SThree is set be cash-rich if it sells its IT JobBoard for £32m, according to Kean Marden, analyst at Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander, who has initiated coverage on the company with a ’buy’ recommendation.

He said: “We believe SThree has received several indications of interest for its IT JobBoard over the past 12 months and is not ideologically opposed to disposal.”

Marden described the IT JobBoard as the UK’s biggest dedicated online IT recruitment site with more than 50% more advertised vacancies than its peers (www.cwjobs.co.uk and www.jobserve.com). He said SThree will have net cash of £20m next year and this would be boosted by the JobBoard sale. He said investors could get a special dividend of 30p per share.

Insiders suggest that newspaper groups, such as the Daily Mail and Trinity Mirror, are potential buyers.

A spokesman for IT JobBoard said: “As a profit-oriented organisation, we are keen to review any business opportunity. But it’s not for sale.”