Hays is to appeal against the £30.4m fine imposed by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for breaches of competition law.

On 30 September, six recruitment firms, including Hays, were fined £39.27m by the OFT for price-fixing and the collective boycott of another company in supplying candidates to the construction industry.

In its interim management statement for the quarter ended 30 September 2009, the company says that “whilst it takes the findings of the OFT seriously, we believe the level of the fine is arbitrary and wholly disproportionate with the activities to which it relates, Hays’ involvement in those activities and the way in which the OFT has dealt with other cases in the past.”

The news comes as Hays reports that despite “very challenging” markets, it is seeing “early signs of stabilisation in the UK”, and “broader signs of stability in Asia Pacific”. However, Continental Europe is still experiencing “deteriorating conditions”.  The company says it has yet to see any improvement in any of its markets.

The group saw a decline of 40% in like-for-like net fees compared with the same period in 2008. This is the same decline as in the previous quarter.

Alistair Cox, chief executive of Hays, says: “The specialist recruitment markets continue to be very challenging.  As we said at our preliminary results, we are seeing early signs of stability in the UK and broader signs of stability in Asia Pacific, although at present no indications of recovery in either market.

“The Continental Europe markets, which entered into the downturn later than other regions, are still experiencing deteriorating conditions although the rate of decline has moderated. Whilst the indications are that this year will be another tough year for our industry, the downturn presents opportunities for market leading companies like Hays to gain share and we will continue to pursue those opportunities and invest in our business accordingly.”