Robert Walters, chief executive of the eponymous recruitment agency, is retiring and will step down from the board at the AGM on 27 April.

He will be succeeded by long-serving executive Toby Fowlston who is CEO for the group’s global recruitment brands.

The company said profit before tax increased by 11% year-on-year to an all-time high of £55.6m (2021: £50.2m).

It said there had beeb a  softening of recruitment activity levels across many of the group’s markets. The Ukraine conflict, a high inflation and high interest rate environment, significant cutbacks across the global technology market and Covid-enforced lockdowns in Mainland China all had a cumulative effect on market confidence.