27th Aug 2015 06:49
LONDON (Alliance News) - Recruitment company Hays PLC on Thursday said its pretax profit surged in its recent financial year, despite it taking a hit from the weaker euro and Australian dollar, as net fee income rose and its conversion rate rose to the highest level since 2009.
The FTSE 250 group said its pretax profit for the financial year to the end of June was GBP156.1 million, up from GBP132.3 million a year earlier, an 18% increase despite the group taking a GBP9.6 million hit from the depreciation of the euro and the Australian dollar against sterling.
The group's net fee income in the year was up to GBP764.2 million from GBP724.9 million, with like-for-like growth, which strips out the currency translation effects, up by 9.0%. Hays said its conversion rate for the year rose by 210 basis points to 21.5%, the first time it has been above 20% since its 2009 financial year.
The group said it saw strong, broad-based net fee growth in the UK and Ireland, along with further robust performances in Asia Pacific and its Contintental Europe and Rest of the World region.
Hays said it will increase its final dividend by 5.0% to 1.89 pence per share, meaning its total dividend increased by the same percentage to 2.76 pence, up from 2.63 pence.
"We enter our new year in a position of strength, with unrivalled breadth, scale and balance around the world and the best people and technology tools in our industry. We see many clear opportunities to grow further and are focused on capturing these while simultaneously driving profits and cash generation along the way. That combination of delivering short-term results and investing to capitalise on long-term opportunity is unique in our industry today," said Chief Executive Alistair Cox.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
Copyright 2015 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Related Shares:
Hays