Harvey Nash Group Plc (LON:HVN), the global technology recruitment and outsourcing group, has today announced the following trading update in advance of its Capital Markets Day event today.
As stated in the preliminary results announcement on 27 April 2018, we are encouraged by the strong trading momentum at the beginning of the current financial year. This is reflected in the unaudited results with gross profit for the quarter ended 30 April 2018 up 7% overall on the comparable period last year*.
UK & Ireland Gross Profit is up 20% year on year, with robust growth in the volume of contractors year on year, despite uncertainty in relation to the ongoing Brexit negotiations. The Benelux continues to be a key driver of organic growth in Europe with 13% growth led by strong demand for contract recruitment and managed services. The Nordics was up 7% and in Central Europe gross profit was up 5%, driven mainly by Germany. In the Rest of World, Gross Profit was 23% lower largely as a result of an exceptional executive search quarter and higher solutions revenues in the prior year in the USA.
In the current financial year we completed the acquisition of eMenKa on 15 May 2018 which has significantly strengthened our position in Belgium in the niche Microsoft skills market. The demand for specialist technology skills remains high as a result of an acute skills shortage and as companies are increasing investment in technology and systems.
Albert Ellis, Harvey Nash Group Plc Chief Executive Officer, said: “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. 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.”
