A stabilisation of recruitment in the UK, after a post-Brexit stumble, and growth in Europe, Australia and Asia helped staffing firm Hays plc (LON:HAS) report a 3% rise in net fees in the first-half.
In a half-year update, the FTSE 250-listed group said its net fees rose to £465.5mln in the six months to December 31, up from £396.9mln a year earlier.
The firm saw its pretax profits increase by 17% to £96.2mln, up from £82.4mln a year earlier, and shareholders are being rewarded with a 5% hike in the interim dividend to 0.96p a share.
The company, which places workers in areas such as finance and IT, said it remained confident for the rest of its financial year.
Alistair Cox, Hays’ chief executive, said: "This has been a good first half, with further net fee and profit growth and strong cash generation.
“Conditions remained supportive in many key markets, especially Germany, our most profitable business, where we delivered another all-time record performance, and Australia where activity accelerated significantly through the half.”
He added: “In the UK, after a marked step-down immediately after the EU Referendum, markets quickly stabilised and we saw early signs of improvement towards the end of the half in the private sector recruitment market, which have continued into the start of the second half.”