By Jennifer Sieg Gattaca has powered through a challenging year as the specialist staffing solutions firm continued to battle a tough hiring market. In a trading update to markets today, the firm, which is focused on engineering and technology, reported that it expects a five per cent dip in net fee income (NFI) “as anticipated”. However, contract NFI was up three per cent due to a growth in contractors in the latter half of the year, which is a product of the firm’s main focus. Group underlying profit before tax was anticipated to be £2.7m, up from its original guidance of £2.4m. Permanent re…