Shares in recruiter Robert Walters (RWA) have been going great guns over the past six months, and judging by these first-half figures there's plenty more growth left in the tank. Operating profit grew 68 per cent to £9m, while net fee income was up 12 per cent to £114m - with receipts from the homegrown UK business up by a fifth to £38.7m. "I really can't think of a time where there has been such a broad-based, positive uptick," says the group's eponymous chief executive.
Aside from the strong domestic numbers, operating profit grew by more than a third to £4.7m in the Asia Pacific region. Australia is Robert Walters' largest business in the region, but weakness in global commodity markets means that permanent hiring remains unpredictable down under. Nevertheless, the Australian business has delivered its third successive quarter of single-digit growth. Indonesia, Taiwan, Vietnam and Korea all managed to double net fee income year on year. But in Europe, net fee income grew just 2 per cent, held back by the weak euro.
Broker Investec Securities expects adjusted EPS of 18.7p this year, up from 13.9p in 2014.
ROBERT WALTERS (RWA) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 447p | MARKET VALUE: | £345m | |
| TOUCH: | 443-447p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 448p | LOW: 270p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.4% | PE RATIO: | 24 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 102p | NET CASH: | £14.6m | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 310 | 5.0 | 4.5 | 1.65 |
| 2015 | 378 | 8.7 | 8.0 | 1.95 |
| % change | +22 | +74 | +78 | +18 |
Ex-div: 3 Sep Payment: 16 Oct | ||||
