30th Apr 2015 08:59
LONDON (Alliance News) - Recruitment and outsourcing company Harvey Nash Group PLC Thursday said believes it will meet its expectations for the current full year, although it cautioned that the continued strength of sterling against the euro will hit its growth rates, as it posted a rise in pretax profit for its recent financial year.
The company proposed a final dividend of 2.2 pence for the year to end-January, taking its total dividend for the year to 3.5 pence, up from 3.2 pence a year before.
Harvey Nash posted a pretax profit of GBP7.7 million, up from GBP6.4 million a year before, as a slight decline in revenue to GBP696.6 million from GBP697.3 million was offset by lower exceptional costs.
At constant exchange rates, revenue would have risen 4.0%.
The company posted exceptional costs of GBP1.3 million during the year related to restructuring, acquisition costs and its strategic review of Nash Technologies. In the previous year it posted exceptional costs of GBP2.6 million related to the restructuring of Nash Technologies and the closure of its French office.
Harvey Nash attributes its revenue growth to a strong performance from contract recruitment in the UK. The devaluation of the euro and subdued demand for permanent recruitment hampered its performance in mainland Europe, although buoyant markets supported growth in the US and UK.
The softer demand for permanent recruitment in Mainland Europe "appears to have stabilised" since the year end, Harvey Nash said, and the macro outlook is supportive in the US, UK, Ireland, Vietnam and parts of Europe.
"With the benefit of improved trading conditions across most of our markets, I am pleased to report that the group has had an encouraging start to the current financial year," said Chief Executive Officer Albert Ellis in a statement.
Shares in Harvey Nash are trading up 1.2% at 85.00 pence Thursday morning.
By Hana Stewart-Smith; [email protected]; @HanaSSAllNews
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Harvey Nash Group