Companies: EMR   

International recruitment specialist Empresaria is bullish on prospects after lifting annual pre-tax profits to £6.2 million.

The Crawley-based company nearly doubled turnover to £148 million last year, helped by the contribution from its German acquisition Headway, bought for £9.9 million last April in a deal accompanied by a £12 million funding at 130p. Chairman Tony Martin says AIM-quoted Empresaria’s acquisitions, in Chile and Holland as well as Germany, have ‘transformed’ the company, which for the first time in 2007 derived more than half its fee income from outside the UK.

Empresaria, which last year raised the share of its net fee income drawn from temporary and contract business from 56 to 72 per cent, now operates in 18 countries, across Europe, Asia, Australia and the Americas. Martin argues this spread across countries and sectors should ‘provide resilience’ in an activity known as a pointer to changes in the economic cycle at a time of uncertainty.

He reports the company has enjoyed a ‘good start to 2008’, with ‘no evidence of any material change in demand for group services’. With Empresaria’s investment in start-up companies, particularly in Asia, ‘now starting to generate financial returns’, Martin says directors continue to see ‘strong revenue growth’ in continental Europe and opportunities to improve margins, particularly in Germany.

Floated at the end of 2004 at 65p, Empresaria shares reached 187p last June before falling back later to 77.25p. They have since rallied to 98.5p, up 5p this morning, where they value the company at £33 million, and should outperform some sector peers, despite current sector concerns, if overseas expansion continues to pay off. 

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