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Harvey Nash ahead of budget in first quarter
Technology recruitment and outsourcing group Harvey Nash updated the market on its trading on Wednesday, as it held its capital markets day event saying it remained "encouraged" by strong trading momentum at the beginning of the current financial year.
The AIM-traded firm said that was reflected in its unaudited results, with gross profit for the quarter ended 30 April up 7% overall on the comparable period last year.
UK and Ireland gross profit was up 20% year-on-year, the board said, with "robust" growth in the volume of contractors year-on-year, despite uncertainty in relation to the ongoing Brexit negotiations.
The Benelux continued to be a key driver of organic growth in Europe, it added, with 13% growth led by strong demand for contract recruitment and managed services.
Harvey Nash said the Nordics were up 7%, and in central Europe, gross profit was ahead 5%, driven mainly by Germany.
In the rest of world geography, gross profit was 23% lower, which the board put down to an "exceptional" executive search quarter and higher solutions revenues in the prior year in the US.
In the current financial year, the company completed the acquisition of eMenKa on 15 May, which it said had "significantly strengthened" its position in Belgium in the niche Microsoft skills market.
The demand for specialist technology skills remained high as a result of an acute skills shortage, it explained, and as companies were increasing investment in technology and systems.
"I am very pleased to report that the strong organic growth reported in the second half of last year has continued into the current year and the first quarter is tracking ahead of budget," said chief executive Albert Ellis.
"The group has a clear growth strategy, and with the additional contribution from the annualised effect of the acquired businesses and of the transformation programme, we are confident of continuing to make significant progress in 2018."