PageGroup sees earnings at lower end as market conditions worsen

(Sharecast News) - Recruitment firm PageGroup said annual operating profit would be at the lower end of consensus expectations after fourth-quarter earnings fell 17% as market conditions worsened in Europe with companies low-balling offers to potential job candidates.

The company on Monday said gross profit for the final three months of the year fell to £196.7m, with the annual figure down16.4% to £842m.

"Market conditions remained challenging in Q4 and whilst most markets were sequentially stable, we experienced a further worsening in Europe, particularly in our two largest markets, France and Germany," said chief executive Nicholas Kirk.

He added that offers made to candidates are not as elevated as they were in 2022 and early 2023 as employers tightened budgets and became more risk averse, slowing the recruitment process and impacting time-to-hire.

"The conversion of interviews to accepted offers remains the most significant area of challenge as the ongoing macro-economic uncertainty continues to impact candidate and client confidence," Kirk said.

Page now expects 2024 full year operating profit, after one-off costs of around £5m relating to the closure of its Shared Service Centres in the UK and Singapore, to be towards the lower end of the current market consensus range of £49m - £58.5m.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com