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Job churn in public sector – especially in Education and Healthcare – kept profits on an even keel for the UK operations of London-headquartered international recruitment firm Hays in its 3rd quarter (to 31st March). Net fee income (NFI, i.e. gross profit) for Hays UK was flat yoy, but this belied 17% growth in public sector NFI vs a 6% fall in private sector NFI. As for H1 (see Hays UK back to black), Banking and City-related recruitment was the main culprit.
Worldwide, NFI declined by 3% (like-for-like), with a 4% improvement in NFI in Continental Europe failing to mitigate a 14% fall in Asia-Pacific. IT recruitment was strong in the UK and in Continental Europe. Hays CEO Alistair Cox is feeling somewhat more upbeat about the company's prospects, expecting to close the FY with operating profit at the top end of market estimates.
