Barclays Bank has extended a managed service contract with IT firm Spring for a further two years.

Hy-phen, Spring’s outsourcing division, provides an outsourced recruitment service for Barclays and manages the whole supply chain for the bank’s contingent IT staffing needs.

The IT recruitment company provides more than 700 contractors to the high street bank and is also a preferred supplier to Barclays for providing a range of permanent IT recruitment services.

Confirmation that the estimated annual £50m contract to provide contractors for short-term projects is to be extended is good news for the IT recruitment firm, which also reported its first half-year profit in five years in its latest set of results.

The figures could signal the end to the difficulties in the IT recruitment market caused by the bursting of the dotcom bubble.

Spring’s pre-tax profit was £1.6m in the six months to 30 June, compared with a £3.9m loss a year earlier, and the company’s turnover rose from £146m to £229m.

Richard Barfield, Spring’s chief executive, said: “With significantly increased revenues and a healthy return to the black, these results reflect the considerable progress made over the past two years.

“Spring has executed its focused strategy through a targeted disposal, acquisition and investment programme and tight focus on cost management, and has emerged as a much more robust business.”