Monster Worldwide, the parent company of jobsite Monster.com, moved back into profit as first-quarter results showed revenues were up 11% to $187.7m (£105m). Net income for the first quarter of 2004 was $12.4m (£6.9m), turning round a loss of $116m (£64.7m) in the same quarter last year.

Monster chief executive Andrew McElvey attributed the change to Monster’s expansion of its sales force, the increased uptake of online recruitment by employers and improving economic conditions. “More and more economic indicators point to a job market that continues to grow stronger,” he said, adding that sales growth in North America had exceeded 40%.

McElvey confirmed Monster’s change of direction from organic growth to acquisitions such as the recent purchase of European job-board jobpilot from Adecco, which he said, “establishes Monster as the dominant career website in Europe”.

While analysts have criticised Monster’s free spending – including a promised $124m (£69.2m) on marketing in 2004 – McElvey pledged that as long as the company met its targets, it would carry on investing in its sales team.

The company also predicted that subsequent quarters would show further increases, both sequentially and year-on-year. However, the lack of trickle-through of profits to the bottom line – earnings per share for the first quarter were just 11 cents – may have contributed to the 7.8% fall in Monster’s stock price immediately after the news.

US analysts nevertheless expect Monster to justify its high prices-to-earnings ratio, and to exceed its own predictions for this year and next, achieving earnings per share in the region of 55-60 cents in 2004 and 79-90 cents in 2005.