14th Mar 2014 07:48
LONDON (Alliance News) - Staffing business SThree PLC Friday said it is confident about the rest of the year as it reported an increase in first-quarter gross profit after making progress in new high growth markets.
In a statement, SThree said first-quarter gross profit grew by 9% to GBP47.8 million at constant currency from the year before.
Chief Executive Gary Elden said the company's contract division made "further progress". He said the division continued to benefit from a greater strategic focus and increasing exposure to new high growth markets, particularly energy and life sciences.
Elden said contract gross profit increased by 18% at constant currency year-on-year, now accounting for 61% of the group total. He said the permanent division, whilst still negative, saw some improving trends, with the pre-deal pipeline beginning to suggest a pick-up in activity.
"We are continuing to invest in the future growth of both businesses to ensure they are appropriately resourced for the market opportunity," Elden said.
"Against a backdrop of improving macroeconomic conditions in a number of our markets, we have made a satisfactory start to the year, in what is, for seasonal reasons, always our least significant quarter," Elden in a statement.
"While, as always, we remain cautious about extrapolating the trend for the year from the quieter first quarter, the strength of our contract book and improving outlook for permanent give us confidence for the year ahead," Elden added.
The company's first-quarter ended March 2.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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