Kelly Group: Operating profit more than doubles

Kelly Group recorded a 13 percent increase in interim revenue to R786.3 million, the personnel company said yesterday. Operating profit for the six months to March increased by 117 percent to R10.4m and headline earnings a share improved to 5.7c from 0.4c. The group said it had performed well across all its divisions. Most notably, InnStaff delivered significant growth and entrenched its position as the dominant player in the hospitality industry, it said. M Squared was well positioned to deliver large outsourced contracts focused predominately on white collar markets, with a move into the blue collar sector “coming into play”. Kelly said it had done extremely well to retain head count in the financial services market, which was seen to be shrinking “rapidly”. With a stronger balance sheet and reduced debt, Kelly was well positioned for the second half, chief executive Gareth Tindall said. Regarding the expression of interest by Adcorp Holdings to buy the 71 percent of the group it did not already own, Tindall said talks were continuing. Kelly gained 2.13 percent in a trade just before the bell to close at R2.40 yesterday. – Sapa