Robert Walters (RWA) started life on these shores but its biggest profit driver these days is Asia. In the first half, net fee income from Asia-Pacific rose 10 per cent at constant currency to £54m. That made up more than 40 per cent of the total. Japan, the recruiter's biggest Asian operation, performed especially well while Australia saw its best growth in four years.
Continental Europe also brought some strong performances. Somewhat surprisingly, France had a record first half. Eponymous chief executive Robert Walters puts this down to a healthy temp market and his company's well-established presence. Overall operating profit from continental Europe more than doubled to £2.1m.
The UK was less rosy. Operating profit sank by over a third to £1.8m as candidate confidence and hiring decisions were hit by political and economic uncertainty. Profit was also held back by investment in two new outsourcing deals. Mr Walters says the contracts had "unusually large" set-up costs but should be profitable in the second half.
Analysts at Investec have increased their adjusted pre-tax profit forecast for the year to December by 2 per cent to £26m, and their EPS forecast by 8 per cent to 22.7p, reflecting the reduced number of shares following recent buybacks (from £22.4m and 18.7p in 2015).
| ROBERT WALTERS (RWA) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 307p | MARKET VALUE: | £238m | |
| TOUCH: | 295-307p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 478p | LOW: 242p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.4% | PE RATIO: | 13 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 123p | NET CASH: | £10.2m | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 378 | 8.7 | 8.0 | 1.95 |
| 2016 | 451 | 11.2 | 10.6 | 2.30 |
| % change | +20 | +29 | +33 | +18 |
Ex-div: 1 Sep Payment: 14 Oct | ||||
