According to results for the quarter to 30 September 2018, group GP increased 13% in constant currency, up from £90.7m to £101.2m, with GP up 22% in Europe (£20.1m to £24.3m), 18% in Asia Pacific (£35.9m to £41.2m) and 4% in the UK (£26.9m to £27.9m).

However, GP was down 1% in constant currency in the group’s ‘other international’ segment, which includes North America, Brazil, the Middle East and South Africa, from £7.9m to £7.7m.

Elaborating on the group’s performance, CEO Robert Walters told Recruiter this morning that the group had achieved GP growth through the rather “boring” strategy of organic growth.

He added the group had recently expanded into Hamburg, German, Leeds and Los Angeles, was opening in Geneva, Switzerland, and was looking at expanding into an unnamed new territory.

Turning to the UK, Walters said there had been pockets of growth in the “rather moribund” financial services sector in fintech and some risk regulatory cyber security areas.

Expanding on why growth in the UK had not been as pronounced as other regions, Walters pointed to uncertainty around Brexit as a contributory factor: “It’s patchy and you can see pockets of growth in quite difficult markets such as financial services. But it’s still growth and the growth is there. It’s across the board actually. 

“Our regional offices that have started up take a little while to get going. We’ve recently gone into Leeds, so I wouldn’t expect to see big fee income growth and no profitable growth for at least a year after it has been running. Part of it is that the UK has been sitting on its hands a little bit waiting for news. 

“With recent news that’s just come out hopefully we’ll see an upturn in confidence but confidence is lacking in the UK. Whereas if you look at around the world in other places, it’s maybe not such an issue.”

Elaborating on the slight drop in GP for the group’s ‘other international’ segment, CFO Alan Bannatyne pointed to the group’s South Africa operation and one other office in the segment where the group had seen companies successfully make counter offers to candidates in order to retain their services.

• 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]