Echoing the deteriorating conditions in the UK recruitment market by peer Michael Page (see Tough times persist for Michael Page UK), UK-headquartered international recruitment firm Hays saw UK & Ireland net fee income (NFI, or gross profit) fall by 9% like-for-like (LFL) in Q4 (to 30th June), steeper than the 6% decline recorded the prior quarter (see Banking slowdown hits Hays UK). The problem was again mainly in Banking and City-related recruitment, whereas Hays’ UK private sector IT business remained ‘relatively resilient’. UK public sector recruitment was quite perky, with NFI up 6%.
Across the board, NFI rose by 2% LFL (down 1% as reported), with fastest growth coming from Continental Europe & Rest of World (+14% LFL). Germany was yet again the star performer. Hays CEO, Alistair Cox, expected conditions to remain ‘challenging’. We’ll get the ‘full monty’ at the prelims announcement at the end of August.