26th Feb 2014 09:27
LONDON (Alliance News) - Hays PLC Wednesday said its half-year pretax profits rose by 10%, driven by net fee growth and improving market conditions in the UK and Asia.
In a statement, the FTSE 250 recruitment company said it made a GBP62.5 million pretax profit for the six months ended December 31, 2013, compared with GBP56.7 million for the corresponding period in the previous year. Hays kept its interim dividend at 0.83 pence a share.
Net fees increased to GBP363.4 million from GBP360.3 million.
"In the UK & Ireland, the return to meaningful fee growth and our focus on driving productivity improvements, combined with the cost actions we completed in 2012, are delivering clear benefits as we converted 93% of incremental net fees into operating profit," Alistair Cox, chief executive, said in a statement.
It said business confidence in the UK and Ireland is improving "across all sectors" in both its permanent and temporary businesses. Hays said it expects to increase headcount in the second-half in order to capitalise on the improvement in market conditions.
The UK's economic recovery, although still behind that of the US, has been picking up in the past year, with falling unemployment and improving growth forecasts, meaning recruiters are coming into demand as employers and businesses increase headcount. Cox said he thinks the economic recovery in the UK is now sustainable, with wages set to rise as the company is seeing growing signs of a skills shortage.
In Asia, where Hays said net fees grew by 23% to GBP18.9 million.
"We have invested to drive growth in markets with clear momentum such as Asia, and we have continued to act quickly to reduce costs in those parts of the group which remain challenging, such as Australia and Brazil, to best defend our financial performance," Cox said.
Hays shares were Wednesday quoted up 2.3% at 141.10 pence.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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