Imprint, the British-listed recruitment group chaired by Irishman Pierce Casey, is on the hunt for acquisitions after an Irish deal and two acquisitions in Britain helped increase pretax profits by 362 per cent to a record £4.53 million (€6.53 million) in 2005.

The group said it was encouraged by "strong trading" in the current period after what Mr Casey described as a "transforming year" for the group. Further profit growth was likely in 2006, he said.

While the group declared its maiden dividend of 2p per share, the results failed to make an impression on the group's shares on the Alternative Investment Market, which fell by 2p to close yesterday at 306p.

Chief executive Brian Hamill said the group was examining the possibility of deals in France and Germany as their economies showed signs of recovery. It plans to make a small acquisition in Dubai shortly.

Basic earnings per share rose to 8.5p from 7.2p, as retained profit rose to £2.74 million from £1.25 million. With a full-year operating profit margin of 22.2 per cent, the operating profit before exceptionals and goodwill amortisation rose to £7.1 million from £1.2 million.

Turnover increased to £54.82 million from £7.9 million. Some £41.19 million of the sales came from three companies that Imprint acquired during the year. These brought the number of staff in the group to 400 from 70, while increasing the number of offices to 13 from one.

The acquisitions last year included Dublin firm Accreate, for which it paid an initial €3 million with the possibility of another €5 million based on profits to 2007. Mr Hamill said Imprint planned to broaden the scope of this business, which concentrates on financial services recruitment, into marketing, technology and sales.

In addition to the Accreate transaction, Imprint spent £24.8 million buying British group Morgan McKinley and £9.6 million buying ECHM, which is based mainly in Britain. It will use Morgan McKinley to pursue opportunities in Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong.