Overseas growth drives Hays' upturn

RECRUITMENT firm Hays has posted better than expected results after receiving a boost from overseas markets.

Hays chief executive Alistair Cox said the outlook was improving: "across 90 per cent" of its markets.

The company, which specialises in white collar jobs, made a pretax profit of 71.1 million, up from 151m in the same period last year and ahead of market expectations.

Cox said: "After a tough first half to the year, we returned to growth in the second half driven by excellent performances in Asia Pacific and Germany.

"The outlook across 90 per cent of our markets, including the UK private sector, continues to improve."

But City experts warned the company still faced challenges, particularly in the UK.

Caroline de La Soujeole, an analyst at Seymour Pierce, said: "We believe that concern over Hays' exposure to public sector spending cuts will continue to act as a drag on share price performance in the short term."

Steve Woolf, at Numis Securities, added: "The weakness is currently confined to back-office public sector.

"But we believe that a broader impact lies ahead and that macro uncertainly could put pressure on the ability of the private sector to support the UK performance."

The UK and Ireland account for 44 per cent of Hays' net fees, with Asia Pacific and continental Europe contributing 26 per cent and 30 per cent respectively.