This is according to a quarterly update for the three months to 30 June 2018, released this morning.

The results reveal NFI growth was led by the group’s Rest of World segment – up 23%, followed by Germany (up 16%), Australia & New Zealand (up 14%) and the UK & Ireland, up 5% on the previous year. This was fuelled by strong growth for the group’s public sector, temp and IT businesses.

Commenting on the group's performance, CEO Alistair Cox hailed another record quarterly net fee performance with the expectation full-year operating profit will be marginally ahead of current market expectations.

“Net fees in our International businesses increased 18% and 24 of our 33 countries delivered double-digit growth, including 16 all-time records. Australia and Germany continued to perform strongly, and despite continuing economic uncertainties our UK business has seen modest improvement,” Cox said.

He added conditions remain positive in virtually all of the group’s markets of operation: “We continue to invest significantly in key growth markets where we see structural and marketshare opportunities, notably Germany, France and the US. Our focus continues to be on driving profitable, cash-generative growth, leveraging the largest and most balanced global platform in our industry. That allows us to look to the future with confidence.”

• Comment below on this story. You can also tweet us to tell us your thoughts or share this story with a friend. Our editorial email is [email protected]