More firms are on the lookout for recruits

The group, which has two offices in Leeds, shrugged off weak demand across the recruitment sector by growing its UK market share, helped by its focus on the resilient IT and technical industries.

Signs of confidence have emerged across recruitment markets in recent weeks, Harvey Nash said, as the health and education sectors help demand to stabilise, while it believes permanent recruitment in financial services is on the verge of growing again.

The group reported a 35 per cent increase in pre-tax profits to £8.5m in the year to January 31, after it benefited from strong activity in building mobile ‘apps’ and online retailing and marketing, where there is an “acute skills shortage”.

However, it warned that the eurozone debt crisis will continue to leave recruiters nervous.

The company recently opened its first offices in Australia and China as it looks to grow its presence in the rapidly growing Asia Pacific region with £750,000 of investment this year.

In the UK and Ireland, the business performed better than expected, with revenues ahead 36 per cent to £178.4m and gross profits up 8 per cent to £30.7m.

Its regional offices in the Midlands, Scotland and the North West put in strong performan-ces.