Although there were various ‘swings and roundabouts’ involved, UK-based international recruitment, outsourcing and offshoring firm, Harvey Nash has raised its expectations for FY13 pre-tax profit (to 31st Jan 2013) by 10%. This confirms the good start for H2 that management had reported a month ago (see here). CEO Albert Ellis highlighted the UK as one of the market leaders, where gross profit was up 10% yoy in the four months to 29th Nov, albeit this growth was primarily due to managed services and (Vietnam-based) offshoring rather than its core recruitment activities; indeed UK permanent recruitment was down 4%.
Temporary and contract recruitment in Northern Europe was also strong, though overall gross profit was down 5%. The ‘fiscal cliff’ effect in the US ‘resulted in a short-term pause in the market’. Ellis thinks that permanent recruitment will remain subdued in Q4, particularly in Europe, and was not prepared to make a call on FY14 (in effect, 2013) just yet.