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It’s only been a month since international recruitment, outsourcing and offshoring firm, Harvey Nash, reported its rather pleasing FY results (see A definite spring in Harvey Nash’s step), so we weren’t expecting any surprises in today's trading update. It seems that the good news story continues, with Q1 revenues (to 30th April) up by 23% yoy and PBT up 32%. Mainland Europe is driving the recovery, with “modest” growth in the UK.
CEO Albert Ellis told me that he expects revenues from their £100m+ p.a. UK ITSA (IT staff agency) operations to rise again this year, though I would imagine matching last year’s 27% growth might be a bit of a stretch. He noted that demand in central and local government remained subdued but the market for SAP consultants had bounced back. He is still seeing 'friction' in the pipeline, a rather apt term referring to extended procurement approval cycles. This is even happening with low-order vacancies such as help desk support but is more acute with higher value positions. However, demand is still "robust", especially in banking and financial services.
