Recruitment company Robert Walters expects annual pre-tax profit to beat market expectations after a strong second-quarter performance from its international business and also from Britain where other staffing firms have seen hiring take a hit due to Brexit uncertainty.

The British company, which places people in finance, engineering, legal and marketing jobs, said on Wednesday that second-quarter net fee income from Britain grew 13 percent in the three months to June to 24.3 million pounds ($31.1 million).

Robert Walters made 28 percent of its overall net fee income from its domestic market, with the rest coming from its international business.

In Britain, activity was "strongest" across financial services, commerce and IT recruitment in London, while the UK regions also produced good growth with St Albans and Milton Keynes in southern England the standout performers, the company said.

Larger rival PageGroup on Tuesday reported a fall in gross profit from the UK market, saying concern about political stability following last month's election had compounded the uncertainty caused by the Brexit vote a year ago.

PageGroup said financial services hiring fell 15 percent in Britain, adding that it had seen a particular reluctance to hire from multinationals.

Robert Walters reported group net fee income growth of 25 percent to 86.3 million pounds. At constant exchange rates, net fee income was up 16 percent.

Ahead of the results, analysts had expected pretax profit of 30.08 million pounds for the year to Dec. 31, according to a company-compiled consensus.

Hays, Britain's largest listed recruitment company, is due to report results on Thursday. ($1 = 0.7798 pounds) (Reporting by Esha Vaish in Bengaluru; Editing by Susan Fenton and Jane Merriman)