Recruiter Robert Walters’ profits hit ‘all-time high’ on post-Covid hiring surge

The recruitment firm made a record £54. million operating profit as it said companies are becoming more confident about hiring staff for the long-term

Recruiter Robert Walters saw operating profits hit an all-time high as hiring surges post-Covid.

Rhiannon Curry8 March 2022

Profits at recruitment firm Robert Walters have shot up 265% in the last year thanks to a surge in post-Covid hiring.

The company recorded its highest ever operating profits of £54.1 million, up from £14.8 million a year ago.

Activity levels were strongest in recruitment for permanent and interim roles, as opposed to contract work, with clients increasingly confident to hire for the long term, the company said.

The production of a vaccine, along with a willingness to embrace different ways of working, meant people were more inclined to take on staff again. Even the emergence of the Omicron variant failed to dampen enthusiasm.

Although many people reverted to working from home at the end of 2021, recruitment activity levels “were not adversely affected”, Robert Walters said, as people were able to “seamlessly adapt with no material impact on productivity”.

The company was buoyed by what it called “fierce” competition for talent across the world, driven by a shortage of qualified professionals and the pandemic’s impact on people’s ability to move around.

This drove wage inflation for people moving jobs, with candidates securing as much as a 20% pay rise if they had particular skills.

Robert Walters’ revenue for the year to December 2021 rose 3% to £970.7 million, compared to £938.4 million a year previously.

In the UK, which accounts for around 19% of the business, net fee income increased by 3% to £68.7 million.

Candidate shortages were most acute in the more senior end of the market, particularly in legal, technology and commerce finance jobs as companies started looking for more staff again after hiring freezes in 2020.

Robert Walters, chief executive of the company, said: “The jobs market is strong, wage inflation is increasing everywhere and candidate and client confidence is high.”

He is “mindful of the macro-economic and political uncertainties that do exist” but that trading so far this year had been in line with expectations.