One of the UK’s biggest graduate tech employers just sent a massive warning about hiring
Key Points
- FDM Group's UK consultant placements fell 17% year on year to 839, while North America climbed 33% to 593.
- UK training completions were flat at 124; North America nearly tripled to 282 and Asia Pacific rose to 171.
- The company reported elevated UK client demand for experienced staff rather than recent graduates.
- UK revenue fell 13% to £40.3 million and the interim dividend was halved to 3.0 pence per share.
- FDM says its markets remain uncertain and it is too early to judge whether the pickup will hold.
FDM Group had 839 consultants placed with UK clients at the end of June, down 17% from 1,013 a year earlier, while its North American headcount rose 33% to 593.
The London-listed company recruits graduates, trains them at its Skills Lab and places them with client businesses on assignment, and it describes itself as the UK’s leading IT graduate employer. Its half-year results, published on Monday (3 August), cover the six months to 30 June 2026.
The figures give a read on how many entry-level tech roles British employers are actually filling.
FDM trained 609 consultants to completion across the group in the first half, up from 424 in the same period last year and 404 in the second half of 2025.
Almost all of that increase came from outside Britain. North America accounted for 282 completions against 114 a year earlier, and Asia Pacific for 171 against 98. UK completions came to 124, slightly below the 130 recorded a year ago.
| Region | Consultants placed, June 2026 | Consultants placed, June 2025 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | 839 | 1,013 | -17% |
| North America | 593 | 447 | +33% |
| EMEA | 119 | 225 | -47% |
| APAC | 491 | 488 | +1% |
Where the demand has shifted
FDM said UK clients showed elevated demand for more experienced resource during the period, and that it has enhanced its ability to offer experienced consultants drawn from its alumni network alongside consultants who graduated more recently.
The company won 15 new UK clients in the six months, matching last year’s total. Group-wide it added 27 clients, 16 of them outside financial services.
UK revenue fell 13% to £40.3 million, against £46.2 million a year earlier and £42.2 million in the second half of 2025. The company also took £0.8 million of costs in the UK from ending the employment of internal staff and undeployed consultants, out of £0.9 million across the group.
Group revenue fell 19% to £78.6 million and pre-tax profit fell 49% to £4.1 million. The board declared an interim dividend of 3.0 pence per share, half the 6.0 pence paid at this stage last year, payable on 13 November to shareholders on the register on 23 October. FDM held £31.1 million in cash at the end of June and has no debt.
“While Consultants assigned to clients remain at suppressed levels, we have delivered the first six-monthly increase in this metric since the market downturn in 2023, together with an increase in coaching completions of 50% against the second half of last year,” said Rod Flavell, chief executive of FDM Group.
Flavell said the company’s markets remain uncertain, with macroeconomic and political instability continuing to affect client investment decisions, and that it is too early to judge whether the improvement will continue.
The group’s own risk assessment names economic and geopolitical uncertainty as its highest-rated risk, and says client spending decisions are causing project delays and reducing overall demand for its consultants.
