Michael Page, Britain’s second-largest recruiter, reported a 49 percent drop in first-half profit but said the rate of decline had slowed in its key UK market, boosting hopes that the country is starting to emerge from recession.
The firm, which specializes in placing professional staff, posted a pretax profit of £43.2 million (US$71.46 million) for the six months of the year on revenue 27 percent lower at £364.7 million. Gross profit fell 38.9 percent to £178.8 million.
The company, which held the interim dividend at £2.88, said it had seen a stabilization in some markets but that it expected the coming months to be tough.
“While market conditions generally continued to weaken during the first half, the rate of decline in the UK, our largest country, and the Asia Pacific region has slowed,” chief executive Steve Ingham said in a statement.
“We anticipate a challenging third quarter as we enter into the seasonally quieter summer period, both in continental Europe, which was later into the downturn, and in the UK,” he said.
Recruitment companies have suffered in recent months as firms across the world slash their work forces to offset the fallout from the economic slump.
In the UK, which represents around a third of Michael Page’s earnings, gross profit fell 40.3 percent to 57 million as revenue slumped 27 percent.
The British unemployment rate rose to 7.8 percent in the three months to June, its highest rate since 1996, official figures showed last week.
Michael Page has itself axed about a third of its staff, or around 1,200 employees, over the past year.
Adecco, the world’s largest staffing group, last week said it had yet to see a recovery in its main European and US markets as second-quarter revenue slipped 31 percent to 3.6 billion euros.
British rival Hays, which last month said net fees fell 40 percent in its third quarter, is due to report its preliminary results for the year on Sept. 3.
Michael Page shares, which have risen in value by a quarter in the last three months, outperforming the support services sector by 50 percent, closed at £ 320.20 on Friday, valuing the group at around £1 billion.
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