PageGroup shares fell 6.2% to 424p in late morning trading on Monday following a reported slowing in time to hire across several of the company’s markets in July 2022.
However, PageGroup announced a strong slate of results across the board, including a 27.5% revenue growth to £977.3 million in HY1 2022 against £766.4 million the last year.
The recruitment firm mentioned a 33.3% gross profit climb to £538.9 million from £404.2 million, alongside an operating profit rise of 79.3% to £115.3 million compared to £64.3 million the year before.
PageGroup also noted a pre-tax profit spike of 79.3% to £114.5 million against £63.7 million.
The hiring group mentioned a gross profit per fee earner rise of 9.2% to £82,800 compared to £75,800.
The firm reported a 10.6% total headcount growth to 8,668 at the end of June 2022.
PageGroup noted net cash of £136.2 million compared to £163.8 million the last year.
“We achieved a strong H1 performance across our geographies, disciplines and brands, and delivered Group operating profit up nearly 80%. This was particularly pleasing given that 2021 had been a record year for gross profit and operating profit,” said PageGroup CEO Steve Ingham.
“This performance was achieved despite the backdrop of macro-economic and geo-political 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.”
“Looking forward, we recognise the heightened degree of global macro-economic and geo-political uncertainty, particularly with regards to increasing inflation around the world. In July, we noted a slight slowing in time to hire in some of our markets, and we continue to closely monitor our forward-looking KPIs. However, at this point, our expectations for 2022 full year operating profit remain in line with the company compiled consensus of £206m.”
The company highlighted an EPS growth to 25.6p from 12.2p, along with a diluted EPS of 25.5p compared to 12.1p year-on-year.
PageGroup confirmed an interim dividend per share of 4.9p per share against 4.7p, and a special dividend of 26.7p per share compared to 26.7p the previous year.
