Recruitment boss Robert Walters today gave a double dose of good news to the City as his firm said the London banking jobs market has finally started to take off after years of weakness and the company’s annual profits should beat expectations.
Net fee income rose 21% to £18.9 million in the UK in the past three months as London begins to catch up with strong recruitment activity in the other regions.
Sales, marketing, legal and professional services have been among the best performers.
“I think we’re on the cusp of something quite good,” said Walters, who admitted he is “not normally very bullish about anything”.
Demand from the banks has been picking up internationally, “not just London but south-east Asia and New York”. Walters said he felt “more comfortable” about the business than at any time since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008.
Worldwide net fee income rose 10% and the company has had two years of consecutive quarter-on-quarter net fee income growth across all its key regions.
Walters singled out the office in Jakarta, Indonesia as one of the fast-growth markets with particular potential.
The shares rose 4.75p to 307.5p.
