Upbeat messages Trading has progressed well during the initial part of the year, with the group at 3,748 Mounties vs 3,580 at end Dec 2020 and 3,802 a year ago. With 168 net Mounties placed since the start of the year, this suggests that the backdrop is recovering well and the group confirms that utilisation, beached Mounties (not being billed), recruitment and training have all returned to pre-pandemic levels. Demand is accelerating with an active backdrop creating strong demand for Mounties. With c£50m net cash, the B/S remains strong. Outlook The group is trading comfortably in-line with the Board’s expectations which suggest a good degree of forecast underpinning at this stage. However, with the global backdrop still unpredictable due to the evolving pandemic, we err on the side of caution and leave our forecasts unchanged at this stage, preferring to wait until the H121 results to gain more data points on continuation of the positive trends the business is seeing and the broader global macro backdrop. Our View We see FDM as well placed to drive long term growth, as outlined in our Nov 2020 ‘Standing strong and standing out’ report, with our scenario-driven 1300p TP unchanged. Buy reiterated.