A strong performance in Asia helped niche international professional recruiter Prime People to increase profits and to maintain net fee income (NFI) in 2012.

The company’s Asia business saw an 80% increase in NFI from £1m to £1.8m, as profit after currency adjustments rose slightly to £671k in the year ended March 2012, compared with £641k in 2011.

The recruiter, which works in the real estate & built environment, energy & environmental, insight & analytics and pharmaceutical sectors, generated 33% of its NFI outside the UK, compared to 29% in 2011.

NFI remained virtually unchanged at £8.03m against £8.04 in the previous year. Revenue fell from £13.95m to £12.65m.

The company says the second half saw diminished economic uncertainty affect both the UK and Middle East activity resulting in a 12% fall in NFI from £7.06m to £6.2m.

It adds that it expects its operations in the Far East and South-East Asia “to make an increasingly important contribution to continuing profitability”.