PageGroup PLC on Thursday said it reduced its headcount in the past six months, amid challenging markets and a sharply lower profit.

The Weybridge, Surrey-based international recruiter said pretax profit plummeted by 56% to £27.7 million in the first half of 2024 from £63.3 million a year earlier, as revenue fell by 13% to £898.0 million from £1.03 billion.

The company said it trimmed its headcount by 3.6% to 7,576 at the end of June.

Despite the weaker result, PageGroup upped its dividend by 4.5% to 5.36p from 5.13p.

Looking ahead, it said full-year operating profit expected to be in the region of £60 million, in line with previous guidance. This would be nearly halved from £118.8 million in 2023 and less than a third of the £196.1 million PageGroup booked in 2022.

More positively, the company it is seeing benefits from its investments in innovation and technology.

Chief Executive Officer Nicholas Kirk said: ‘The group experienced challenging market conditions across all regions in H1, with a softening in activity levels towards the end of the period, particularly in terms of new jobs registered and number of interviews undertaken. The conversion of interviews to accepted offers continues to be a significant area of challenge, as candidate and client confidence remains subdued, reflecting the macro-economic uncertainty in the majority of our markets.’

He added: ‘While we saw a slower end to H1, having taken action to reduce headcount throughout last year, our intention is to broadly hold fee earners at existing levels to ensure we are well placed to take advantage of opportunities as sentiment and confidence improve. We have a highly diversified and adaptable business model, a highly experienced management team, a strong balance sheet and our cost base is under continuous review.’

PageGroup shares were down 1.9% to 398.80 pence each on Thursday morning in London.

Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.