What's happening at Hexagon Human Capital?

After a challenging year, it seems things may be looking up for Hexagon Human Capital, the human resources company whose businesses include the financial services headhunter Correlate Search, and BIE, the interim management provider: over the past thee months, its share price has risen nearly 70%.

Admittedly, Hexagon may merely be riding a rising tide of enthusiasm for shares in recruitment companies: Robert Walters, Michael Page and Hays have all seen their stock increase over the same period, but at 35%, 35% and 29% the extent of their improvement is distinctly less impressive.

Could it be that someone's thinking of putting in a bid for Hexagon? Earlier this year, talks with an 'unnamed bidder' (thought to be GRS Group) came to nothing.

This time, however, the likely bid contenders deny an interest. Nor does Rob Walker, the chief executive who took over from predecessor Jonathan Wright in August, purport to know what's going on.

"We're watching our stock price with interest," he tells us. "We're not aware of anything that's influencing our stock. We've asked our Nomad, and they're not aware of anything either."