HAYS
Fees £764.2m Profits £156.1m
Hays deals impressively well with the perils of being in recruitment, a sector inextricably linked with the ebbs and flows of the economy.
It is perhaps the most diversified of its peers in the listed sector, which include Michael Page, Robert Walters and Harvey Nash.
First, Hays is not overexposed to a single sector, recruiting broadly from construction to IT, accounting and finance. Second, it places more temporary than permanent staff, meaning that it can respond to the changing employment needs of its clients.
Last, it is geographically widely spread, operating in 33 countries, ranging from Britain, continental Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and Australia.
The fruits of its strategy were on display in yesterday’s annual results, where pre-tax profits