IT recruiter SThree is to increase its international presence overseas following a rise of revenue and profits have risen, according its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 29 May 2011.

The group’s results also reveal:

• Permanent placements up by 21% to 3,450 (2010: 2,842) - average permanent placement fee up 8% (like for like) LFL to a record £12,851 (2010: £11,861)
• Number of active contractors at period end up by 11% year on year to 4,381 (2010: 3,952) - average gross profit per day rates increased by 6% LFL to a record £88.10 (2010: £83.24). Average contract margin achieved of 21.4% (2010: 21.4%)  

CEO Russell Clements says: “During the first half of the year the group benefited from a continued improvement in market conditions across all of our territories. The result was a performance which positions the group well for the remainder of the year. That said, given the strong seasonality of our business, we are targeting for the second half to be a very significant contributor to our results for 2011 as a whole, as has historically been the case.

“We have continued to invest in the group’s future growth by scaling-up our capacity in established territories and markets, as well as opening new offices and addressing complementary specialist staffing segments. As a result the group is more diversified and international than at any other time in its history, with almost two-thirds of the business coming from outside of the UK. We expect our long established international office roll out programme to continue, with a number of further new offices scheduled to open during the second half of the year.

“The group has entered the second half in good shape, notwithstanding some evidence of a softening of UK demand in recent weeks, and our expectations for the full year remain unchanged.”