Harvey Nash pays record dividend

True to their word recruitment firm Harvey Nash delivered an excellent set of full-year results which beat expectations and rewarded shareholders with a record dividend. Chief executive Albert Ellis said: "We are seeing the benefits of our focus both on high growth technology markets and on the robust economies of Northern Europe."

Europe was the main engine of growth, with a particularly strong performance in the Nordic region as Sweden saw professional recruitment increase 64 per cent; revenues in the region as a whole were up 24 per cent to £318m, driving net fee income (NFI) up by over £7m to £38.3m. Despite the dismal economic headlines in the UK, the division benefited from a focus on digital and media markets where mobile app builders are in high demand; revenues were up 36 per cent to £178m, and NFI rose 8 per cent to £30.7m. Growth of the lower-margin managed service segment meant NFI did not keep pace with turnover growth and caused overall gross profit margins to slip from 16.2 to 14.7 per cent.

Broker Panmure Gordon is being cautious for the year ahead given concerns about the macro outlook and is forecasting pre-tax profits of £7.2m and EPS of 6.87p (2012: £8.5m and 8p).

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