CPL Resources, the employment group, has increased pre-tax profits for the year ended June 30th by 49 per cent to €2.6 million.

The company's turnover increased by 41 per cent to €73.9 million. The group's gross profit grew by 25 per cent to €13.3 million.

Fully diluted earnings per share were up 55 per cent at 5.9 cents, from 3.8 cents in the previous period.

A final dividend of 0.6 cents per share is proposed, bringing the total dividend for the year to 1 cent per share.

CPL chief executive Ms Anne Heraty said the company had won a lot of repeat business in the period under review.

"During the year we worked with more than 1,500 clients, ranging from large multinationals, to mid-sized and small companies."

She said the acquisition of Medical Personnel Ltd in March 2004 had strengthened the company's presence in the contract nurse recruitment market.

"We expect demand in this sector to continue to grow due to the shortage of qualified healthcare personnel."

She said the company's working capital was facing increasing demands because of growth, but CPL continued to generate positive cash flows during the year through a combination of tight cost control and excellent working capital management. The company's net cash balance at June 30th was €5.3 million.

"We had a strong second half to June 2004 and that momentum has continued into the current year. We have made investments in people, infrastructure and back-office technology.

"As a result we are well-positioned to take advantage of the improved economic conditions," she said.