Swedish healthcare and education staffing firm NGS Group reported revenue rose 5.2 percent in the third-quarter to 122.4 million Swedish krona (US$16.9 million) from 116.2 million krona a year ago.

The company achieved operating profit growth of 12.8 percent. Net income for the year rose 17.7 percent to 8.7 million krona (US$1.2 million).

“During the third quarter our solid performance continued with organic growth of more than 5 percent compared with Q3 2013 and growth of 11 percent for the period January to September [year-on-year],” said Managing Director Ingrid Nordlund. “Our nurse staffing business grew strongly in Sweden, where Nurse Partner (acquired in May 2013) has grown by 38 percent compared with Q3 2013. There was also a positive development in our healthcare staffing division with growth of between 6 percent and 11 percent, depending on the business segment.”

Nordlund continued, “The Norwegian business continued to decline compared with last year. Despite good volumes during the summer months we did not reach the high levels we had in Norway during Q3 2013. Revenue from Norway accounted for 7 percent of NGS’ total revenue in Q3 2014. We see some bright spots in the Norwegian market, but … we have our focus on Sweden; and, at the time of writing this report, there is stronger demand in the Swedish healthcare sector than ever before in the history of NGS.”