Recruiter PageGroup PLC (LSE:PAGE) warned trading is slowing with companies not converting final interviews into job offers due to the uncertain economic backdrop.
Income or gross profits fell by 13% to £219 million in the three months to March 2024 with all its four geographies seeing falls though by the end of the period the decline had accelerated to 18% said PageGroup..
Permanent recruitment was more impacted than temporary across all markets, as clients continue to seek more flexible options,” added the statement.
In the UK, first-quarter profit dropped 19.2% against 2023 to £27.1m, following a decline of 19.9% in the previous three months.
“We continued to see clients deferring hiring decisions and candidates cautious about accepting offers,” PageGroup said with temp demand stronger though still down.
Europe now is also under pressure having been resilient until the final quarter of 2023 with France and Germany both down 16%.
Nicholas Kirk, chief executive, added that activity levels remain strong but jobs flow started to deteriorate toward the end of the quarter.
“We believe we will continue to perform well despite the challenging environment,” he added.
Shares dropped 4.7% to 461.4p.