Robert Walters Plc (RWA:LSE) set out a very brief Interim management statement this morning for the first quarter ended 31 March 2012. Gross Profit was up +12% to £44.7 million in Q1 2012 (Q1 2011: £39.9 million).  All four of the regions that the company reports were up by a median of +12.5% (see image below).

Speaking about the results Robert Walters, Chief Executive, commented "the Group produced a record level of net fee income for the first quarter; successfully growing net fee income across all of our regions against what remains a challenging economic backdrop”.

"As I stated in our year-end results announcement in March, there is still a degree of caution amongst clients and candidates which does vary from region to region and sector to sector. We therefore continue to manage costs sensibly whilst investing where sentiment and long-term growth opportunities are strongest."

The company also announced it has opened a new office in San Francisco. Robert Walters now has 48 offices in 23 countries and a Group headcount of 2,100 (December 2011: 2,047). The company will publish a trading update for the six months ended 30 June 2012 on 5 July 2012.

In early trading today, the company’s share price was down 3.89% at £2.53, 22.32% below its 52-week high of £3.26 set on 29 July, 2011 and 17.7% below a year ago. This means the company is valued at £201.95 million.