenced by
–  information from relevant 
comparator groups
–  the performance of 
each individual executive 
director and
–  average increases for 
employees across the 
group as a whole
annual increases will not 
exceed 75  rpi or 
the average increase of 
employees across the 
group in any given year 
whichever is higher
the level of increase 
may deviate from this 
maximum in the case of 
special circumstances 
for example increases 
in responsibilities or 
promotion in these cases 
any exceptional increase 
will not exceed 20 a year
base salary increases are set 
in line with market movement 
and also consider the average 
salary increase for other 
employees across the group 
pensions to provide a competitive 
employment benefit and 
longterm security
robert walters operates 
a money purchase pension 
scheme executive 
directors participating in 
the pension plan benefit 
from annual group 
contributions worth 20  
of base salary
executive directors are 
entitled to take all or part of 
their pension contributions 
as a cash allowance
20 of salary na 48   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
directors’ report
element 
link to  
strategic objectives operation
maximum  
potential
performance conditions  
and assessment
other 
benefits
34
to provide competitive 
employment benefits
benefits currently include 
car allowance mortgage 
subsidy permanent 
health insurance and 
private medical insurance 
and may also include 
other benefits in future 
relocation assistance may 
also be provided – see 
notes for further clarity
all benefits are subject to 
annual review to ensure 
they remain in line with 
market practice
the company will continue 
to operate the save as 
you earn saye option 
scheme – see notes for 
further detail
maximum benefit costs 
will not exceed a value of 
£70000 a year indexed 
to inflation
maximum benefit costs will 
be in line with the market 
related cost of providing 
these benefits
annual 
bonus
1
the annual bonus is
designed to drive the
achievement of the 
group’s financial and 
strategic business 
targets on an  
annual basis
the ontarget bonus 
opportunity is 975 of 
salary and is dependent 
upon the achievement 
of specific annual 
performance conditions
one third of any earned 
bonus will be deferred 
for two years into shares 
payable in equal tranches 
at the end of years 1 and 2
a clawback provision 
will operate in respect 
of any deferred shares 
in the event of material 
restatement of previously 
published financial 
statements
a malus provision will 
operate in respect of 
any act or omission by 
the participant which 
in the opinion of the 
remuneration committee 
has amounted to  
gross misconduct
the maximum bonus 
opportunity is 150 of 
salary for the achievement 
of stretch performance in 
any given year ie 110  
of budget or higher
threshold performance  
ie 90 of budget equates 
to 525 of salary based  
on achieving threshold 
profit before taxation  
zero payment will be made 
for performance below 
threshold performance
performance is measured 
over one financial year based 
on the following measures
–  financial targets as set out 
in the budget at the start of 
the year and
–  individual kpis set against 
predetermined strategic 
performance objectives
the intended weighting of 
these measures is not less 
than 70 financial and no 
more than 30 individual 
the committee will reserve 
the right to determine which 
performance measures and 
targets are to be used at the 
beginning of each financial 
year in order to align to the 
group’s strategic objectives 
the committee will not 
change the mix of measures 
or targets midyear but does 
retain the right to apply its 
judgement when assessing 
formulaic outcomes in 
the case of a material 
misstatement of financial 
results or similar situation  
the committee will not 
exercise discretion to reward 
failure and will report on 
any exercise of discretion 
that changes the amount of 
remuneration paid in any year
report of the remuneration committee continued robert walters plc   49
annual report  accounts 2014
element 
link to  
strategic objectives operation
maximum  
potential
performance conditions  
and assessment
performance 
share plan 
psp award
2
the psp is designed to 
promote staff retention 
motivate employees 
across the group and 
promote the unification 
of efforts towards 
groupwide strategic 
objectives
the longerterm nature 
of these equity awards 
also aligns leadership 
with the longerterm 
returns of the  
business and 
shareholder interests
psp awards are granted 
annually and vest after  
three years dependent 
on the achievement of 
performance conditions  
over a threeyear period 
the normal level of award 
is 180 of salary and the 
intention is that this will be 
the initial level applied  
in 2015
the group will apply 
a clawback provision 
in the event of material 
restatement of previously 
published financial 
statements within 18 
months of the financial year 
end of the year in which the 
psp shares were awarded
a malus provision will 
operate in respect of 
any act or omission by 
the participant which 
in the opinion of the 
remuneration committee 
has amounted to  
gross misconduct
the maximum award 
of performance shares 
that may be made to an 
executive director in any 
financial year is limited to 
shares with an aggregate 
market value of 200 of 
base salary 
threshold performance 
will result in the vesting of 
30 of the shares under 
award while maximum 
performance will result in 
full vesting there will be 
no vesting for performance 
below threshold
performance will be 
measured over a threeyear 
period subject to the following 
performance conditions
–  50 of the award will vest 
based on total shareholder 
return tsr relative to the 
ftse small cap index and 
–  50 of the award will vest 
based on earnings per 
share eps growth over 
the period 
the tsr and eps 
components will operate 
independently vesting 
levels between threshold 
and maximum performance 
will be calculated on a 
straightline basis
notes to the policy table
1 in relation to the annual bonus
 a  the financial performance target will be set by the board at the beginning of each year and will include measures such as profit before taxation in order to achieve maximum 
payout the financial target will be significantly ahead of budgets and market consensus
 b  personal kpis are linked to the delivery of key projects designed to enhance the group’s operational strength and competitiveness in line with future strategy at the end of 
the financial year the committee meets to assess the performance of each executive director against the financial performance targets and personal kpis and determine  
the bonus payout examples of kpis include successful execution of the group’s investment strategy opening of new offices staff retention and development client and 
candidate satisfaction innovation and cost effective improvements to it infrastructure there is no formulaic threshold vesting for personal kpis and it is for the remuneration 
committee to judge performance against individual kpis
 c  the financial targets of the awards eg profit before taxation are not currently disclosed as these are deemed to be commercially sensitive the committee proposes to 
disclose these targets in future at such a time when they are no longer deemed to be commercially sensitive
2 in relation to the psp the vesting criteria are split into the following two components
 a  in determining the threeyear eps targets the first year will be set using a specific growth target which represents the most reasonable current expectation for year  
one performance of the committee taking into account all available data years two and three targets are then based on a fixed rate of growth in earnings per share of  
uk rpi  8 the overall threshold target will be the compound result of years one two and three at threshold 30 of the awards will vest there is then a straightline  
increase in vesting with 100 vesting occurring where eps growth matches the annual compound growth rate of uk rpi  14 in respect of years two and three  
likely to be in excess of 65 compound growth in eps in a reasonably favourable economic environment 
 b  in relation to the tsr performance condition no vesting will occur unless performance at least matches the performance of the ftse small cap index and full vesting  
occurs when tsr exceeds the ftse small cap index by annual compound growth of 125 this level of performance is deemed to be broadly equivalent to upper  
quartile performance
 c  the two criteria above have been selected on the basis that they are considered to be stretching and that they align the interests of management with shareholders 
the existence of a marketrelated component ensures that performance is also benchmarked against relative performance and not just absolute performance
 in addition any vesting will be subject to satisfactory financial performance over the period as determined by the committee the committee will retain the right to change the 
performance measures targets and weightings within the framework of policy as appropriate at the beginning of each plan cycle to reflect the company’s current operations 
performance measures targets and weightings will be set at the beginning of each threeyear period and will not be adjusted mid cycle although the committee does retain the 
right to alter formulaic vesting of awards in the case of material misstatement of financial results or similar situation the committee will not exercise discretion to reward failure 
and will report on any exercise of discretion that changes the amount of remuneration paid in any year
3 in addition the group operates the robert walters save as you earn saye option scheme which is an hmrcapproved scheme open to all permanent uk employees each 
individual is allowed to acquire options over ordinary shares of the company at a discount of up to 20 of their market price up to a maximum value of £18000 options granted 
under the scheme can normally be exercised during a period of six months starting on the third anniversary of the start of the relevant saye contract the current scheme started 
in 2014 and will vest in 2017 all executive directors have enrolled in this new scheme to the maximum value of £18000
4 in respect of other benefits the maximum benefit costs of £70000 a year exclude potential costs in respect of any relocation 50   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
directors’ report
chairman and nonexecutive directors
the table below sets out the fees payable to the chairman and nonexecutive directors
element 
link to  
strategic objectives operation
maximum  
potential
performance conditions  
and assessment
chairman the group seeks to pay 
fees which reflect the level 
of responsibility expected 
of the chairman which 
remain competitive with 
peer company fee levels
in order to ensure no 
potential impairment to the 
required impartiality and 
objectivity of the chairman 
there is intentionally no link 
to performance
the remuneration of the 
chairman is determined 
annually by the 
remuneration committee
the fee levels are set 
based on outside 
independent advice  
along with a review of 
current practices in  
other companies
employment contracts are 
terminable by either party 
giving not less than three 
months’ written notice at  
any time 
the chairman does  
not participate in any  
of the company’s  
share schemes  
pension schemes  
or bonus arrangements 
the fees for the chairman 
are determined by 
reference to benchmark 
market data
reasonable travel 
expenses are reimbursed
increases in fee value in 
any given year will be in  
line with market movement 
and will not exceed a 
maximum of 10  rpi  
in any given year
the chairman is subject to 
an annual board evaluation 
but no element of pay 
is specifically linked to 
performance conditions  
or the outcome of  
this assessment
non
executive 
directors
the group seeks to pay 
fees which reflect the level 
of responsibility expected 
of nonexecutive directors 
which remain competitive 
with peer company 
fee levels
in order to ensure no 
potential impairment to the 
required impartiality and 
objectivity of the non
executive directors there 
is intentionally no link  
to performance
the remuneration of the
nonexecutive directors is 
determined annually by the 
board as a whole
the fee levels are set 
based on outside 
independent advice  
along with a review of 
current practices in  
other companies
employment contracts are 
terminable by either party 
giving not less than three 
months’ written notice at 
any time
nonexecutive directors  
do not participate in  
any of the company’s 
share schemes  
pension schemes  
or bonus arrangements
the fees for nonexecutive 
directors are determined 
by reference to benchmark 
market data
a board committee 
chairman and the senior 
independent director 
may receive an additional 
fee commensurate to the 
additional responsibility 
and time commitment
in addition to the above 
reasonable travel expenses 
are reimbursed
increases in fee value in 
any given year will be in  
line with market movement 
and will not exceed a 
maximum of 10  rpi  
in any given year
nonexecutive directors 
are subject to an annual 
board evaluation but 
no element of pay is 
specifically linked to 
performance conditions
or the outcome of  
this assessment
report of the remuneration committee continued robert walters plc   51
annual report  accounts 2014
illustration of total future remuneration from 2015 remuneration packages
the graph below provide estimates of the potential total future remuneration for each of the executive directors in respect of the 
remuneration opportunity per the 2015 policy 
minimum
100 100 460 281
348 327
192
392
100 456 278
350 328
194
394
chief executive chief operating ofﬁcer chief financial ofﬁcer
ontarget maximum minimum ontarget maximum minimum ontarget maximum
value of package £000
 fixed pay  annual bonus  longterm incentives
461 282
347 326
192
392
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
each element of remuneration is defined in the table below
element description
fixed pay the last confirmed total amount of salary pension and benefits
annual bonus the annual bonus  set out in the future policy table and based on the last confirmed salary
longterm incentives shares awarded under the psp as set out in the future policy table and based on the last confirmed salary
the assumptions underlying each scenario are outlined below
all scenarios
 – base salary other benefits and pensions remain consistent across all scenarios
 – the amounts shown under the psps are based on an expected value basis
minimum
 – none of the annual bonus and psp awards would be payable
ontarget
 – ontarget annual bonus of 975 of salary would be payable
 – the ontarget figure for the psp aligns with the level of vesting at threshold which is 30 resulting in a notional payout of 54 
of salary of a notional 180 award of base salary
maximum
 – the annual bonus payable at the maximum percentage is 150 of base salary
 – the psp awards would be assumed to have vested in full and would represent a notional 180 award of base salary
recruitment and appointment policy
any remuneration arrangements for a new director will be in line with the remuneration policy for existing directors incentive awards 
will be in line with the current awards given to directors and will be subject to the same maximum award levels and vesting criteria
where the appointee has variable remuneration arrangements with a previous employer that will be forfeited on the termination of that 
employment the committee reserves the right to offer a sharebased buyout for value foregone this is meant to facilitate the 
recruitment of key individuals in accordance with the rules of the uk listing authority any such award would only be made in 
exceptional circumstances would not exceed the expected value being forfeited and would include performance and timing 
conditions appropriate to the group
relocation costs which are reasonable and appropriate may also be paid if required 52   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
directors’ report
policy on payment for loss of office
in the event of early termination of a director’s service contract 
the group has an absolute requirement to pay compensation 
reflecting the salary and benefits to which the director 
would have become entitled to under the contract during the 
notice period alternatively the group may under the contracts 
of employment in place and the rules of the plans at its 
discretion make the following payments in the event of a 
‘good leaver’ scenario
 – notice period of 12 months’ base salary pension and 
contractual benefits or payments in lieu of notice
 – bonus payable for the period worked subject to the 
achievement of the relevant personal and financial 
performance conditions and
 – vesting of psps and existing share options granted under  
the executive share option scheme are governed by the 
rules of the relevant incentive plans these rules provide the 
committee with discretion to allow partial vesting depending 
on the extent to which performance conditions have been 
met at the date of cessation and the length of time the 
awards or options have been held
the committee may settle any other amounts reasonably  
due to the executive director for example to reimburse the 
leaver for a reasonable level of legal fees in connection with  
a settlement agreement
service contracts
the service contracts for each of the executive directors 
are subject to review annually these service contracts are 
terminable by either party giving up to 12 months’ written notice 
at any time and there are no specific provisions relating to any 
payments for early termination of office or in the event of a 
change of control
none of the executive directors currently hold significant 
nonexecutive director positions and it is expected that the 
executive directors would seek approval from the board prior  
to the acceptance of any such positions in companies outside 
the group
contracts of service date of contract
executive directors
r c walters 19 june 2000
g p daubeney 19 june 2000
a r bannatyne 1 march 2007
nonexecutive directors
a d kemp 26 november 2013
c hui 1 january 2012
l van de walle 1 october 2012
b mcarthurmuscroft 1 may 2013
in line with the uk corporate governance code all directors 
stand for election at the annual general meeting every year
legacy awards and any other contractual obligations
all contractual commitments or awards made which are 
consistent with the remuneration policy in force at the time 
that the commitment or award was made will be honoured even 
if they would not otherwise be consistent with the policy 
prevailing when the commitment is fulfilled or awards vest 
for example this will include payment for the vesting of option 
awards made prior to the introduction of this policy any 
contractual commitments entered into before the large and 
mediumsized companies and groups accounts and reports 
amendment regulations 2013 came into force or before a 
person became a director will also be honoured the tables on 
pages 41 and 42 show the details of the share options and psp 
awards that are currently held by each director and when they 
will vest 
statement of employment conditions elsewhere in 
the group
each year prior to reviewing the remuneration of the executive 
directors the remuneration committee is presented with 
a report detailing remuneration practice across the group 
including an overview by country of how employee pay 
compares to the market and material changes during the year 
this report includes detailed comparative analysis of basic 
pay and variable pay changes within the uk where all of the 
executive directors are based the group does not directly 
consult with employees as part of the process of reviewing 
executive pay 
consideration of shareholders views
the committee engages in regular dialogue with shareholders 
and holds annual meetings with the company’s largest investors 
to discuss and take feedback on its remuneration policy and 
governance matters in particular the committee discusses any 
significant changes to the policy or the measures used to assess 
performance the group took part in an extensive consultation 
in late 2013 on the introduction of its new 2015 policy and 
specifically the suggested changes to annual bonus and share 
scheme design and levels these consultations were favourably 
received and provided helpful feedback in finalising the 
proposed policy included in this report
approval
this report was approved by the board of directors on 25 
february 2015 and signed on its behalf by
andrew kemp
remuneration committee chairman
25 february 2015
report of the remuneration committee continued robert walters plc   53
annual report  accounts 2014
directors’ responsibility statement
the directors are responsible for preparing the annual report 
and the financial statements in accordance with applicable laws 
and regulations
company law requires the directors to prepare financial 
statements for each financial year under that law the directors 
are required to prepare the group financial statements in 
accordance with international financial reporting standards 
ifrss as adopted by the european union and article 4 of  
the ias regulation and have chosen to prepare the parent 
company financial statements in accordance with uk generally 
accepted accounting practice uk accounting standards and 
applicable laws under company law the directors must not 
approve the accounts unless they are satisfied that they give a 
true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company and of 
the profit or loss of the company for that period in preparing 
these financial statements international accounting standard 1 
requires that directors
 – properly select and apply accounting policies
 – present information including accounting policies in a 
manner that provides relevant reliable comparable and 
understandable information
 – provide additional disclosures when compliance with the 
specific requirements in ifrss are insufficient to enable users 
to understand the impact of particular transactions other 
events and conditions on the entity’s financial position and 
financial performance and
 – make an assessment of the company’s ability to continue as 
a going concern
the directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting 
records that are sufficient to show and explain the company’s 
transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any 
time the financial position of the company and enable them 
to ensure that the financial statements comply with the 
companies act 2006 they are also responsible for 
safeguarding the assets of the company and hence for taking 
reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and 
other irregularities
the directors are responsible for the maintenance and integrity 
of the corporate and financial information included on the 
company’s website legislation in the uk governing the 
preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ 
from legislation in other jurisdictions
statement of the directors in respect of the 
annual report
as required by the code the directors confirm that they 
consider that the annual report taken as a whole is fair 
balanced and understandable and provides the information 
necessary for shareholders to assess the group’s performance 
business model and strategy when arriving at this position  
the board was assisted by a number of processes including  
the following
 – the annual report is drafted by appropriate senior 
management with overall coordination by the group 
marketing director and group financial controller to 
ensure consistency across sections
 – an extensive verification process is undertaken to ensure 
factual accuracy
 – comprehensive reviews of drafts of the report are  
undertaken by members of the executive board and 
senior management team
 – an advanced draft is considered and reviewed by two 
regional managing directors and the legal general 
counsel and
 – the final draft is reviewed by the audit committee prior 
to consideration by the board
responsibility statement
we confirm that to the best of our knowledge
 – the financial statements prepared in accordance with 
international financial reporting standards give a true  
and fair view of the assets liabilities financial position and 
profit or loss of the company and the undertakings included 
in the consolidation taken as a whole and
 – the strategic report includes a fair review of the 
development and performance of the business and the 
position of the company and the undertakings included in the 
consolidation taken as a whole together with a description of 
the principal risks and uncertainties that they face
by order of the board
alan bannatyne
chief financial officer
25 february 2015 54   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
financials
opinion on financial statements of robert walters plc
in our opinion
 – the financial statements give a true and fair view of the state 
of the group’s and of the parent company’s affairs as at  
31 december 2014 and of the group’s profit for the year 
then ended
 – the group financial statements have been properly 
prepared in accordance with international financial 
reporting standards ifrss as adopted by the european 
union
 – the parent company financial statements have been 
properly prepared in accordance with united kingdom 
generally accepted accounting practice and
 – the financial statements have been prepared in accordance 
with the requirements of the companies act 2006 and as 
regards the group financial statements article 4 of the ias 
regulation
the financial statements comprise the consolidated income 
statement the consolidated statement of comprehensive income 
the consolidated and company balance sheets the consolidated 
cash flow statement the consolidated statement of changes in 
equity and the related notes 1 to 33 the financial reporting 
framework that has been applied in the preparation of the group 
financial statements is applicable law and ifrss as adopted by the 
european union the financial reporting framework that has been 
applied in the preparation of the parent company financial statements 
is applicable law and united kingdom accounting standards 
united kingdom generally accepted accounting practice
independent auditor’s report
to the members of robert walters plc
separate opinion in relation to ifrss as issued by the 
iasb
as explained in the accounting policies note to the group 
financial statements in addition to complying with its legal 
obligation to apply ifrss as adopted by the european union 
the group has also applied ifrss as issued by the international 
accounting standards board iasb
in our opinion the group financial statements comply with 
ifrss as issued by the iasb
going concern
as required by the listing rules we have reviewed the 
directors’ statement on page 25 that the group is a going 
concern we confirm that
 – we have concluded that the directors’ use of the going 
concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the 
financial statements is appropriate and
 – we have not identified any material uncertainties that may cast 
significant doubt on the group’s ability to continue as a going 
concern
however because not all future events or conditions can be 
predicted this statement is not a guarantee as to the group’s 
ability to continue as a going concern
our assessment of risks of material misstatement
the assessed risks of material misstatement described below 
are those that had the greatest effect on our audit strategy the 
allocation of resources in the audit and directing the efforts of 
the engagement team these remain unchanged from the risks 
identified in 2013
risk how the scope of our audit responded to the risk
revenue recognition
for permanent placements which accounted for 69 of the 
group’s recruitment net fee income gross profit in 2014 the 
group’s policy as detailed in the accounting policies note is to 
record revenue when specific recognition criteria have been met 
namely where a candidate accepts a position in writing and a 
start date is agreed accordingly revenue is accrued in respect 
of permanent placements meeting the above criteria but which 
remain unbilled
a provision is made for placements expected to be cancelled prior 
to the start date backouts on the basis of past experience
the application of this part of the group’s revenue recognition 
policy involves a significant degree of management judgement
our testing involved agreeing a sample of permanent 
placement fees earned but not invoiced to written evidence 
of candidate acceptance including confirmation of start date
we assessed the level of provision held at the yearend 
against the average level of backouts experienced on a 
monthly basis during the year we also evaluated the back
outs following the yearend 
recoverability of trade receivables and bad 
debt provisioning
gross trade receivables at 31 december 2014 were £1255m 
whilst historically the group has not suffered from a significant 
level of writeoffs given the relatively small balances due from a 
large number of customers significant management judgement 
is required in estimating the appropriate level of provision against 
trade receivables
we evaluated the design and tested the implementation 
of credit assessment and collection controls on the basis 
of this we focussed our substantive testing on the higher 
risk balances on the basis of the ageing profile collection 
history and credit quality of the customer we agreed a 
sample of balances to supporting invoices and subsequent 
cash receipts we have evaluated the diligence applied by 
management in determining the risk associated with the 
recoverability of the receivables balance and tested the robert walters plc   55
annual report  accounts 2014
risk how the scope of our audit responded to the risk
recoverability of trade receivables and bad 
debt provisioning continued
the group’s policy is to record a provision based on anticipated 
recoverable cash any circumstances specific to individual 
customers the ageing of the receivables and the fair value of any 
guarantee received as detailed in the accounting policies note 
adequacy of provisioning by considering receivables where the 
ageing profile of debtors has deteriorated or there is evidence 
that the credit quality of the debtor is considered a risk
we analysed the makeup of the yearend provision for bad 
debts and assessed it against the bad debt cost experienced 
in the year additionally we evaluated post yearend 
developments to determine whether any provisions required 
reversal or further provision
recoverability of deferred tax assets
as at 31 december 2014 the group carried deferred tax 
assets of £82m which relates to the uk and a number of other 
international jurisdictions in respect of tax losses unexercised 
share options and other timing differences
management is required to exercise judgement in respect of 
assessing the probability that sufficient future taxable profits will 
be generated against which the deferred tax asset can be offset 
as detailed in the critical accounting judgements note
recognition of deferred tax assets is supported by profit 
forecasts in each relevant jurisdiction we have evaluated 
these profit forecasts in respect of the operations in terms 
of past performance and on the basis of market reports 
our knowledge of the recruitment industry and the macro
economic factors in these locations we have assessed 
the mechanical accuracy of the forecasts management’s 
historical forecasting accuracy and the consistency of the 
projections with other forecasts made by management we 
utilised our internal tax specialists to assess tax rates against 
local tax legislation and review supporting documentation as 
well as assessing management’s judgements and estimates
the description of risks above should be read in conjunction 
with the significant issues considered by the audit committee 
discussed on page 32
our audit procedures relating to these matters were designed 
in the context of our audit of the financial statements as a 
whole and not to express an opinion on individual accounts or 
disclosures our opinion on the financial statements is not 
modified with respect to any of the risks described above and 
we do not express an opinion on these individual matters
our application of materiality
we define materiality as the magnitude of misstatement in the 
financial statements that makes it probable that the economic 
decisions of a reasonably knowledgeable person would be 
changed or influenced we use materiality both in planning the 
scope of our audit work and in evaluating the results of our work
we determined materiality for the group to be £11 million 
2013 £11 million which is below 7 of pretax profit below 
06 of net fee income and below 15 of equity this is a 
change of approach from 2013 where materiality of £11 million 
was based on 10 of three year average pretax profit which 
represented 06 of 2013 net fee income and 15 of 2013 net 
assets the percentage applied has been revised following 
emerging market practice and changing investor expectations
we agreed with the audit committee that we would report to 
the committee all audit differences in excess of £50000 2013 
£50000 as well as differences below that threshold that in 
our view warranted reporting on qualitative grounds we also 
report to the audit committee on disclosure matters that we 
identified when assessing the overall presentation of the 
financial statements 
an overview of the scope of our audit
our group audit was scoped by obtaining an understanding of 
the group and its environment including groupwide controls 
and assessing the risks of material misstatement at the group 
level based on that assessment we focused our group audit 
scope primarily on the audit work at eight significant 
components which were all subject to a full audit these eight 
significant components being united kingdom australia 
france japan hong kong the netherlands china and 
singapore represent the principal business units and account 
for 79 of the group’s net fee income nfi and 96 of the 
group’s net assets they were also selected to provide an 
appropriate basis for undertaking audit work to address the risks 
of material misstatement identified above our audit work at the 
eight significant components was executed at levels of 
materiality applicable to each individual entity which were lower 
than group materiality and capped at £550000 in addition we 
also performed specified audit procedures at two other 
locations being malaysia and thailand representing 3 of the 
group’s net fee income and 3 of net assets where the extent 
of our testing was based on our assessment of the risks of 
material misstatement and of the materiality of the group’s 
operations at those locations 
at the parent entity level we also tested the consolidation 
process and carried out analytical procedures to confirm our 
conclusion that there were no significant risks of material 
misstatement of the aggregated financial information of the 
remaining components not subject to audit
the group audit team continued to follow a programme of 
planned visits that has been designed so that the senior statutory 
auditor or a senior member of the group audit team visits on an 
annual basis at least three of the significant components where  56   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
financials
independent auditor’s report continued
to the members of robert walters plc
the group audit scope was focused in 2014 as well as the uk 
this included visits to france the netherlands and hong kong 
annually for each of the eight significant components we include 
the component audit team in our team briefing discuss and agree 
their risk assessment and audit approach before their work 
commences and attend the audit close meetings either via 
telephone teleconference or in person and review a selection of 
working papers on scoped significant audit risks
opinion on other matters prescribed by the companies 
act 2006
in our opinion
 – the part of the directors’ remuneration report to be audited 
has been properly prepared in accordance with the 
companies act 2006 and
 – the information given in the strategic report and the directors’ 
report for the financial year for which the financial statements 
are prepared is consistent with the financial statements
matters on which we are required to report by exception
adequacy of explanations received and accounting records
under the companies act 2006 we are required to report to 
you if in our opinion
 – we have not received all the information and explanations 
we require for our audit or
 – adequate accounting records have not been kept by the 
parent company or returns adequate for our audit have not 
been received from branches not visited by us or
 – the parent company financial statements are not in 
agreement with the accounting records and returns
we have nothing to report in respect of these matters
directors’ remuneration
under the companies act 2006 we are also required to report 
if in our opinion certain disclosures of directors’ remuneration 
have not been made or the part of the directors’ remuneration 
report to be audited is not in agreement with the accounting 
records and returns we have nothing to report arising from 
these matters
corporate governance statement
under the listing rules we are also required to review the part of 
the corporate governance statement relating to the company’s 
compliance with ten provisions of the uk corporate governance 
code we have nothing to report arising from our review
our duty to read other information in the annual report
under international standards on auditing uk and ireland we 
are required to report to you if in our opinion information in the 
annual report is
 – materially inconsistent with the information in the audited 
financial statements or
 – apparently materially incorrect based on or materially 
inconsistent with our knowledge of the group acquired in 
the course of performing our audit or
 – otherwise misleading
in particular we are required to consider whether we have 
identified any inconsistencies between our knowledge acquired 
during the audit and the directors’ statement that they consider 
the annual report is fair balanced and understandable and 
whether the annual report appropriately discloses those matters 
that we communicated to the audit committee which we 
consider should have been disclosed we confirm that we have 
not identified any such inconsistencies or misleading statements
respective responsibilities of directors and auditor
as explained more fully in the directors’ responsibilities 
statement the directors are responsible for the preparation of the 
financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true 
and fair view our responsibility is to audit and express an opinion 
on the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and 
international standards on auditing uk and ireland those 
standards require us to comply with the auditing practices 
board’s ethical standards for auditors we also comply with 
international standard on quality control 1 uk and ireland our 
audit methodology and tools aim to ensure that our quality control 
procedures are effective understood and applied our quality 
controls and systems include our dedicated professional 
standards review team and independent partner reviews
this report is made solely to the company’s members as a 
body in accordance with chapter 3 of part 16 of the 
companies act 2006 our audit work has been undertaken so 
that we might state to the company’s members those matters 
we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for 
no other purpose to the fullest extent permitted by law we do 
not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the 
company and the company’s members as a body for our audit 
work for this report or for the opinions we have formed
scope of the audit of the financial statements
an audit involves obtaining evidence about the amounts and 
disclosures in the financial statements sufficient to give 
reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free 
from material misstatement whether caused by fraud or error 
this includes an assessment of whether the accounting 
policies are appropriate to the group’s and the parent 
company’s circumstances and have been consistently applied 
and adequately disclosed the reasonableness of significant 
accounting estimates made by the directors and the overall 
presentation of the financial statements in addition we read all 
the financial and nonfinancial information in the annual report 
to identify material inconsistencies with the audited financial 
statements and to identify any information that is apparently 
materially incorrect based on or materially inconsistent with 
the knowledge acquired by us in the course of performing  
the audit if we become aware of any apparent material 
misstatements or inconsistencies we consider the  
implications for our report
john charlton senior statutory auditor
for and on behalf of deloitte llp
chartered accountants and statutory auditor
london
25 february 2015 robert walters plc   57
annual report  accounts 2014
consolidated income statement
for the year ended 31 december 2014
note
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
revenue 1 679604 597719
cost of sales 464286 398525
gross profit 215318 199194
administrative expenses 197098 188360
operating profit 18220 10834
finance income 137 121
finance costs 2 464 797
gain loss on foreign exchange 266 87
profit before taxation 3 18159 10071
taxation 5 6904 3915
profit for the year 11255 6156
attributable to
owners of the company 11255 6156
earnings per share pence 7
basic 153 84
diluted 139 77
the amounts above relate to continuing operations 
consolidated statement of comprehensive income
for the year ended 31 december 2014
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
profit for the year 11255 6156
items that may be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss
exchange differences on translation of overseas operations 1553 5164
total comprehensive income and expense for the year 9702 992
attributable to
owners of the company 9702 992 58   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
financials
consolidated balance sheet
as at 31 december 2014
note
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
noncurrent assets
intangible assets 8 9577 9517
property plant and equipment 9 8156 9300
deferred tax assets 14 8216 8998
25949 27815
current assets
trade and other receivables 11 168240 153700
corporation tax receivables 117 1949
cash and cash equivalents 16 38205 30071
206562 185720
total assets 232511 213535
current liabilities
trade and other payables 12 125527 124149
corporation tax liabilities 3672 2314
bank overdrafts and loans 13 23904 11496
provisions 15 377 606
153480 138565
net current assets 53082 47155
noncurrent liabilities
deferred tax liabilities 14 10 39
provisions 15 1647 1049
1657 1088
total liabilities 155137 139653
net assets 77374 73882
equity
share capital 17 17192 17177
share premium 21753 21753
other reserves 19 73410 73410
own shares held 19 8765 5876
treasury shares held 19 19860 19860
foreign exchange reserves 2432 3985
retained earnings 138032 130113
equity attributable to owners of the company 77374 73882
the accounts on pages 57 to 79 were approved and authorised for issue by the board of directors on 25 february 2015 and 
signed on its behalf by
alan bannatyne
chief financial officer robert walters plc   59
annual report  accounts 2014
consolidated cash flow statement
for the year ended 31 december 2014
note
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
cash generated from operating activities 20 11270 19240
income taxes paid 3232 2798
net cash from operating activities 8038 16442
investing activities
interest received 137 121
purchases of computer software 1016 1096
purchases of property plant and equipment 2294 1351
purchase of noncontrolling interest 482 715
net cash used in investing activities 3655 3041
financing activities
equity dividends paid 4087 3826
proceeds from issue of equity 15 567
interest paid 464 797
proceeds from bank loans and overdrafts 12381 –
repayment of bank loans – 3061
purchase of own shares 4032 –
proceeds from exercise of share options 465 –
net cash generated used in financing activities 4278 7117
net increase in cash and cash equivalents 8661 6284
cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year 30071 26022
effect of foreign exchange rate changes 527 2235
cash and cash equivalents at end of year 38205 30071 60   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
financials
consolidated statement of changes in equity
for the year ended 31 december 2014
group
share
capital
£’000
share
premium
£’000
other
reserves
£’000
own
shares
held
£’000
treasury
shares
held
£’000
foreign
exchange
reserves
£’000
retained
earnings
£’000
total
equity
£’000
balance at 1 january 2013 17114 21249 73410 9121 19860 9149 126397 71518
profit for the year – – – – – – 6156 6156
foreign currency translation differences – – – – – 5164 – 5164
total comprehensive income and expense 
for the year – – – – – 5164 6156 992
dividends paid – – – – – – 3826 3826
credit to equity for equitysettled share 
based payments – – – – – – 3855 3855
deferred tax on sharebased payment 
transactions – – – – – – 776 776
transfer to own shares held on exercise of 
equity incentives – – – 3245 – – 3245 –
new shares issued 63 504 – – – – – 567
balance at 31 december 2013 17177 21753 73410 5876 19860 3985 130113 73882
profit for the year – – – – – – 11255 11255
foreign currency translation differences – – – – – 1553 – 1553
total comprehensive income and expense 
for the year – – – – – 1553 11255 9702
dividends paid – – – – – – 4087 4087
credit to equity for equitysettled share
based payments – – – – – – 1708 1708
deferred tax on sharebased payment 
transactions – – – – – – 280 280
transfer to own shares held on exercise of 
equity incentives – – – 677 – – 677 –
new shares issued and own shares 
purchased 15 – – 3566 – – – 3551
balance at 31 december 2014 17192 21753 73410 8765 19860 2432 138032 77374 robert walters plc   61
annual report  accounts 2014
statement of accounting policies
for the year ended 31 december 2014
accounting policies
basis of preparation
robert walters plc is a company incorporated in the uk under 
the companies act
the financial report for the year ended 31 december 2014 has 
been prepared in accordance with the historic cost convention 
and with international financial reporting standards ifrss 
including international accounting standards and 
interpretations as adopted for use by the european union
the financial statements have been prepared on a going 
concern basis this is discussed in the financial review on 
pages 16 and 17
the principal accounting policies of the group are summarised 
below and have been applied consistently in all aspects 
throughout the current year and preceding year
a basis of consolidation
the group financial statements consolidate the financial 
statements of robert walters plc and its subsidiary 
undertakings drawn up to 31 december each year 
subsidiaries are entities controlled by the company control 
exists when the company has the power directly or indirectly 
to govern the financial and operating policies of an entity so as 
to obtain benefits from its activities
b business combinations
the acquisition of subsidiaries is accounted for using the 
purchase method the cost of the acquisition is measured at the 
aggregate of the fair values at the date of exchange of assets 
given liabilities incurred or assumed and equity instruments 
issued by the group in exchange for control of the acquiree
all costs directly attributable to the business combination are 
accounted for as expenses in the periods in which the costs are 
incurred and the services received the only exception to this is 
in respect of the costs incurred to issue debt or equity securities 
which should be recognised in accordance with ias 32 and ias 
39 the acquiree’s identifiable assets liabilities and contingent 
liabilities that meet the conditions for recognition under ifrs 3 
are recognised at their fair value at the acquisition date except 
for noncurrent assets or disposal groups that are classified 
as held for sale in accordance with ifrs 5 non current assets 
held for sale and discontinued operations which are 
recognised and measured at fair value less costs to sell
goodwill arising on acquisition is recognised as an asset and 
initially measured at cost being the excess of the cost of the 
business combination over the group’s interest in the net fair 
value of the identifiable assets liabilities and contingent 
liabilities recognised if after reassessment the group’s 
interest in the net fair value of the acquiree’s identifiable assets 
liabilities and contingent liabilities exceeds the cost of the 
business combination the excess is recognised immediately  
in the income statement and is not subsequently reversed
noncontrolling interests in the acquired entity are initially 
measured at the noncontrolling interest’s proportion of the  
net fair value of the assets liabilities and contingent liabilities 
recognised
c goodwill
goodwill arising on the acquisition of subsidiary undertakings 
representing any excess of the fair value of the consideration 
given over the fair value of the identifiable assets and liabilities 
acquired is not amortised but reviewed for impairment at least 
annually any impairment is recognised in the consolidated 
income statement and is not subsequently reversed
goodwill arising on acquisitions before the date of transition to 
ifrss has been retained at the net 1 january 2004 pounds 
sterling uk gaap amounts subject to being tested for 
impairment at that date on disposal the attributable amount of 
goodwill is included in determining the profit or loss on disposal
d taxation
current tax including uk corporation tax and foreign tax 
is provided at amounts expected to be paid or recovered 
using the tax rates and tax laws that have been enacted or 
substantially enacted at the balance sheet date
deferred tax is accounted for using the balance sheet liability 
method deferred tax liabilities are generally recognised for all 
taxable temporary differences and deferred tax assets are 
recognised to the extent that it is probable that taxable profits 
will be available against which deductible temporary 
differences can be utilised
deferred tax liabilities are recognised for taxable temporary 
differences arising on investments in subsidiaries and 
associates except where the group is able to control the 
reversal of the temporary difference and it is probable that the 
temporary difference will not reverse in the foreseeable future
the carrying amount of deferred tax is reviewed at each balance 
sheet date and is calculated at the tax rates that are expected 
to apply in the period when the liability is settled or the asset is 
realised based on tax rates that have been enacted or 
substantially enacted by the end of the reporting period
current and deferred tax is recognised in the income statement 
except when the tax relates to items charged or credited directly 
to equity in which case the tax is also recognised in equity
e employee share schemes
the cost of awards made under the group’s employee share 
schemes after 7 november 2002 is based on the fair value 
of the shares at the time of grant and is charged to the 
consolidated income statement on a straightline basis over 
the vesting period based on the group’s estimate of shares 
that will eventually vest
fair value is measured by use of a stochastic model 
the expected life used in the model has been adjusted 
based on management’s best estimate for the effects of 
nontransferability exercise restrictions and behavioural 
considerations a liability equal to the portion of the services 
received is recognised at the current fair value determined 
at each balance sheet date for cashsettled share 
based payments 62   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
financials
f revenue
revenue comprises the value of services net of vat and other 
salesrelated taxes provided in the normal course of business 
any bad debt provision that may be deemed necessary is 
treated as an administrative expense
revenue from the placement of permanent staff is recognised 
when a candidate accepts a position and a start date is 
determined a provision is made for the cancellation of 
placements prior to or shortly after the commencement of 
employment based on past experience of this occurring
revenue from temporary placements represents the amounts 
billed for the services of temporary staff including the salary 
costs of those staff this is recognised as the service is 
provided to the extent that the group is acting as a principal 
where the group is not considered to act as a principal the 
salary costs of the temporary staff are excluded from revenue 
and only the net margin is recognised as revenue revenue in 
respect of outsourcing and consultancy is recognised as the 
service is provided
g gross profit net fee income
gross profit is the total placement fees of permanent candidates 
the margin earned on the placement of contract candidates 
and advertising margin it also includes the outsourcing and 
consultancy margin earned by resource solutions
h operating profit
operating profit is the total revenue less the total associated 
costs incurred in the production of revenue the only items that 
are excluded from operating profit are finance costs including 
foreign exchange investment income and expenditure 
taxation and if deemed appropriate amounts that are 
identified as nonrecurring material items
i foreign currency
transactions in foreign currencies are recorded at the rate of 
exchange at the date of the transaction monetary assets and 
liabilities denominated in foreign currencies at the balance 
sheet date are reported at the rates of exchange prevailing at 
that date with any gain or loss that may arise as a result being 
included in net profit or loss for the period
the results of overseas operations are translated at the 
average rates of exchange during the period and their balance 
sheets at the rates ruling at the balance sheet date exchange 
differences arising on translation of the opening net assets and 
the results of overseas operations are dealt with through other 
comprehensive income and reserves and recognised as 
income or as expenses in the period in which an operation  
is disposed of
goodwill and fair value adjustments arising on the acquisition 
of a foreign entity are treated as assets and liabilities of the 
foreign entity and translated at the closing rate the group has 
elected to treat goodwill and fair value adjustments arising on 
acquisitions before the date of transition to ifrss as pounds 
sterling denominated assets and liabilities
j property plant and equipment and computer software
property plant and equipment and computer software is 
stated at cost net of depreciation depreciation is provided on 
all property plant and equipment at rates calculated to write off 
the cost less estimated residual value of each asset on a 
straightline basis over its expected useful life as follows
 – leasehold improvements and finance leases the shorter of 
estimated useful life and the period of the lease
 – motor vehicles 175
 – fixtures fittings and office equipment 10 to 20 and
 – computer equipment and computer software 333
k leases
rentals under operating leases are charged on a straightline 
basis over the lease term even if the payments are not made on 
such a basis
l investments
investments are shown at cost less provision for impairment 
where appropriate
m receivables
trade and other receivables are recorded at cost less any 
provision for impairment
n cash and cash equivalents
cash and cash equivalents comprise cash on hand and demand 
deposits and other shortterm highly liquid investments that 
are readily convertible to a known amount of cash and are 
subject to an insignificant risk of changes in value
o other financial liabilities
other financial liabilities including borrowings are measured at 
fair value net of transaction costs
p pensions
the group currently contributes to the money purchase 
pension plans of certain individual directors and employees 
contributions payable in respect of the year are charged to the 
consolidated income statement
q provisions
a provision is recognised when the group has a present legal 
or contractive obligation as a result of a past event for which 
it is probable that an outflow of resources will be required to 
settle the obligation and when the amount can be reliably 
estimated if the effect is material provisions are determined by 
discounting the expected future cash flows at a pretax rate 
that reflects the current market assessments of the time value 
of money and the risks specific to the liability
statement of accounting policies continued
for the year ended 31 december 2014 robert walters plc   63
annual report  accounts 2014
r derecognition of financial assets
the group derecognises a financial asset only when the 
contractual rights to the cash flows from the asset expire or 
when it transfers the financial asset and substantially all the 
risks and rewards of ownership of the asset to another entity  
if the group neither transfers nor retains substantially all the 
risks and rewards of ownership and continues to control the 
transferred asset the group recognises its retained interest in 
the asset and an associated liability for amounts it may have to 
pay if the group retains substantially all the risks and rewards 
of ownership of a transferred financial asset the group 
continues to recognise the financial asset and also recognises 
a collateralised borrowing for the proceeds received
s derecognition of financial liabilities
the group derecognises financial liabilities when and only 
when the group’s obligations are discharged cancelled or 
they expire 
developments in accounting standardsifrss
the following new and revised standards and interpretations 
have been adopted by the group in the current year their 
adoption has not had any significant impact on the amounts 
reported in these financial statements
 – ifrs 10 consolidated financial statements
 – ifrs 11 joint arrangements
 – ias 28 revised investments in associates and joint 
ventures and
 – ias 32 revised offsetting financial assets and financial 
liabilities
at the date of authorisation of these financial statements the 
following standards and interpretations which have not been 
applied in these financial statements were in issue but not yet 
effective and in some cases had not yet been adopted by 
the eu
 – ifrs 9 financial instruments
 – ifrs 15 revenues from contracts with customers
 – ias 27 revised investment entities
 – ias 36 revised recoverable amount disclosures for 
nonfinancial assets
 – ias 39 revised novation of derivatives and continuation 
of hedge accounting and
 – ifric interpretation 21 levies
the group does not consider that these standards or 
interpretations will have a significant impact on the financial 
statements of the group when they come into effect except 
that ifrs 15 may have an impact on revenue recognition and 
related disclosures beyond the information above it is not 
practicable to provide a reasonable estimate of the effect of 
this standard until a detailed review has been completed
critical accounting judgements and key sources of  
estimation uncertainty
estimates and judgements are continually evaluated and are 
based on historical experience and other factors including 
expectation of future events that are believed to be reasonable 
under the circumstances due to inherent uncertainty involved 
in making estimates and assumptions actual outcomes could 
differ from those assumptions and estimates the critical 
judgements that have been made in arriving at the amounts 
recognised in the group’s financial statements and the key 
sources of estimation uncertainty that have a significant risk of 
causing a material adjustment to the carrying value of assets 
and liabilities have been identified by management as revenue 
recognition bad debt expense and deferred tax
 – revenue recognition in making this judgement management 
considered the detailed criteria for the recognition of revenue 
in respect of candidates who had accepted a permanent 
position and agreed a start date but had not started 
employment a provision is made by management based on 
historical evidence for the proportion of those placements 
where the candidate is expected to reverse their acceptance 
prior to the start date
 – bad debt provisioning at each balance sheet date all 
subsidiaries evaluate the collectability of trade receivables 
and record a provision based on anticipated recoverable cash 
flows nature of counterparty past due date geographical 
location the costs of recovery and the fair value of any 
guarantee received
 – deferred tax management exercise judgement when 
assessing the extent to which deferred tax assets should 
be recognised with consideration given to the timing and 
level of future taxable income deferred tax assets are 
only recognised to the extent that they are considered 
recoverable based on forecasts of available taxable profits 
against which they can be utilised  64   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
financials
notes to the group accounts
for the year ended 31 december 2014
1 segmental information 
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
i revenue 
asia pacific 251363  260145 
uk 311941  235734 
europe 106351  93855 
other international 9949  7985 
679604 597719
ii gross profit 
asia pacific 90536 92069
uk 71100 57161
europe 43798 42036
other international 9884 7928
215318 199194
iii profit before taxation 
asia pacific 10502 7242
uk 5248 2540
europe 2173 1258
other international 297 206
operating profit 18220 10834
net finance costs 61 763
profit before taxation 18159 10071
iv net assets 
asia pacific 28318 26929
uk 22247 11309
europe 6993 8099
other international 864 376
unallocated corporate assets and liabilities
1
18952 27169
77374 73882
1 for the purposes of segmental information unallocated corporate assets and liabilities include cash bank loans corporation and deferred tax balances 
the analysis of revenue by destination is not materially different to the analysis by origin and the analysis of finance income and 
costs are not significant
the group is divided into geographical areas for management purposes and it is on this basis that the segmental information has 
been prepared
p pe and 
software 
additions
£’000
depreciation 
and 
amortisation
£’000
noncurrent 
assets
£’000
assets
£’000
liabilities
£’000
v other information – 2014
asia pacific 1298 1580 11379 53265 24947
uk 1718 1628 5090 102471 80224
europe 225 678 1109 24496 17503
other international 69 65 155 5741 4877
unallocated corporate assets and liabilities
1
– – 8216 46538 27586
3310 3951 25949 232511 155137 robert walters plc   65
annual report  accounts 2014
1 segmental information continued
p pe and 
software 
additions
£’000
depreciation 
and 
amortisation
£’000
noncurrent 
assets
£’000
assets
£’000
liabilities
£’000
v other information – 2013
asia pacific 623 1821 11766 49077 22148
uk 1470 1733 5171 96075 84766
europe 268 408 1680 23883 15784
other international 86 62 200 3482 3106
unallocated corporate assets and liabilities
1
– – 8998 41018 13849
2447 4024 27815 213535 139653
1 for the purposes of segmental information unallocated corporate assets and liabilities include cash bank loans corporation and deferred tax balances 
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
vi revenue by business grouping 
robert walters 463685 454375
resource solutions recruitment process outsourcing 215919 143344
679604 597719
2 finance costs 
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
interest on bank overdrafts 443 771
interest on bank loans 21 26
total borrowing costs 464 797
3 profit before taxation 
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
profit is stated after charging 
auditor’s remuneration – deloitte llp as auditor 
– fees payable to the company’s auditor for the audit of the company’s annual accounts 54 54
– the audit of the company’s subsidiaries pursuant to legislation 281 281
335 335
– other services pursuant to legislation 25 25
– fees payable to the auditor pursuant to legislation 360 360
– tax services – compliance 19 49
– tax services – advisory 11 27
– other nonaudit services – 3
total fees 390 439
depreciation and amortisation of assets – owned 3951 4024
loss on disposal of property plant and equipment and computer software 350 378
impairment of trade receivables net 1259 76
operating lease rentals – property 10615 10925
operating lease rentals – computers and equipment 1019 886 66   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
financials
4 staff costs 
2014
number
2013
number
the average monthly number of employees of the group including executive directors during the year was
group employees 2512 2273
the directors analyse headcount in a number of ways and therefore headcount has been presented on a global basis 
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
their aggregate remuneration comprised 
wages and salaries 122920 116249
social security costs 15340 16633
other pension costs 3210 3075
cost of employee share options and awards 1708 3855
143178 139812
details of the directors’ remuneration are given in the directors’ remuneration report on page 37
5 taxation 
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
current tax charge 
corporation tax – uk 622 –
corporation tax – overseas 5327 4387
adjustments in respect of prior years 
corporation tax – uk 102 –
corporation tax – overseas 494 99
6545 4486
deferred tax 
deferred tax – uk 984 701
deferred tax – overseas 573 1315
adjustments in respect of prior years 
deferred tax – uk 277 44
deferred tax – overseas 225 1
359 571
total tax charge for year 6904 3915
profit before taxation 18159 10071
tax at standard uk corporation tax rate of 215 2013 2325 3904 2341
effects of
unrelieved relieved losses 853 54
other expenses not deductible for tax purposes 118 114
overseas earnings taxed at different rates 1340 1067
adjustments to tax charges in previous years 544 141
impact of tax rate change 145 306
total tax charge for year 6904 3915
notes to the group accounts continued
for the year ended 31 december 2014 robert walters plc   67
annual report  accounts 2014
6 dividends 
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
amounts recognised as distributions to equity holders in the year
interim dividend paid of 165p per share 2013 154p 1267 1116
final dividend for 2013 of 386p per share 2012 368p 2820 2710
4087 3826
proposed final dividend for 2014 of 435 per share 2013 386p 3179 2843
the proposed final dividend of £3179000 is subject to approval by shareholders at the annual general meeting and has not been 
included as a liability in these financial statements
7 earnings per share 
the calculation of earnings per share is based on the profit for the year attributable to equity holders of the parent and the 
weighted average number of shares of the company
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
profit for the year attributable to equity holders of the parent 11255 6156
2014
number
of shares
2013
number
of shares
weighted average number of shares
shares in issue throughout the year 85886614 85570741
shares issued in the year 59929 107243
treasury and own shares held 12161441 12682876
for basic earnings per share 73785102 72995108
outstanding share options 7017561 7206147
for diluted earnings per share 80802663 80201255 68   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
financials
8 intangible assets
goodwill
£’000
computer
software
£’000
total
£’000
cost
at 1 january 2013 7919 7420 15339
additions – 1096 1096
disposals – 428 428
foreign currency translation differences 49 231 182
at 31 december 2013 7968 7857 15825
additions – 1016 1016
disposals – 664 664
foreign currency translation differences 16 18 2
at 31 december 2014 7984 8191 16175
accumulated amortisation and impairment 
at 1 january 2013 – 5862 5862
charge for the year – 815 815
disposals – 210 210
foreign currency translation differences – 159 159
at 31 december 2013 – 6308 6308
charge for the year – 749 749
disposals – 440 440
foreign currency translation differences – 19 19
at 31 december 2014 – 6598 6598
carrying value 
at 1 january 2013 7919 1558 9477
at 31 december 2013 7968 1549 9517
at 31 december 2014 7984 1593 9577
the carrying value of goodwill primarily relates to the acquisition of talent spotter in china £1101000 and the historic acquisition 
of the dunhill group in australia £6847000 the historical acquisition cost of talent spotter was £768000 with the movement to 
the current carrying value a result of foreign currency translation differences goodwill is tested annually for impairment or more 
frequently if there are indications that goodwill might be impaired the recoverable amount of the goodwill is based on value in use 
in perpetuity the key assumptions in the value in use are those regarding expected changes to cash flow during the period 
growth rates and the discount rates
estimated cash flow forecasts are derived from the most recent financial budgets and an assumed average growth rate of 6 for 
years two to five which does not exceed the longterm average potential growth rate of the respective operations the forecast for 
revenue and costs as approved by the board reflect the latest industry forecasts and management expectations based on past 
experience 
the value of the cash flows is then discounted at a posttax rate of 66 pretax rate of 107 based on the group’s estimated 
weighted average cost of capital and risk adjusted depending on the location of goodwill the forecast cash flow analysis has also 
been adjusted for a terminal growth rate between 24 depending on location for year six onwards
management has undertaken sensitivity analysis taking into consideration the impact in key assumptions this included reducing 
the cash flow growth from year two onwards by 0 10 and 20 in absolute terms the sensitivity analysis shows no 
impairment would arise under each scenario 
notes to the group accounts continued
for the year ended 31 december 2014 robert walters plc   69
annual report  accounts 2014
9 property plant and equipment 
leasehold
improvements
£’000
fixtures
fittings and
office
equipment
£’000
computer
equipment
£’000
motor
vehicles
£’000
total
£’000
cost 
at 1 january 2013 6535 10731 5923 85 23274
additions 171 444 720 16 1351
disposals 33 412 499 50 994
foreign currency translation differences 286 781 359 5 1431
at 31 december 2013 6387 9982 5785 46 22200
additions 727 671 888 8 2294
disposals 319 275 867 34 1495
foreign currency translation differences 11 258 58 2 307
at 31 december 2014 6806 10120 5748 18 22692
accumulated depreciation and impairment 
at 1 january 2013 2544 4733 4045 56 11378
charge for the year 826 1160 1194 29 3209
disposals 18 329 473 50 834
foreign currency translation differences 198 377 273 5 853
at 31 december 2013 3190 5187 4493 30 12900
charge for the year 834 1392 965 11 3202
disposals 311 186 843 29 1369
foreign currency translation differences 6 143 46 2 197
at 31 december 2014 3707 6250 4569 10 14536
carrying value 
at 1 january 2013 3991 5998 1878 29 11896
at 31 december 2013 3197 4795 1292 16 9300
at 31 december 2014 3099 3870 1179 8 8156 70   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
financials
10 principal group investments 
details of principal group investments existing as at 31 december 2014 are as follows 
subsidiary undertaking
effective  
ownership of 
ordinary shares
principal 
activity
country of
incorporation
robert walters pty limited 100 recruitment consultancy australia
robert walters sa 100 recruitment consultancy belgium
robert walters people solutions sa 100 recruitment consultancy belgium
robert walters brazil limitada 100 recruitment consultancy brazil
robert walters talent consulting shanghai ltd 100 recruitment consultancy china
walters talent consulting shanghai co ltd 100 recruitment consultancy china
robert walters sas 100 recruitment consultancy france
walters people sas 100 recruitment consultancy france
walters people business support sas 100 recruitment consultancy france
robert walters germany gmbh 100 recruitment consultancy germany
resource solutions consulting hong kong limited 100 hr outsourcing services hong kong
robert walters hong kong limited 100 recruitment consultancy hong kong
pt robert walters indonesia 100 recruitment consultancy indonesia
robert walters limited 100 recruitment consultancy ireland
robert walters japan kk 100 recruitment consultancy japan
robert walters luxembourg investment sarl 100 investment luxembourg
robert walters resource solutions sdn bhd 100 hr outsourcing services malaysia
robert walters sdn bhd 100 recruitment consultancy malaysia
robert walters bv 100 recruitment consultancy netherlands
walters people bv 100 recruitment consultancy netherlands
robert walters new zealand limited 100 recruitment consultancy new zealand
resource solutions consulting singapore pte ltd 100 hr outsourcing services singapore
robert walters singapore pte limited 100 recruitment consultancy singapore
robert walters korea limited 100 recruitment consultancy south korea
robert walters switzerland ag 100 recruitment consultancy switzerland
robert walters company limited taiwan 100 recruitment consultancy taiwan
robert walters recruitment thailand ltd 100 recruitment consultancy thailand
robert walters dubai ltd 100 recruitment consultancy united arab emirates
robert walters operations limited 100 recruitment consultancy united kingdom
resource solutions limited 100 hr outsourcing services united kingdom
resource solutions europe limited 100 hr outsourcing services united kingdom
robert walters holdings limited
1
100 holding company united kingdom
resource solutions inc delaware 100 hr outsourcing services usa
robert walters associates inc 100 recruitment consultancy usa
robert walters associates california inc 100 recruitment consultancy usa
robert walters vietnam company limited 100 recruitment consultancy vietnam
1 robert walters holdings limited has branch operations in luxembourg and south africa
in september 2012 the group gained control of the remaining 30 noncontrolling interest in robert walters talent consulting 
shanghai ltd for a cost of renminbi 24000000 £2341000 from talent spotter with the associated value of the noncontrolling 
interest in the group balance sheet at the date of transaction of £532000 under the legal form of this transaction 30 of the  
ordinary shares are still owned by talent spotter but in substance the control of these shares has come under the control of  
the group total payment of renminbi 14400000 £1427000 was made by the group in 2012 and 2013 in the year ended  
31 december 2014 the group made a further payment of renminbi 4800000 £482000 with the remaining balance of 
renminbi 4800000 £502000 held in other payables
advantage has been taken of section 410 of the companies act 2006 to list only those undertakings required by that provision as 
an exhaustive list would involve a statement of excessive length a full listing of the company’s subsidiary undertakings is included 
in the company’s annual return
notes to the group accounts continued
for the year ended 31 december 2014 robert walters plc   71
annual report  accounts 2014
11 trade and other receivables 
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
receivables due within one year 
trade receivables 122735 117127
other receivables 4295 3337
prepayments and accrued income 41210 33236
168240 153700
included within prepayments and accrued income is a provision against the cancellation of placements where a candidate may 
reverse their acceptance prior to the start date 
the value of this provision as of 31 december 2014 is £1411000 31 december 2013 £1115000 the movement in the provision 
during the year is a charge to administrative expenses in the income statement of £296000 2013 £60000
as at 31 december 2014 in the uk invoices aggregating £42m were sold under a nonrecourse factoring arrangement incurring 
charges of £01m during the year
12 trade payables and other payables amounts falling due within one year
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
trade payables 5514 3794
other taxation and social security 19543 20393
other payables 19199 20404
accruals and deferred income 81271 79558
125527 124149
there is no material difference between the fair value and the carrying value of the group’s trade and other payables
13 bank overdrafts and loans
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
bank overdrafts and loans current 23904 11496
23904 11496
the borrowings are repayable as follows 
within one year 23904 11496
23904 11496
in january 2014 the group renewed and extended its threeyear committed financing facility to £350m which expires in 
november 2016 at 31 december 2014 £234m 2013 £110m was drawn down under this facility
the group has a shortterm facility of renminbi 10m £10m of which renminbi 5m £05m remains outstanding as at 
31 december 2014 the loan is secured against cash deposits in hong kong
the directors estimate that the fair value of all borrowings is not materially different from the amounts stated in the consolidated 
balance sheet of £23904000 2013 £11496000 72   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
financials
14 deferred taxation 
the following are the major tax assets liabilities recognised by the group and the movements during the current and prior year
accelerated
depreciation
£’000
tax 
losses
£’000
share 
based
payment
£’000
accruals
and
provisions
£’000
total
£’000
at 1 january 2013 1448 2393 1044 3109 7994
credit charge to income 246 152 162 807 571
charge to equity – – 776 – 776
foreign currency translation differences – 43 – 339 382
at 31 december 2013 1202 2198 1982 3577 8959
credit charge to income 6 578 200 413 359
credit to equity – – 280 – 280
foreign currency translation differences – 30 – 144 114
at 31 december 2014 1208 1650 1502 3846 8206
certain deferred tax assets and liabilities have been offset the following is the analysis of the deferred tax balances after offset 
for financial reporting purposes
group 
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
deferred tax assets 8216 8998
deferred tax liabilities 10 39
8206 8959
no deferred tax liability is recognised on temporary differences of £92m 2013 £76m relating to the unremitted earnings of 
overseas subsidiaries as the group is able to control the timing of the reversal of these temporary differences and it is probable 
that they will not reverse in the foreseeable future
the uk government reduced the rate of corporation tax by 2 from 23 to 21 effective from 1 april 2014 and announced its 
intention to reduce the rate further by 1 to 20 by 1 april 2015
the change in corporation tax from 21 to 20 has been substantively enacted and therefore the effects of these reductions 
have been included in the calculation of deferred tax in these financial statements
deferred tax assets of £16m 2013 £22m have been recognised in respect of carried forward losses and latest forecasts show 
that these are expected to be recovered against future profit streams
the group has total unrecognised deferred tax assets relating to £31m 2013 £29m of tax losses which were all time restricted 
for which the weighted average period over which they can be utilised is 113 years
notes to the group accounts continued
for the year ended 31 december 2014 robert walters plc   73
annual report  accounts 2014
15 provisions 
total
£’000
at january 2013 1247
additional provisions charged to income statement 807
provision released 138
utilisation of provisions 234
foreign exchange movements 27
at 31 december 2013 1655
additional provisions charged to income statement 580
provision released 172
utilisation of provisions 22
foreign exchange movements 17
at 31 december 2014 2024
analysis of total provision
current 377
noncurrent 1647
2024
the provisions comprise of rents and other related amounts payable on vacated properties and dilapidation provisions the 
payment of the noncurrent provision £1647000 will be between two and five years
16 financial risk management 
the group’s financial instruments comprise cash and liquid resources and various items such as trade receivables trade 
payables etc that arise directly from its operations the main purpose of these financial instruments is to finance the group’s 
operations the group has not entered into derivative transactions and no gains or losses on hedges have been incurred
the main risks arising from the group’s financial instruments are foreign currency risk liquidity risk and interest rate risk
i financial assets
surplus cash balances are invested in financial institutions with favourable credit ratings that offer competitive rates of return while 
still providing the group with flexibility in its cash management
cash
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
euros 9185 6987
japanese yen 6571 3885
australian dollars 5038 5067
hong kong dollars
1
4170 3769
chinese renminbi 2371 2542
us dollars 2047 1959
singapore dollars 1977 1244
new zealand dollars 1754 1203
malaysian ringgit 1026 563
other 4066 2852
38205 30071 
1 included in the hong kong dollars cash balance is £18m 2013 £17m of restricted cash held on deposit as security against the chinese renminbi bank loan further details 
of this loan are provided in note 13
all financial assets as detailed above are at floating rate there is no material difference between the fair value and the carrying 
value of the financial assets 74   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
financials
16 financial risk management continued
ii currency exposures 
the main functional currencies of the group are pounds sterling the euro australian dollars and yen the group does not have 
material transactional exposures because in the local entities revenues and costs are in their functional currencies
there are no material net foreign exchange exposures to monetary assets and monetary liabilities
the group has translation exposure in accounting for overseas operations and its policy is not to hedge against this exposure
iii liquidity risk
the group’s overall objective is to ensure that at all times it is able to meet its financial commitments as and when they fall due
surplus funds are invested on shortterm deposit shortterm flexibility is achieved by overdraft facilities if appropriate
the capital structure of the group consists of net cash of £143m and equity of the group comprising issued share capital 
reserves and retained earnings as disclosed in notes 17 and 18
iv interest rate risk
the group manages its cash funds through its london head office and does not actively manage its exposure to interest rate 
fluctuations surplus funds in the uk earn interest at a rate linked to the bank of england base rate surplus funds in other countries 
earn interest based on a number of different indices varying from country to country
v credit risk
the group’s principal financial assets are bank balances and cash trade and other receivables and investments the group’s 
credit risk is primarily in respect of trade receivables
credit risk refers to the risk that a counterparty will default on its contractual obligations resulting in financial loss to the group  
the group has adopted a policy of only dealing with counterparties that are deemed creditworthy and obtaining sufficient 
collateral where appropriate as a means of mitigating the risk of financial loss from defaults the group transacts with entities that 
are considered to have adequate credit ratings this information is supplied by independent rating agencies where available and  
if not available the group uses other publicly available financial information and its own trading records to rate its major customers
the group’s exposure and the credit ratings of its counterparties are continuously monitored credit exposure is controlled by 
counterparty limits that are reviewed and approved by management
trade receivables consist of a large number of customers spread across industry sectors and geographical locations in a number 
of territories in which the group operates particularly in the contract and interim businesses invoices are contractually payable on 
demand ongoing credit evaluation is performed on the financial condition of accounts receivable and where appropriate credit 
guarantee insurance cover is purchased
balances which are considered uncollectable either in part or for the whole amount are written down on a specific basis  
the amount of the writedown takes into account an estimate of the recoverable cash flows nature of counterparty past due  
date geographical area the costs of recovery and the fair value of any guarantee received the group has provided fully for all 
receivables over 120 days because historical experience is such that receivables past due beyond 120 days are generally not 
recoverable
the maximum exposure of credit risk for trade receivables is represented by their carrying value net of impairment 
out of trade receivables totalling £1227m at 31 december 2014 2013 £1171m balances totalling £958m 2013 £948m are not 
due the amount of trade receivables past due up to one month are £160m 2013 £163m and past due greater than one month 
are £137m 2013 £77m the amount of trade receivables outstanding by more than 90 days from invoice date at 31 december 
2014 was £20m 2013 £10m the level of bad debt provision at 31 december 2014 was £28m 2013 £17m
notes to the group accounts continued
for the year ended 31 december 2014 robert walters plc   75
annual report  accounts 2014
16 financial risk management continued
vi financial liabilities
the group finances its operations through a mixture of retained earnings and also has a renminbi loan which was taken out in 
2008 and a threeyear committed pounds sterling sales financing facility entered into in november 2012 the average effective 
interest rate for 2014 on the sales financing facility approximates to 275 and is determined upon the lenders published rate plus 
225 as the rates are floating the group is exposed to cash flow risk further details in respect of these loans are disclosed in 
note 13 to the accounts
the group’s sensitivity to foreign currency has decreased during the year as repayments have been made on the bank loans 
trade and other payables are settled within normal terms of business and in all instances are payable in less than 120 days
17 share capital 
2014
number
2013
number
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
authorised 
ordinary shares of 20p each 200000000 200000000 40000 40000
allotted calledup and fully paid 
ordinary shares of 20p each 85970809 85886614 17192 17177
the calledup share capital of the company was increased on a number of occasions during the year following the issue of new 
shares in accordance with obligations in respect of the executive share option scheme 
the company has one class of ordinary shares which carry no right to fixed income 
18 share options 
equity settled share option plan 
as at 31 december 2014 the following options had been granted and remained outstanding in respect of the company’s ordinary 
shares of 20p each under the company’s executive share option scheme and saye option scheme 
share
options 
granted
price
granted
p
exercisable
from to
executive options 250000 102 may 2008 may 2015
executive options 137000 135 december 2008 december 2015
executive options 100000 244 july 2009 july 2016
executive options 10000 240 september 2009 september 2016
executive options 1130809 208 march 2013 march 2020
executive options 20000 221 april 2013 april 2020
executive options 20000 299 november 2013 november 2020
executive options 1140500 227 march 2015 march 2022
executive options 25000 257 april 2015 april 2022
executive options 15000 197 december 2015 december 2022
executive options 1192000 211 march 2016 march 2023
executive options 1409500 353 march 2017 march 2024
executive options 8000 316 june 2017 june 2024
executive options 40000 307 june 2017 june 2024
saye options 498759 265 may 2017 november 2017
5996568 76   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
financials
18 share options continued
equity settled share option plan continued
the movements within the balance of share options are indicated below as well as a calculation of the respective weighted 
averages for each category of movement and the opening and closing balances 
2014 2013
options
weighted  
average
exercise
price  
£ options
weighted  
average
exercise
price  
£
at 1 january 6175439 236 5659895 239 
granted during the year 1974259 346 1317500 211 
forfeited during the year 415334 240 188000 278 
exercised during the year 368296 215 613956 193 
expired during the year 1369500 329 – na 
at 31 december 5996568 252 6175439 236 
the fair value of share options granted during the year was £1975100
the weighted average share price at the date of exercise for share options exercised during the period was £346 the options 
outstanding at 31 december 2014 had a weighted average remaining contractual life of seven years and a weighted value of £252
there were 1667809 options already exercisable at the end of the year with a weighted exercise price of £190
the inputs into the stochastic model are as follows 
executive options saye options
2014 2013 2012 2011 2014
weighted average share price £353 £211 £239 £329 £265
weighted average exercise price £353 £211 £228 £329 £265
expected volatility 404 445 457 446 404
expected life 6 4 4 4 325
risk free rate 18 10 12 28 18
expected dividend yield 15 24 21 15 15
expected volatility has been calculated over the period of time commensurate with the expected award term immediately prior to the 
date of grant the expected life used in the model has been adjusted based upon management’s best estimate for the effects of 
nontransferability exercise restrictions and behavioural considerations
exercise of the executive share options is subject to the achievement of a percentage increase in earnings per share which exceeds 
the percentage increase in inflation by at least an average 8 per annum over a period of three financial years of the group
on satisfaction of these performance targets 3333 of the options vest vesting then increases progressively with the executive 
options fully vesting where earnings per share growth matches the uk retail price index plus an average of 14 per annum
the saye option scheme enables uk permanent employees to use the proceeds of a related saye contract to acquire options 
over ordinary shares of the company at a discount of up to 20 of their market price options granted under the scheme can 
normally be exercised during a period of six months starting on the third anniversary of the start of the relevant saye contract 
exercise of an option is subject to continued employment
notes to the group accounts continued
for the year ended 31 december 2014 robert walters plc   77
annual report  accounts 2014
18 share options continued
equity settled performance share plan psp
as at 31 december 2014 the following share awards had been granted and remained outstanding in respect of the company’s 
ordinary shares of 20p each under the company’s executive psp scheme
the movements within the balances of share awards and coinvestment awards are indicated below 
2014 2013
share
awards
coinvestment
awards total
share
awards
coinvestment
awards total
at 1 january 5737413 2292151 8029564 5380200 2413925 7794125 
granted during the year 1325953 420016 1745969 2333582 785287 3118869
vested during the year 339977 104709 444686 1134430 509998 1644428
lapsed during the year 1079577 450309 1529886 699939 310304 1010243
forfeited during the year 918560 184711 1103271 142000 86759 228759
at 31 december 4725252 1972438 6697690 5737413 2292151 8029564
the fair value of share awards and coinvestment awards granted during the year was £3636400
the awards outstanding at 31 december 2014 had a weighted average remaining contractual life of 14 months 2013 16 months 
no awards expired during the year 2013 none
the inputs into the stochastic model are as follows
2014 2013 2012 2011
weighted average share price £312 £213 £239 £329
weighted average exercise price nil nil nil nil
expected volatility 293 379 419 481
expected life 3 3 3 3
risk free rate 11 04 06 14
expected dividend yield 17 24 22 15
expected volatility has been calculated over the period of time commensurate with the remainder of the performance period 
immediately prior to the date of grant the expected life used in the model has been adjusted based upon management’s best 
estimate for the effects of nontransferability exercise restrictions and behavioural considerations
under the terms of the psp the number of shares receivable by executive directors for a nominal value is dependent upon the 
total shareholder return tsr and the earnings per share eps growth over the threeyear period from the initial date of grant in 
the case of coinvestment awards the continued ownership of qualifying shares in the company is also required as such it is not 
possible to determine the interests of the individual directors prior to the completion of the vesting period although no shares will 
vest if the tsr performance does not at least equal the performance of the ftse small cap index or the eps compound annual 
growth exceed 8 for all of the psp shares to vest the tsr must exceed the ftse small cap index by a compound 125 per 
annum and the eps compound annual growth must also exceed 14
the group recognised an expense of £1708000 2013 £3855000 during the year in respect of equitysettled sharebased 
payment transactions and £nil 2013 £nil in respect of cashsettled sharebased payment transactions the liability for  
cashsettled sharebased payment transactions at 31 december was £nil 2013 £nil 78   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
financials
19 reserves 
the other reserves of the group include a merger reserve of £83379000 2013 £83379000 a capital reserve of £9301000 
2013 £9301000 capital redemption reserve of £624000 2013 £624000 and a capital contribution reserve of £44000  
2013 £44000
the own shares are held by an employee benefit trust ebt to satisfy the potential share obligations of the group the company 
also has an obligation to make regular contributions to the ebt to enable it to meet its financing costs £40m of own shares were 
purchased into the employee benefit trust at an average price of £311 during the third quarter rights to dividends on shares held 
by the ebt have been waived by the trustees charges of £21000 2013 £18000 have been reflected in the consolidated 
income statement in respect of the ebt
the number and market value of own shares held at 31 december 2014 was 3955574 2013 3305159 and £12233000  
2013 £10296000 the number and market value of treasury shares held at 31 december 2014 was 8922900 2013 8922900 
and £27594000 2013 £27795000
20 notes to the cash flow statement 
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
operating profit 18220 10834
adjustments for
depreciation and amortisation charges 3951 4024
loss on disposal of property plant and equipment and computer software 350 378
charge in respect of sharebased payment transactions 1708 3855
operating cash flows before movements in working capital 24229 19091
increase in receivables 16097 33151
increase in payables 3138 33300
cash generated from operating activities 11270 19240
21 reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in net funds 
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
increase in cash and cash equivalents in the year 8662 6284
cash outflow inflow from movement in bank loans 12381 3061
foreign currency translation differences 555 2242
movement in net cash in the year 4274 7103
net cash at beginning of year 18575 11472
net cash at end of year 14301 18575
net cash is defined as cash and cash equivalents less bank loans 
notes to the group accounts continued
for the year ended 31 december 2014 robert walters plc   79
annual report  accounts 2014
22 commitments 
at the balance sheet date the group had outstanding commitments for future minimum lease payments under noncancellable 
operating leases which fall due as follows
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
within one year 10031 9527
in the second to fifth years inclusive 28715 24862
after five years 9160 11232
47906 45621
the group leases various offices under noncancellable operating lease arrangements and various computers and equipment 
under operating lease agreements which have varying terms and termination rights
the company has no finance lease commitments 2013 £nil 
there are no capital commitments for the group 2013 £nil 
23 related party transactions 
transactions between robert walters plc and its subsidiaries which are related parties have been eliminated on consolidation 
and are not disclosed in this note the remuneration of key management personnel who are deemed to be directors has been 
disclosed in the report of the remuneration committee on page 37
24 contingent liabilities 
each member of the robert walters plc group is party to joint and several guarantees in respect of banking facilities granted to 
robert walters plc
the company has no other contingent liabilities as at 31 december 2014 2013 £nil 80   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
financials
note
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
noncurrent assets
investments 26 201398 199815 
current assets
trade and other receivables 27 908 1047
total assets 202306 200862
current liabilities
trade and other payables 28 125146 117756
net current liabilities 125146 117756
net assets 77160 83106
equity 
share capital 29 17192 17177
share premium 30 21753 21753
capital redemption reserve 30 624 624
own shares held 30 8765 5876
treasury shares held 30 19860 19860
retained earnings 30 66216 69288
shareholders’ funds 77160 83106
the accounts of robert walters plc company number 3956083 on pages 80 to 82 were approved by the board of directors 
on 25 february 2015 and signed on its behalf by
alan bannatyne
chief financial officer
company balance sheet 
as at 31 december 2014 robert walters plc   81
annual report  accounts 2014
25 accounting policies 
the principal accounting policies of the company are summarised below and have been applied consistently in all aspects 
throughout the current year and the preceding year
a basis of accounting
the separate financial statements of the company are presented as required by the companies act 2006 the accounts have 
been prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with applicable uk accounting standards and law
b foreign currencies
transactions in foreign currencies are recorded at the rate of exchange at the date of the transaction
monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies at the balance sheet date are reported at the rates of exchange 
prevailing at that date
the results of overseas operations are translated at the average rates of exchange during the period and their balance sheets at 
the rates ruling at the balance sheet date exchange differences arising on translation of the opening net assets and the results of 
overseas operations are dealt with through reserves
c investments
investments are shown at cost less provision for impairment where appropriate 
26 fixed asset investments 
total 
£’000
at 1 january 2014 199815 
increase in the year due to equity incentive schemes 1583 
at 31 december 2014 201398 
please refer to note 10 for a list of the company’s principal investments 
27 trade and other receivables
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
amounts due from subsidiaries 908 1047
908 1047
28 trade payables and other payables amounts falling due within one year
 
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
amounts due to subsidiaries 125146 117756
 125146 117756
29 share capital
 
2014
number
2013
number
2014 
£’000
2013 
£’000
authorised    
ordinary shares of 20p each 200000000 200000000 40000 40000
allotted calledup and fully paid    
ordinary shares of 20p each 85970809 85886614 17192 17177
notes to the company accounts
for the year ended 31 december 2014 82   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
financials
30 reserves 
share
capital
£’000
share
premium
£’000
capital
redemption
reserve
£’000
own
shares
£’000
treasury
shares
£’000
retained
earnings
£’000
total
£’000
shareholders’ funds at 1 january 2014 17177 21753 624 5876 19860 69288 83106
new shares issued and own shares purchased 15 – – 3566 – – 3551
credit to equity for equitysettled sharebased 
payments – – – – – 1708 1708
transfer to own shares held on exercise of equity 
incentives – – – 677 – 677 –
loss for the year – – – – – 16 16
dividends paid – – – – – 4087 4087
shareholders’ funds at 31 december 2014 17192 21753 624 8765 19860 66216 77160
the company has elected not to present its own profit and loss account as permitted by section 408 of the companies act 2006
since robert walters plc prepares a consolidated cash flow statement the company has taken advantage of the exemption 
available to not produce a companyonly cash flow statement
robert walters plc reported a result for the year of £00m 2013 loss of £01m
£138m 2013 £214m of the retained earnings of the company represents distributable reserves
details of the proposed final dividend are provided in note 6 to the accounts
details of treasury and own shares held are disclosed in note 19 to the accounts
31 commitments 
the company has no finance lease commitments 2013 £nil
there are no capital commitments for the company 2013 £nil
32 related party transactions 
there were no related party transactions in the year to 31 december 2014 2013 £nil other than as disclosed in the report of the 
remuneration committee and notes 27 and 28 
33 contingent liabilities 
the company has no other contingent liabilities as at 31 december 2014 2013 £nil
notes to the company accounts continued
for the year ended 31 december 2014 robert walters plc   83
annual report  accounts 2014
australia
adelaide
level 20
25 grenfell street
adelaide sa 5000
australia
t 61 0 8 8216 3500
brisbane
level 27
waterfront place
1 eagle street
brisbane qld 
australia 4000
t 61 0 7 3032 2222
chatswood
level 15
67 albert avenue
chatswood
nsw 2067
australia
t 61 0 2 8423 1000
melbourne
level 41
385 bourke street
melbourne
australia 3000
t 61 0 3 8628 2100
parramatta
level 6 
10 smith street 
parramatta 
nsw 2150
australia
t 61 0 2 8836 3600
perth
level 10
109 st georges terrace
perth wa 
australia 6001
t 61 0 8 9266 0900
sydney
level 53
governor phillip tower
1 farrer place
sydney nsw 
australia 2000
t 61 0 2 8289 3100
belgium
brussels
avenue louise 250
b1050 brussels
belgium
t 32 0 2 511 66 88
walters people
avenue louise 250
b1050 brussels
belgium
t 32 0 2 542 40 40
brussels north
walters people
bridge building6th floor
av charles quint 
keizer karellaan 584
sintagathaberchem 1082
belgium
t 32 0 2 609 79 00
ghent
walters people
the crescent
guldensporenpark 120 
9820 merelbeke 
belgium
t 32 0 9 210 57 40 
zaventem
walters people 
leuvensesteenweg 555
entrance 3 1st floor
belgium
t 32 0 2 613 08 00
brazil
rio de janeiro
centro empresarial mourisco
praia de botafogo
501 – bloco 2 – 2º andar
torre corcovado
22250040 
rio de janeiro – rj
brazil
t 55 21 2586 6165 
são paulo 
rua do rócio
350 4º andar
vila olímpia – sp
04552000 brazil
t 55 11 2655 0888 
china
beijing
room 1901 east tower  
twin towers
b12 jianguomenwai da jie
chaoyang district
beijing 100020
pr china
t 86 10 5282 1888
nanjing
36th floor suite de
ifc 1 hanzhong road 
qinhuai district 
nanjing 210029 
pr china
t 86 25 8801 5888
shanghai
36th floor tower 2 
jing an kerry centre
no 1539 west nanjing road
shanghai 200040
pr china
t 86 21 5153 5888
suzhou
suite 2106
zhongyin huilong building 
no 8 suzhou avenue west
suzhou industrial park
jiangsu 215021
pr china
t 86 512 6873 5888
france
lyon
63 quai charles de gaulle 
69006 lyon cedex 06
france
t 33 0 4 72 44 04 18
walters people
ground floor 
94 quai charles de gaulle 
lyon 69006 
france 
t 33 0 4 72 69 77 15
paris
25 rue balzac
paris 75008
france
t 33 0 1 40 67 88 00
walters people
1st floor
16 rue washington
paris 75008
france
t 33 0 1 40 76 05 05
st quentin
walters people
41 avenue du centre
montignylebretonneux 
78180 france
t 33 0 1 30 48 21 80
strasbourg
3rd floor
centre d’affaire delta bleu
5 place du corbeau
67000 strasbourg 
france
t 33 0 3 88 65 58 25
germany
düsseldorf
benrather straße 12
40213 düsseldorf
germany
t 49 0 211 30180 000 
frankfurt
taunusanlage 1
60329 frankfurt am main
germany
t 49 0 69 95798 985 
hong kong
20f nexxus building
41 connaught road central
central
hong kong
t 852 2103 5300
indonesia
jakarta
world trade centre 1
9th floor
ji jend sudirman kav 
2931
jakarta
12920
indonesia
t 62 21 2965 1500
ireland
dublin
level 3
custom house plaza 2
ifsc
dublin 1 ireland
t 353 0 1 633 4111
our offices 84   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
our offices
japan
osaka
pias tower 15th floor
3193 toyosaki
kitaku osakashi
osaka 5310072
japan
t 81 0 6 4560 3100
tokyo
shibuya minami tokyu 
building 14th floor
31218 shibuya
shibuyaku
tokyo
1500002
japan
t 81 0 3 4570 1500
luxembourg
5th floor
26a boulevard royal
l2449 luxembourg
t 352 0 2647 8585
malaysia
kuala lumpur
level 24 menara 3 petronas
persiaran klcc
50088 kuala lumpur 
t 603 2380 8700
netherlands
amsterdam
wtc tower h
zuidplein 28
1077 xv amsterdam
netherlands
t 31 0 20 644 4655
walters people
wtc toren h 3de 
verdieping
zuidplein 28
1077 xv amsterdam
netherlands
t 31 0 20 796 9040
eindhoven
begijnenhof 46
5611 el eindhoven 
netherlands
t 31 0 40 799 9910
rotterdam
groothandelsgebouw
ingang a 3de verdieping
stationsplein 45
3013 ak rotterdam 
netherlands
t 31 0 10 7998 090
walters people
groothandelsgebouw
ingang a 3de verdieping
stationsplein 45
3013 ak rotterdam 
netherlands
t 31 0 10 7998 090
new zealand
auckland
level 9
22 fanshawe street
auckland
new zealand
t 64 0 9 374 7300
wellington
level 8
featherston house
119123 featherston street
wellington
new zealand
t 64 0 4 471 9700
singapore
6 battery road
2201
singapore
049909
t 65 6228 0200 
south africa
johannesburg
19th floor 
world trade center 
johannesburg 
cnr west road south and 
lower road 
morningside sandton 
johannesburg 2196 
south africa
t 27 0 11 881 2400 
south korea
seoul
27f west center
center 1 building
26 euljiro 5 gil
junggu
seoul 100210
korea
t 82 0 2 6030 8811
spain
madrid
paseo de la castellana nº13
4ª planta
28046 madrid
spain
t 34 91 309 79 88 
switzerland
zurich
brandschenkestrasse 6
8001 zurich 
switzerland
t 41 0 44 809 35 00
taiwan
taipei
room f 10
th
 floor
no 1 songzhi road
xinyi district
taipei
taiwan
t 886 2 8758 0700
thailand
bangkok
q house lumpini 12
th
 floor
unit 1201
1 south sathorn road
thungmahamek sathorn
bangkok 10120
thailand
t 66 0 2 344 4800
uae
dubai
tower 2 floor 33
al fattan currency house
dubai international financial 
centredifc
dubai
po box 506851
uae
t 971 4 8180 100
united kingdom
birmingham
9th floor
11 brindley place
birmingham b1 2lp
united kingdom
t 44 0 121 281 5000
guildford
bishops wharf
1 walnut tree close 
guildford gu1 4ra
united kingdom
t 44 0 1483 510 400
london head office
11 slingsby place
st martin’s courtyard
london wc2e 9ab
united kingdom
t 44 0 20 7379 3333
manchester
9th floor
3 hardman street
manchester 
m3 3hf
united kingdom
t 44 0 161 214 7400
milton keynes
ground floor
luminous house
300 south row
milton keynes mk9 2fr
united kingdom
t 44 0 1908 933 975
st albans
fountain court
2 victoria square
st albans al1 3tf
t 44 0 1727 617 500
united states
new york
7 times square 
suite 1606
new york
ny 10036
usa
t 1 212 704 9900
san francisco
101 mission street
suite 2000
san francisco
ca 94105
usa
t 1 415 549 2000
vietnam
ho chi minh city
01 12a f1 empress tower
138142 hai ba trung street
district 1
ho chi minh city
vietnam
t 84 8 3520 7900 
our offices
continued wwwrobertwalterscom
download our salary checker app 
interview guide app job search app  
or robert walters publications from itunes 
or visit google play for our android salary 
checker app and robert walters 
publications visit our websites on  
any device to find out more about  
robert walters robert walters plc annual report  accounts 2014
australia
belgium
brazil
china
france
germany
hong kong
indonesia
ireland
japan
luxembourg
malaysia
netherlands
new zealand
singapore
south africa
south korea
spain
switzerland
taiwan
thailand
uae
uk
usa
vietnam
wwwrobertwalterscom


Summary:
 12   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
strategic report
chief executive’s 
statement
robert walters
the excellent performance in 2014 served 
to further highlight the strength depth and 
diversity that the group now has in terms 
of both geography and discipline 
we have been able to leverage this strength to 
deliver an 80 91 increase in profit before 
taxation a result that was particularly impressive 
given that market conditions in two of the group’s 
largest markets australia and france remained 
challenging for much of last year 
we have a strong blend of permanent and contract 
recruitment net fee income a truly global footprint  
of growing businesses across both established and 
embryonic recruitment markets plus a marketleading 
recruitment process outsourcing business – all of 
which is underpinned by a powerful international 
brand and a strong and experienced senior 
management team
the recruitment industry continues to evolve 
through the advent of new resourcing strategies and 
technologies and we remain firmly at the forefront of 
these developments the role of a highquality 
specialist professional recruitment consultancy 
such as robert walters to filter and manage the 
increased volume of data and the number of 
communication channels available to candidates 
and clients has never been more important in 
addition our resource solutions business ensures 
we are extremely well placed to benefit from the 
trend towards an outsourced recruitment model
review of operations
asia pacific 42 of net fee income
revenue was £2514m 2013 £2601m and net fee 
income was £905m 2013 £921m an increase of 
8 in constant currency this delivered an operating 
profit increase of 45 59 to £105m £115m 
2013 £72m
in asia we have benefited from strong growth 
within our larger more mature and marketleading 
businesses in japan singapore and hong kong 
and very encouragingly we are also now seeing 
positive returns from our more recent investments 
in a number of the region’s emerging recruitment 
markets our operations in malaysia thailand and 
vietnam in particular have delivered excellent net fee 
income growth and critically have the capacity to 
grow into substantial businesses 
australia returned to growth in the fourth quarter 
and in new zealand our businesses in auckland 
and wellington both delivered record performances 
resource solutions in asia won a number of new 
clients and also successfully extended a number  
of existing client deals
uk 33 of net fee income
revenue was £3119m 2013 £2357m net fee 
income increased by 24 to £711m 2013 £572m 
and operating profit more than doubled to £52m 
2013 £25m
the uk had an excellent year as both client 
and candidate confidence continued to improve 
growth was broadbased and spread across both 
london and the regions with disciplines such as 
commerce finance legal and sales  marketing 
delivering particularly strong performances also of 
particular note was the beginning of a recovery in 
the permanent financial services market in london 
with recruitment levels across risk compliance and 
projects particularly high
to continue to build on this performance and further 
extend our regional presence we have opened a 
new office in st albans
resource solutions continued to deliver impressive 
results increasing net fee income significantly  
yearonyear
 constant currency is calculated by applying prior year exchange 
rates to local currency results for the current and prior years
£905m
net fee income – asia pacific
2013 £921m
£105m
operating profit – asia pacific
2013 £72m
£711m
net fee income – uk
2013 £572m
£52m
operating profit – uk
2013 £25m robert walters plc   13
annual report  accounts 2014
strength 
depth and 
diversity
our geographic reach and discipline  
diversity are underpinned by a powerful 
international brand and experienced  
senior management team 14   robert walters plc
annual report  accounts 2014
strategic report
chief executive’s 
statement
continued
europe 20 of net fee income
revenue was £1064m 2013 £939m and net fee 
income increased 4 10 to £438m £461m 
2013 £420m producing a 73 increase in 
operating profit to £22m £23m 2013 £13m
market conditions across the eurozone were 
mixed in france our largest business in the region 
the permanent recruitment market remained 
challenging however our contract business 
continues to go from strength to strength and 
produced excellent growth 
recruitment activity levels across the benelux 
region were more favourable with our business in 
belgium the standout performer across both the 
permanent and contract markets we continue to 
focus on germany as a key growth market for the 
group and are also very encouraged by the strong 
performance in a number of our smaller markets in 
the region such as spain and ireland
other international 5 of net fee income
revenue was £99m 2013 £80m and net fee 
income increased by 25 35 to £99m £107m 
2013 £79m producing an operating profit of  
£03m operating profit of £02m 2013 operating 
loss of £02m
other international comprises the us south africa 
the middle east and brazil our business in the us 
had a record year with both san francisco and 
new  york delivering excellent growth in new york 
much like london we have seen a recovery in the 
permanent financial services market with areas 
such as compliance particularly active whilst the 
technologydriven san francisco market remains 
extremely buoyant 
client and candidate confidence in brazil remains 
low our office in dubai more than doubled net fee 
income yearonyear whilst in south africa net fee 
income grew strongly and we are now one of the 
largest international players in the market
current trading and outlook
having entered seven new countries since 2010  
the robert walters group now has over 2600  
staff spanning 24 countries we have focused on 
increasing the profitability and productivity of our 
fledgling businesses and the group as a whole 
delivering an 80 uplift in profit before taxation  
and an increase in consultant productivity 
early trading in 2015 has been in line with 
expectations whilst we are mindful of continued 
eurozone uncertainty we believe we are very well 
positioned to capitalise on both current and future 
growth opportunities
robert walters
chief executive
25 february 2015
 constant currency is calculated by applying prior year exchange 
rates to local currency results for the current and prior years
£438m
net fee income – europe
2013 £420m
£22m
operating profit – europe
2013 £13m
£99m
net fee income – other international
2013 £79m
£03m
operating profit – other international
2013 operating loss of £02m robert walters plc   15
annual report  accounts 2014
well placed 
to deliver 
enhanced 
profitability
80 increase in profit before taxation despite 
challenging conditions in australia and france