PageGroup flags coronavirus hit after record profit

Pretax profit for the year to the end of December rose 1.4% to £144.2m as revenue increased 6.7% to £1.65bn. Gross profit rose 5% to £855.5m.

The FTSE 250 company's profit rose on a strong performance in the Americas and solid growth in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) though business in EMEA got tougher in the second half. Gross profit rose 14.7% to £138.8m in the Americas and 6.1% to £418.3m in EMEA.

In Asia Pacific gross profit rose 1.3% to £163.3m as trade tensions and protests in Hong Kong suppressed growth. In the UK, where Page is the second biggest recruiter, gross profit fell 2.4% to £135.1m as Brexit worries weighed on activity.

Page's chief executive Steve Ingham said the slowdown at the end of 2019 continued into 2020 and that the COVID-19 coronavirus had cut profit in China by more than a third in the first two months of the year. As a result, group profit fell 3% in January and February.

"Looking forward, in Greater China, many of our clients have not been able to return to work with the same speed and therefore we expect a significant impact in March, one of our largest months of the year, and potentially beyond," Ingham said. "With COVID-19 now impacting other markets around the world, it is too early to estimate the impact on the group's operations."

Page increased its final dividend by 4.4% to 9.4p a share, taking the annual payout to 13.7p - up 4.6% from a year earlier. The company's shares fell 0.6% to 377.80p at 10:48 GMT.