StepStone is cautiously optimistic for the future after publishing encouraging third-quarter results.

The online recruitment company’s figures published last month showed that sales were up by 30% on the corresponding quarter last year (the third consecutive quarter of year-on-year growth), revenue was up for the third successive quarter, and the company’s cost reduction programme is also on track.

The company has also signed a number of new client agreements, including Accenture, Deutsche Post, Fiat Bank, Deutsche Telekom, Nestlé, Microsoft, Intel, KLM, Maersk, ING and Citibank.

StepStone has been undergoing a quiet revival after becoming one of the highest profile UK casualties of the dotcom era. The firm quit the UK when the dotcom bubble burst in 2001. It has since re-entered the UK as a corporate website product supplier under the leadership of its chief executive Colin Tenwick (pictured).

However, it has not relaunched its public job-board, which is still operational in Europe.

Bob Gregory, StepStone’s investor relations director, said: “If you look at revenue and expenses for the company, things are going in the right direction.”

Gregory also confirmed that the deal with Axel Springer AG to deliver new recruitment services to Germany is being investigated by the country’s regulatory authorities.

The deal would see Axel Springer invest €7m (£4.7m) in cash and a further €7m in media (at list price) to acquire a minority stake of 49.9% in StepStone Deutschland AG.

Gregory said: “We see Germany as a very important market at the moment. It is the biggest in Europe and its current economic climate makes it somewhere we would like to expand.”