Hays encourages as UK recruitment outweighs Australia

9th Jan 2014 12:34

- Q2 LFL fees up 3 per cent- Australia challenging- UK, Ireland and Asia growing fastAlthough Australian losses weighed on results, recruiter Hays saw solid like-for-like growth in the second quarter as UK and Ireland stepped up a gear. Total like-for-like growth in net fees hit 3% for the three months to the end of December, with 'actual' top line growth of 1%.In the UK & Ireland, the FTSE 250 group generated 10% actual and like-for-like growth across a broad base, with Continental Europe and the rest of the world business growing like-for-likes 5% and Asia Pacific enduring a 9% like-for-like decline and by 18% at the top line.The permanent recruitment segment outperformed temporary for the first quarter since Q4 2011, which broker Panmure Gordon suggested "bodes very well for sustained growth in recruitment and increasing confidence from hirers". Chief Executive Alistair Cox said it was another encouraging quarter for the group as UK growth accelerated thanks to improved client confidence. "Around the world, 17 countries grew by more than 10% and six countries, including Germany and Japan, achieved record monthly net fee performances in the quarter."We continued to see market conditions improve in several parts of the group as the quarter progressed, most notably in the UK and Asia."He stressed that activity levels at the start of the New Year would be an important driver of the group's second half performance.In Asia Pacific, which represents 24% of Group net fees, net fees were dragged down by a 15% decrease in Australia & New Zealand, almost entirely from Australia.Hays said overall market conditions in Australia remained challenging through the quarter with net fees in the Australian down 26% from the significant movement in the Australian dollar against sterling.Asia, which accounted for 21% of the division, delivered excellent net fee growth of 28%, with Japan enjoying a record net fee performance in December and Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia each delivering net fee growth of over 30%.Hays shares were down 1.2% to 130.82 at 130:08 on Thursday. OH