Archived article
Please note that tax, investment, pension and ISA rules can change and the information and any views contained in this article may now be inaccurate.
Recruitment company Hays reported a slight rise in annual profit amid cost cuts and a recovery in the recruitment market.
For the year ended 30 June, pre-tax profit rose 2% to £88.1 million even as net fees slipped 8% to £918.1 million year-on-year.
The decline in group fees, however, came on the back of an improving backdrop.
H1 fees were down 24% but H2 were up 13%.
As previously indicated, the board proposes to resume core dividends with 'one single payment for fiscal 2021 of 1.22p per share, and also proposes the payment of £150 million surplus cash via a single special dividend of 8.93p per share in November 2021.'
'We start our new financial year with good momentum, driven by the hard work and dedication of our colleagues worldwide and our investments,' the company said.
'Overall, the strength of the recovery has been dramatic. We now see a clear route back to, and then exceeding, pre-pandemic levels of profit, faster than we envisaged even six months ago,' it added.