Bond sees contracts slip

(By Anthony Miller) Recruitment/HR software firm Bond International confirmed that market conditions are worsening (see here), reporting that a number of key contracts they had expected to sign this year have been deferred. Management remains “optimistic” about the company’s prospects in 2009. Bond warned that things were getting tough in its September interim results statement (see New Bond model strains margins) though this was partly down to a change in its charging model. But the news echoes the recent sentiment from leading UK recruitment players Hays and Michael Page, who both saw demand go wobbly towards the end of the year (see Michael Page, Hays paint grim UK recruitment picture). In the recruitment industry, the highs can be really high, but the lows ...