Hays PLC on Thursday reported a double-digit jump in net fees but suffered a fall in half-year profit, as it started to look for a new chief executive officer.

For the six months that ended on December 31, the London-based recruitment company said net fees rose by 15% to £651.9 million from £565.3 million a year before.

In Germany, fees were up 25%, or 24% on a like-for-like basis. In the UK & Ireland, they were up 7% by both measures. In Australia & New Zealand, fees were up 4%, but down 1% on a like-for-like basis. Rest of World fees were up 19%, or 12% on a like-for-like basis.

However, pretax profit declined by 3.8% to £94.0 million from £97.7 million, as operating profit slipped by 4.5% to £97.0 million from £101.6 million a year before. Administrative expenses rose by 20% to £554.9 million from £463.7 million.

Basic earnings per share amounted to 4.11 pence, up slightly from 4.08p in 2021. Hays explained its EPS benefited from a £900,000 reduction in interest costs.

Chief Executive Officer Alistair Cox said: ‘Despite clear economic uncertainties, we delivered record half-year fees in 19 countries, including our largest market of Germany, as well as in key strategic areas such as Technology, Engineering and our Enterprise client division. We achieved this through our actions to increase fee margins in skills short sectors, together with our shift towards the most in-demand markets and supported by wage inflation globally.’

Hays kept its interim dividend unchanged at 0.95 pence per share.

Looking ahead, Hays said it expects higher profitability and conversion rate in the second half of financial 2023 compared to the first half, adding that the new year ’return to work’ has been encouraging overall.

Conversion rate is the conversion of net fees into operating profit. It stood at 14.9% in the first half of the year, down from 18.0% a year before.

Additionally, Hays said it has agreed with Chief Executive Officer Alistair Cox that a process to identity Cox’s successor will start shortly. He will remain as CEO throughout the selection process.

Cox said: ‘It has been an honour and a privilege to lead Hays for over 15 years, and I am extremely proud of, and grateful to, my colleagues for everything we have achieved together. While the process to appoint my successor is ongoing, it will be very much business as usual at Hays.’

Shares were down 1.3% at 121.99 pence each on Thursday morning in London.

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