Korn Ferry (NYSE:KFY) stock fell 0.18% (As on September 8, 11:38:21 AM UTC-4, Source: Google Finance) after the company posted better than expected result for the first quarter of FY 24. In the first quarter, global fee revenue was $699 million, flat year-over-year at actual foreign exchange rates and at constant currency. Fee revenue continued to moderate from post-pandemic highs in the permanent placement talent acquisition businesses and was offset by stable revenue for both, consulting and digital, and revenue from the recent investments in interim services. By line of business measured year-over-year at constant currency, fee revenue was down 12% for executive search, down 21% for professional search permanent placement, and down 16% for RPO. In contrast, fee revenue growth measured year-over-year at constant currency was up 1% for consulting, up 5% for digital and aided by the recent acquisitions of ICS and Salo, fee revenue for interim services was up $59 million.

KFY in the first quarter of FY 24 has reported the adjusted earnings per share of 99 cents, beating the analysts’ estimates for the adjusted earnings per share of 91 cents. The company had reported the adjusted revenue growth of 0.3 percent to $706.3 million in the first quarter of FY 24, beating the analysts’ estimates for revenue of $683.24 million. Adjusted EBITDA in the first quarter was $96 million with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 13.7%. Operating income nearly halved to $56.8 million, with an operating margin of 8.1% versus 16.0% a year ago. The investable cash position at the end of the first quarter was $481 million. In the first quarter, the company has deployed $34 million of cash, $4 million for share repurchases, $8 million for dividends, $13 million for capital expenditures, and $9 million for debt service. The company exited the quarter with cash and equivalents worth $591.7 million. The company’s long-term debt as of quarter-end totaled $396.37 million.

Additionally, the company’s quarterly dividend of $0.18 per share is payable on October 13 to stockholders of record on September 22.

Korn Ferry forecasts second-quarter fee revenue to be in the range of $675 million to $695 million, representing a year-over-year decrease of between 4.5% and 7.3%, versus the analyst consensus of $676.70 million. Korn Ferry sees Q2 2024 EPS of $0.91-$1.01 versus the analyst consensus of $0.94. Q2 FY 24 adjusted EBITDA margin is expected to be 13.5% to 14%