Specialist recruitment and outsourcing firm Servoca (SVCA: LSE) reported revenue for the six months ending 31 March 2017 of £40.9 million, an increase of 18.8% compared with £34.4 million during the same period last year.

“As indicated in our recent trading update, we are pleased to report that results for the first half are significantly ahead of the same period last year,” Andy Church, CEO of Servoca, said. “The group continues to achieve substantial growth and our performance is benefitting from our diversified business mix. The group operates in six distinct markets and revenues in each one were ahead of the corresponding period last year. Performance in the first half leaves the group well placed to deliver against full-year expectations.”

Revenue for the period was broken down as follows:

Servoca’s Recruitment businesses supply into the Education, Healthcare and Criminal Justice markets, while its Outsourcing business is primarily based in two areas; Domiciliary Care and Security.

“The improvement to profitability in our Recruitment operation was led by our Health and Social Care business (Private Sector focus) and our Criminal Justice division. Our Outsourcing operations delivered a substantial improvement in profits benefitting from both sales growth and action taken at the end of the prior year to reduce overheads,” Church said.

“The Group enters the second half with positive momentum on the back of a strong first half performance. The balanced and diversified nature of the Group continues to provide healthy growth opportunities. Recent new contract wins, particularly in our Outsourcing businesses, bode well for prospects in the second half of the year. The group therefore remains confident in delivering its expectations for the full year,” Church said.

In trading today Servoca traded at £27.00, down 1.82% on the day and 5.92% below its 52-week high of £28.70, set on 13 June 2016. Based on its current share price the company has a market value of £34.01 million.