Albert Ellis (left), the chief executive officer of international recruitment and outsourcing group Harvey Nash, tells Recruiter he hopes that 70% of group net fee income (NFI) will be generated from outside the UK and Ireland within the next couple of years.

The company announced a 12% rise in revenue to £595m and a 7% jump in pre-tax profits for the year ended 31 January 2013, with 62% of total NFI being generated from outside the UK.

As part of the continuing strategy of group’s geographical diversification, Harvey Nash announced two deals, both outside the UK.

It acquired the remaining 49.9% stake in Norwegian executive search firm Bekele & Luther.

And in a deal that Ellis says is “more strategic and less financial”, it entered into a partnership with Japanese company Mitsui & Co to build the largest software, business process outsourcing (BPO) and call centre operation in Vietnam, focused on serving the Japanese and Australian markets.  

Ellis tells Recruiter: “If you look at our ‘Rest of the World’ figures, that’s where we are growing bottom line and top line by over 20%. You won’t find 20% growth in Europe – it’s only in Asia.” 

Ellis says that while Europe “is a massive opportunity to benefit off the weakness of others”, the Asian, US and Australian markets “will continue to grow most likely faster than our UK and Irish business”.

However, he adds that “Harvey Nash is not sitting on its laurels in the UK and Ireland”, where he says it still expanding and opening offices, and where revenue increased by 21% to £210m.