The listed recruitment firm Hays is riding the crest of the recruitment wave following its transformation into a staffing specialist.

Hays is set to demerge its DX mail business in November and the firm has returned to the black under the leadership of chief executive Denis Waxman.

Waxman founded Accountancy Personnel in 1969 and decided to stay on after Hays bought his company in 1986.

His loyalty has been rewarded with the company returning to the black and producing pre-tax full-year profits of £148m, compared with losses of £445m last year.

Because of the company’s disposal programme, Hays’s turnover fell from £2.5bn last year to £2.17bn but investors could receive a total of £200m courtesy of a share buy-back scheme.

The company has also invested heavily and increased its number of recruitment consultants by 10% to 3,107 and opened 20 new offices.

Margins dropped slightly from 21.3% to 19.7%, due to pricing pressure in a competitive market.

Waxman said the company was benefiting from an increased rate of recovery in the UK economy, with booming IT, construction, banking, accountancy and finance sectors generating demand for staff.

Hays has now moved its head offices to Moorgate, London, where Waxman will oversee the operations of the company’s 313 offices across the world.

Some industry analysts have grumbled that the recruitment market is now at its peak, but Waxman remains bullish about his company’s prospects.

“I am confident that our strategy, together with the resources that are available to us, will enable us to capitalise on the significant opportunities for growth in the future,” he said.