'No disaster' as recruiter wins abroad

"At least it's not disastrous" - that was the verdict on UK job markets from Robert Walters, the eponymous recruitment firm boss today.

The firm, which specialises in finding jobs for accountants, lawyers, middle managers and bankers, posted an 18% rise in net fees for 2011 at £183.6 million. But again most of that growth came from overseas, particularly Asia, France and Germany and Australia. The UK market grew just 3% in the fourth quarter.

"The best thing I can say is that I don't think it's going to get horrendously worse," Walters said. "There's a lot of nervousness within UK banking. I don't see any signs of recovery in the UK at the moment, but at least it's not disastrous."

With Walters now making 74% of its fees overseas, its fourth-quarter gross profit was up 14% to £46.4 million. Shares in the recruitment firm - among the worst performers of 2011, down 47% - today picked up 1.7p to 164.7p.