The Asian boom has led to a ferocious demand for financial services staff that has spurred the growth of Michael Page.
The international recruiter said that fees in the Asia-Pacific region rose by 71 per cent last year to £71.1 million after the company doubled the number of staff in the region.
Michael Page, which began as a two-man business above a laundrette in London 35 years ago, now operates in 32 countries and generates 72 per cent of its turnover outside the UK.
The diversification has enabled the staffing group to buck the downturn in Britain. It raised the dividend by 12.5 per cent yesterday as full-year pre-tax profits more than trebled to £72.2 million after accounting for expenses relating to a continuing dispute with the taxman over unpaid VAT.
The return to bottom-line growth highlights the resurgent fortunes of Britain’s recruiters, despite research revealing that the public sector’s willingness to hire staff is at the lowest level since the early 1990s.
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Michael Page, which specialises in placing staff such as accountants and lawyers, was badly hit by the financial crisis, with profits falling 85 per cent in 2009. However, it followed its rival Robert Walters yesterday by reporting double-digit growth.
Gross profit, equivalent to a recruiter’s net fees, jumped 26 per cent to £442.2 million because of soaring demand for white-collar workers in Asia and also Latin America.
Steve Ingham, Michael Page’s chief executive, said that the move into international markets had been behind the swift recovery. The company has recently opened in regions including Chile, India, Qatar and Malaysia and has taken on 258 new consultants this year.
“That portrays how we’re feeling about life,” Mr Ingham said. “We wouldn’t have done that unless we were feeling reasonably positive about [our performance] and the numbers of jobs we’re getting through.”
Henry Carver, an analyst at Peel Hunt, said that the downturn in the UK had led the company — like rivals including Hays and SThree — to pursue growth in rapidly-growing international markets. A lack of local competitors had allowed the British firms to seize a dominant position in countries such as Brazil and China, Mr Carver said.
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In the Americas, where Page is the largest white-collar recruiter, it increased net fees by 61 per cent to £56.4 million. It opened four offices in Brazil during the year and its first in Chile.
Demand in Britain was slower but still grew by 12.7 per cent to generate net fees of £124.9 million. The company’s rivals have also reported growth in Britain recently: Robert Walters’s business grew by 36 per cent in 2010, while SThree said last week it had seen a 12 per cent increase in net fees in the last three months. The public sector remains tough, however, with analysts believing it has yet to hit the bottom.
Manpower, the American staffing giant, said that financial services was propping up the recovery in British recruitment. A survey of more than 2,100 employers showed that banks were the most upbeat about their need for new recruits over the past three months.
Confidence in the public sector is at the lowest level since the early 1990s, Manpower’s research showed. Mark Cahill, its managing director, said: “We’ve heard a lot over the last few years about how the economy needs rebalancing. However, it seems that the sector that has been accused of getting us into the mess in the first place — finance, banking and business services — is the very sector that is leading the way into recovery.”
Shares in Michael Page fell 11p to 524½p as investors who had anticipated the good results took the opportunity to book their gains.
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Global rivals
Hays
62% of its business outside the UK 28 countries £557.6m latest full-year net fees £1.89bn market capitalisation Suzhou, Tasmania, New Jersey, Mexico City recent or planned office openings
Michael Page
72% of its business outside the UK 32 countries £442.2m latest full year net fees £1.62bn market capitalisation Chile, Malaysia, India, Qatar recent or planned office openings
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SThree
60% of its business outside the UK 12 countries £166.4m latest full-year net fees £516.6m market capitalisation Perth, Delhi, Houston, San Francisco, Munich, Düsseldorf, Doha, São Paulo recent or planned office openings
Robert Walters
71% of its business outside the UK 20 countries £155.4m latest full-year net fees £256.8m market capitalisation Sydney, Nanjing, Taipei, Ho Chi Minh City, Frankfurt recent or planned office openings