Robert Walters fourth-quarter net fee income up 22%

Recruiter Robert Walters posted a 22% rise in net fee income for the fourth quarter to the end of December, amid growth across all of its regions.

Group net fee income rose to £90.5m from £76.1m in the fourth quarter of the previous year. The UK saw a 13% jump in income, while Asia Pacific saw 12% growth, Europe saw 28% growth and income in Other International surged 108%.

Growth in Asia was broad based across both its established and emerging markets with Japan, Hong Kong and Vietnam delivering "excellent" performances, while Australia and New Zealand saw strong performances. Meanwhile, in the UK, activity levels in London were highest across financial services, commerce finance, legal and technology. In terms of regions, Milton Keynes, St Albans and Manchester delivered the best performances.

In Europe, the company saw a strong blend of growth across permanent, contract and interim recruitment activity, with Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium all delivering net fee income growth of more than 25% year-on-year. In Other International, which includes North America, Brazil, the Middle East and South Africa, the strongest performance was delivered in NA.

Chief executive Robert Walters said: "Growth was once again broad based across permanent, contract, interim and recruitment process outsourcing across the group's geographic regions.

"Net fee income for the full year is up 20%. With profit forecasts for the full year having been upgraded in response to our December trading update, the board confirms that trading is comfortably in line with market expectations."

At 1000 GMT, the shares were down 1.2% to 650p.