British recruiter PageGroup saw profit tank 45% in H1

PageGroup PLC (LON: PAGE) says macroeconomic uncertainty resulted in a big hit to its profit in the first six months of the year.

PageGroup revenue inched up in H1

The recruitment company ended H1 with £63.3 million ($80.7 million) in profit before tax – down about 45% year-on-year. Nicholas Kirk – its Chief Executive said today in a press release:

PageGroup saw temporary hiring outperform permanent recruitment in the first half. At £1.03 billion, its revenue came in up 3.0% versus the same period last year.

At writing, the U.K. stock is down roughly 5.0% versus the start of 2023.

PageGroup still raised its dividend today

PageGroup attributed the H1 weakness primarily to the United Kingdom, Asia Pacific, and Americas. But its profit in Europe, the Middle East and Africa – its largest market – remained in the green.

On the plus side, the British firm said it continues to see £137.6 million in operating profit this year. According to CEO Nicholas Kirk:

The London-listed company also increased its interim dividend by 4.5% this morning to 5.13 pence per share. It also announced a special dividend of 15.87 pence on Monday.