LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Recruitment business PageGroup said on Wednesday that it had continued to see "strong growth" in the second quarter of its trading year, with gross profit growing amid another solid broad-based performance across its geographies, disciplines and brands.
PageGroup said group gross profits were up 25.5% year-on-year at £280.9m following a record performance in June - its second month with gross profit in excess of £100.0m.

In Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, gross profits were up 29.5%, with gross profits up 21% and 32% in France and Germany, respectively. In Asia Pacific, gross profits improved 11.7%, while in the Americas and the UK, gross profits grew 34.1% and 22.6%, respectively.

"This performance was achieved despite the backdrop of macro-economic and geopolitical uncertainty as well as continued Covid-19 restrictions in certain markets. We believe that our strategy of maintaining and investing in our platform throughout the pandemic; by investing in experienced hires; and focusing on technology and innovation, has been key to us achieving these outstanding results," said chief executive Steve Ingham.

"We delivered increased levels of productivity, with the group continuing to benefit from favourable trading conditions, including wage inflation and increased fee rates resulting from the high demand and short supply of candidates, as well as a shorter time to hire facilitated by video interviewing, and investments in new systems."

Looking forward, the FTSE 250-listed group said it was "clearly aware" of the heightened degree of global macro-economic and political uncertainty, particularly with regards to increasing inflation in the majority of the markets in which it operates.

However, PageGroup said it was monitoring all KPIs in the business regularly and had seen "no significant changes" so far, apart from usual seasonal movements.

"Given our highly diversified and adaptable business model, with a cost base that can be adjusted rapidly, we will look to progress towards our strategic goals while remaining vigilant. We are pleased with the group's performance in the first half of the year and currently expect 2022 full-year operating profit to be in line with company compiled consensus of £205.0m," added Ingham.

As of 0930 BST, PageGroup shares were down 1.49% at 423.60p.



Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com

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