Robert Half International 2nd-quarter profit more than doubles; permanent staffing unit gains

Robert Half 2nd-quarter profit more than doubles

MENLO PARK, Calif. — Specialized staffing and consulting firm Robert Half International Inc. on Wednesday said its second-quarter profit more than doubled as revenue rose in its technology staffing, OfficeTeam and Protiviti units.

Chairman and CEO Harold M. Messmer Jr. said the company’s finance and accounting permanent placement operations also performed well, with a 29 percent revenue jump from last year and a 15 percent increase from the frist quarter.

Robert Half’s largest division, temp agency Accountemps, and its management resources segment saw revenue declines.

For the three months ended June 30, Robert Half reported net income after paying preferred dividends of $11.7 million, or 8 cents per share, compared with $4.8 million, or 3 cents per share, in the 2009 second quarter. Revenue rose 3 percent to $769.1 million, from $749.9 million last year.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, on average, expected profit of 7 cents per share on revenue of $758.9 million.

Robert Half shares closed Wednesday trading down 31 cents at $24.29. The stock has changed hands between $21.91 and $32.25 in the past year.

Also Wednesday, staffing company Manpower Inc. said its second-quarter net income nearly doubled, helped by the acquisition of a tech staffing firm and improvement in global employment markets. Manpower, which does much of its business outside of the United States, said countries such as Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Mexico and France and Italy all had extremely strong revenue growth throughout the quarter. It also saw revenue growth in the United States despite a difficult job market.