Johannesburg — STAFFING company Kelly Group said yesterday that although the financial and retail sectors were cutting staff due to higher interest rates, construction, mining and tourism were countering the downward hiring trend.

CEO Grenville Wilson said while SA had seen sectors that were interest rate-sensitive cutting or freezing posts, the group stood to benefit from other sectors experiencing growth.

"We are feeling the downturn in sectors such as general commercial staffing and industries, but in professional staffing such as accountants, engineers, lawyers, IT - there is huge demand."

Wilson said the group - which owns subsidiaries PAG, Renwick and Accountants on Call - was doing "reasonably well", but the rate of revenue and operating profit growth was not at last year's high levels.

SA, like the rest of the world, is experiencing a shortage of skills with Australia on a rampant recruiting drive for skills from the country, especially in the mining sector.

"It is true one in five people selling houses aim to emigrate, which means we are losing skills that are hard to replace. Yet we are doing everything to replace these people within SA or import these skills," Wilson said.

Kelly said overall revenue grew 13,9% in the first quarter, without providing figures, as these were price-sensitive. It was marginally up from the previous two quarters. Revenue from operations in SA jumped 14,9%, while revenue from US operations rose 9,8%, mainly due to organic growth and the Frontline acquisition.

Wilson said the other business units, except for Kelly Industrial, showed strong revenue and operating profit growth. Renwick posted an especially good turnaround performance.

"It is also worth noting our focus on the US operations has started paying off in terms of improving results," Wilson said.

Kelly Industrial's revenue grew substantially, but its operating profit fell and it has been placed under new leadership. Kelly has partnered with the education department to offer 1000 previously disadvantaged grade 11 and 12 students from 50 Gauteng government schools job-shadowing opportunities.

The initiative, Ikusasa Lami, aims to address SA's skills shortage, providing pupils with exposure to different job roles.

Kelly has also expanded its portfolio of services to include recruitment process outsourcing -- where an employer outsources all or part of its recruitment activities to an external service provider.

Wilson said the group should deliver reasonable growth for the year to September.