PageGroup shares dipped 0.2% to 428.8p in early morning trading on Wednesday, following a 25.5% climb in gross profit to £280.9m year-on-year in its Q2 2022 trading update.
The recruitment company hit a record performance in June and reported its second month with a gross profit above £100 million.
PageGroup mentioned a 29.4% increase in European, Middle-Eastern and African profits, alongside a 21% rise in France and a 32% growth in Germany.
The firm highlighted a 34.1% uptick in the Americans, a 30% climb in the US and a 40% rise in Latin America.
Meanwhile, its Asia-Pacific sector grew 11.7% with an 11% increase in China, a South-East Asia climb of 33%, a 15% uptick in Japan and a 47% rise in Indian.
PageGroup also confirmed a 22.6% growth in the UK, with a 13% climb in its Michael Page segment and a 56% rise in its Page Personnel business.
The company noted an increase of 307 in fee earner headcount in the financial period to 6,734 from 6,427 in Q1 2022.
“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,” said PageGroup CEO Steve Ingham.
“We continued to invest in headcount to enable us to capitalise on future growth opportunities. We added 307 fee earners in Q2, broadly in line with recent quarters, with the most significant increases in the markets where we saw the strongest performances and highest potential for future growth.”
PageGroup announced a net cash position of £135 million, against £122 million in Q1 2022 and £164 million in Q2 2021.
The group added it expected its FY 2022 operating profit to hit market expectations at £205 million.
“Looking forward, we are clearly aware of the heightened degree of macro-economic and political uncertainty that exists globally, particularly with regards to increasing inflation in the majority of the markets in which we operate,” said Ingham.
“We are monitoring all KPIs in the business regularly, but to date we have seen no significant changes apart from the usual seasonal movements.”
