Pagegroup profits slump in 'challenging' conditions

Recruiter Pagegroup reported a slump in full-year profit on Thursday amid "challenging" market conditions.

In the year to the end of December 2023, pre-tax profit fell 39.6% to £117.4m, while revenue nudged up 1% to £2.01bn. Operating profit slid 39.4% to £118.8m.

The recruiter cited "tougher trading conditions" during the year, particularly in permanent recruitment, whereas temporary was more resilient.

Chief executive Nicholas Kirk said: "We produced a resilient performance in 2023 in challenging market conditions. Despite the year-on-year decline in gross profit and operating profit, we saw good activity levels through most of the year, albeit the conversion of final interviews to accepted offers and therefore gross profit became increasingly challenging due to ongoing lower levels of candidate and client confidence.

"We saw a slower end to 2023 due to macro uncertainty impacting candidate and client sentiment, which has continued into January and February, albeit they are two of the smallest months of the year from a trading perspective."

At 0810 GMT, the shares were down 1.4% at 450.60p.