LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - FTSE 250 recruiter Hays said on Thursday that it was resuming dividend payments as it hailed a "strong" recovery in fee and profit growth in its full-year results.
In the year to the end of June 2021, pre-tax profit rose 2% to £88.1m. Group fees fell 8% to £918.1m but the company said trading improved through the year, with strong sequential growth in all regions.

First-half fees were down 24% but second-half fees rose 13% and the fourth quarter saw a 39% increase. Hays said it saw its strongest group fee performance in June since the start of the pandemic.

The board proposed to resume core dividends with a single payment of 1.22p a share for FY21 and a special dividend of 8.93p per share.

Chief executive Alistair Cox said: "As business and candidate confidence increased globally, our management actions drove record consultant productivity, leading to a strong recovery in fees and profits. This included our largest markets of Germany, Australia and the UK, while in RoW six countries delivered record fee performances, including the USA, and many countries exited the year with fee run-rates above pre-Covid levels. Across all our regions there are clear signs of skill shortages and wage inflation in certain industries, particularly Technology and Life Sciences.

"Overall, the strength of the recovery has been dramatic. We now see a clear route back to, and then exceeding, pre-pandemic levels of profit, faster than we envisaged even six months ago. With such confidence in our future, we are proposing to resume core and special dividends, paying a total of 10.15 pence per share to shareholders in November."

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