Excellent 30% operating profit growth, with 53% drop-through of incremental net fees into operating profit
Headline operating profit grew by 22% despite significant foreign exchange headwinds of £4.1 million
UK & Ireland delivered strong, broad-based net fee growth of 13%; all regions grew
- Operating profit up 113% to £21.1m; 71% drop-through of incremental net fees into operating profit
- Excellent operating leverage driven by a 3% improvement in consultant productivity and cost discipline
Good Asia Pacific net fee growth of 8%, operating profit up 7%
- Australia returned to growth with net fees up 5%, driven by Perm up 13%
- Strong broad-based 13% growth in Asia, delivering record net fees and operating profit
Good 9% net fee growth in Continental Europe & Rest of World drives excellent 21%operating profit growth
- Germany net fees up 7%, France up 11% and Canada up 21%
- 16 countries delivered net fee growth of over 10%, including Poland, Spain and Switzerland
Consultant headcount up 9%year-on-year as we quickly invested where markets and outlook were supportive
On 4 December 2014, Hays acquired 80% of Veredus Corp., a US pure-play IT staffing company, for an initial consideration of approximately $44 million (c.£29 million)
Growth in EPS of 26%, reflecting excellent operating profit performance and lower effective tax rate
Strong cash performance, with 96% conversion of operating profit into operating cash flow
Interim dividend increase of 5%, in line with our strategy to build full year cover towards 3.0x earnings
Commenting on the results Alistair Cox, Chief Executive, said:
"This is an excellent first half performance, driven by an acceleration in the permanent recruitment market, as candidate confidence continued to improve in many countries.
Conditions remained supportive in most markets and we rapidly invested in headcount to deliver strong fee growth alongside profit leverage. As a result 19 countries delivered record first half net fee performances, including the key businesses of Germany, France, Canada and Japan, and Australia returned to growth. In the UK we grew net fees by 13%(1), where our investment in headcount, focus on improving consultant productivity and the on-going benefits of our largely automated back office platform, drove excellent profit leverage as 71%(1) of incremental net fees converted into operating profit.
This combination of profit leverage and targeted revenue investment is key to how we manage the company. In addition, through the half we continued to make significant progress against each of our operational and strategic objectives, notably the acquisition of Veredus in the US which gives us a significant platform in the world's largest recruitment market.
Looking ahead we exit the first half in a position of strength and we are confident in our outlook. We have the scale, diversity, people and technology to capture the many long-term opportunities available to us, as well as driving our profits along the way."
