Hays’ lagging London growth adds to fears about Brexit

Hays, the UK’s biggest recruitment firm, enjoyed a strong end to the year almost everywhere apart from London, adding to fears about the state of the capital’s economy.

Fourth-quarter fees in London and across the UK rose by just 1%, a performance that lags its other arms.

Fees overall were up 13% in the three months. Asia, rising 16%, and Europe, better by 17%, were especially strong.

Those figures suggest the UK’s economic recovery is lagging rivals.

Figures yesterday from Page told a similar story. Among big recruiters, only Robert Walters claimed to be seeing strong jobs demand in London.

Alistair Cox, Hays’ chief executive, said: “Whilst activity levels at the start of the New Year will be an important driver of the group’s second-half performance, we continue to see strong trading conditions in the vast majority of our international markets.”

Hays’ shares rose 3% to 194p, at which price the company is valued at £2.8 billion.

Most British staffing companies are relying on their overseas business to drive growth as uncertainty following the vote to leave the European Union curbs domestic demand.

The company, which has operations in 33 countries, said 24 of those markets grew more than 10%.