Dutch staffing firm Brunel raises 2011 outlook

Dutch staffing firm Brunel raises 2011 outlook

* Q3 op profit 16.7 mln vs highest estimate of 15.1 mln

* Sees 30 pct 2011 sales growth vs 20 pct previously

* Australian energy projects boost growth

* Warns euro debt crisis may impact its markets (Adds detail)

Dutch specialist staffing firm Brunel on Wednesday raised its full-year outlook on the back of energy projects in Australia, bucking a trend of rivals who have seen growth weakening.

Brunel, which makes more than 60 percent of sales from providing workers to the oil and gas industry, said in a statement it expected 2011 sales to grow 30 percent instead of 20 percent as predicted in August.

Sales were 720.9 million euros ($985.9 million) last year, when it made an operating profit of 37.3 million euros and paid a dividend of 0.80 euros per share.

Bigger Dutch rivals Randstad and USG People , as well as U.S. rival Manpower , have in the past two weeks warned for slowing growth in demand for workers, underlining the weak state of Europe's economy.

Brunel, whose other focus areas are engineering, IT, finance and law, said it expected its energy division to "have another solid quarter" thanks to Australian projects, but was less upbeat over developments in Europe.

"For the European market we remain cautious ... as the economic and monetary circumstances are still uncertain, which may affect the markets we are active in," Brunel said.

Brunel, the Netherlands' third-largest staffing firm by sales, said it more than doubled its third-quarter operating profit to 16.7 million euros compared with last year, beating the highest estimate at 15.1 million in a Reuters poll of three analysts.

Quarterly sales grew 42 percent to 244.2 million euros, also ahead of analysts' forecasts. ($1 = 0.731 Euros)