Crystal Umbrella

New research has shown that contractor belief that there is still money to be made within the financial sector. The research, conducted by Giant, showed a 50 per cent increase in the number of IT contractors who believe that the majority of their business will be based in financial services compared with those surveyed six months ago. More than half of those surveyed also stated that despite difficulties in the sector they still believed that they would be in receipt of a pay rise.

Matthew Brown of Giant stated: “In the aftermath of Lehman Brothers’ collapse, IT directors and team leaders at investment banks were forced to let contractors go. But more than 12 months on since the bank’s demise, the IT jobs situation is different because now those same team leaders are being instructed to start hiring again.”

This sentiment was echoed by the Association of Professional Staffing Companies when speaking to Contractor UK. Their director, Marilyn Davidson, stated that there is “a bit of evidence to support the feeling that things are getting better.”

Mr Brown said: “Earlier this year the sheer scale of the downturn in the job market was dawning on everyone and so securing an income to pay bills and mortgages became an understandable priority. We are not at the end of the tunnel just yet but these figures suggest [that] as IT contractors are less nervous about the prospect of being out of work, they are starting to place greater emphasis on career issues, such as the opportunity to develop their skills, when selecting contracts.”

Tech recruiter Morson has credited contractor recruitment with boosting its profits and helping them to outperform their rivals. In fact, Morson have stated that the skilled contractors that they provide for infrastructure projects have helped them to cope “far better” than their industry rivals.

Morson has seen their pre-tax profits rise from £4.1m to £4.9 million for the six month period to June with an overall turnover of £219.9m, up from £212. They currently have 9,000 techies on their books.

Morson has commented that this “solid trading” results from new orders received within the rail, nuclear and defence sectors. They have also acquired new clients, namely EADS, Thales and Ericsson while BAE Systems and Airbus have extended existing contracts. The company believes that this is a sign that they should expect “further progress” in the coming year. This is even more likely given the potential for new contracts through the Olympics and the access to European opportunities through EADS.

Ged Mason, chief executive of Morson, said: “We do believe that the provision of outsourced technical services and technical resource is a resilient market and remains strong with good long-term prospects. In particular, the market benefits from skill shortages and the ongoing investment in long-term infrastructure that is required in the United Kingdom.”

With regards to their income, fees received from permanent recruitment accounted for just £400,000, down 50 per cent. In fact permanent recruitment represented a mere 2.2 per cent of Morson’s net fee income. By contrast, contract recruitment accounted for £14.4m of the firm’s total £181.1m in received fees.

Despite existing debts, which have lessened, Mason stated that the firm is “very much seeking to position the business to gain market share.”