Is there no end to the stellar share price performance of Healthcare Locums? As Recruiter went to press it had reached a high of 207p, more than double its 52-week low of 93p.

Penna Consulting was another strong performer. After reaching a peak of 210p, during the past two-week period, it had fallen back a touch to 200p.

Meanwhile, two of the most prominent recruiters in the UK provided subtly contrasting perspectives on what is happening to margins downturn.

Steve Ingham, chief executive of Michael Page, told analysts that the company’s fee margins are likely to have dipped by around 10%. While being careful not to give away the company’s actual fee margin, he said assuming, for argument’s sake, it is 25% in normal times, it would have fallen to 22.5%. However, he added it would return to normal when the market recovered.

Contrast this with Hays. Following the announcement of the company’s interim results, finance director Paul Venables told Recruiter that despite “longer conversations [on fees] with clients” on the permanent side and client pressure on the temporary side, the company hadn’t seen “any real change in margins”. Venables explained that most of the strain on the temporary side had taken by temporary workers whose rates were “a bit lower”.

Venables said the only impact on margins came from changes in Hays’ business mix. “There is still more demand coming from the big corporate clients rather than the smaller companies. BT will recruit at a lower unit cost because you get larger volume,” he explained.