Regus, the serviced office operator, reported a 25 per cent increase in full-year profits yesterday as businesses sought to cut costs by renting work space.

Mark Dixon, the chief executive, said that, although the global economic background had become more difficult, his group's newly introduced portfolio of “recession-busting” products was attracting customers.

The company has seen strong growth in its BusinessWorld programme — a global pay-as-you-go card for people without a permanent office — as the number of mobile workers increases. FTSE 100 companies are among users of the service.

Other offerings include a hot-desking service and virtual offices.

Regus charges from £100 a month for a workstation, claiming to save users as much as 80 per cent when compared with a traditional office.

Mr Dixon, a former hotdog seller who founded Regus in 1989 to sell short-term office space out of a building in Brussels, said larger companies were becoming more comfortable with using serviced offices instead of their own buildings to cut costs during the recession. It is a change that Mr Dixon believes is here to stay. He added that customers were also using rented office space more to help with expansion into new markets without increasing fixed costs.

Pre-tax profits for the 12 months to December 31 rose to £149.2 million, up from £119.4 million the previous year. The total number of workstations increased globally by 10.3 per cent last year to 171,277. International occupancy rates rose 0.2 percentage points to 82.9 per cent.

In the UK, where the group operates 131 centres with 30,899 workstations, sales grew by 6.7 per cent to £222.1 million, with flat occupancy rates of 84 per cent.

The company raised its total dividend by 80 per cent to 1.8p, up from 1p, after a final payout of 1.2p.

The shares closed 15p, or 31 per cent, higher at 65p.