Staff numbers have also been cut by 9%, from 1216 to 1104, in the last six months.
The company also reports problems with collection of overdue debt from some of its major UK clients.
Waterman鈥檚 interim results for the six months to 31 December 2010 show a 9% fall in revenues to 拢36.5m and pre-tax profits down 60% to 拢200,000.
The company blames government spending cuts. Chairman Roger Fidgen said: 鈥淭he UK business provides 74% of the group's revenue and 41% of this is in the public sector.聽The government reduction in spending has affected our forward workload by 7% and we have therefore reduced our resourcing levels accordingly.鈥�
He added: 鈥淲e have made good progress on our strategy for future profitable growth. The first objective is to continue to focus on removing costs which do not produce long term value.聽 We have made excellent progress towards our target of reducing by 5,400m2 our future office lease liabilities by 31 December 2011.
鈥淭he second objective is to return each of our business units to profitability and to capitalise on the investment we have made in our senior management team.聽 It is these individuals who maintain our client relationships, provide technical excellence and generate opportunities.聽 As part of our focus on improving the corporate structure, we have initiated a programme to streamline our corporate reporting to enable a greater focus on our markets and sectors.
鈥淭he third objective is to return Waterman to delivering revenue growth.聽In our markets, activity in the private sector is improving both in the UK and overseas.聽 We are increasingly becoming involved in due diligence work on property acquisitions and planning for future developments. Our overseas hub strategy will see us targeting only those countries where we have an established advantage.聽 This is already creating new opportunities and commissions.鈥�
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