Quarterly trading statements next week from recruiters Robert Walters, PageGroup and Hays will be scrutinised for news on whether the positive conditions experienced earlier in the year are continuing.
Robert Walters PLC (LSE:RWA) is updating the market on its third-quarter performance on Tuesday, after its interim results revealed record net fees and operating profits, driven by a shortage of suitable candidates, strong demand, high job churn and increasing wages.
The strong results led the company to predict that it would beat market expectations for full-year profit.
It also stressed that it had not seen any signs of a slowdown in job market activity.
However, analysts at AJ Bell noted that at the time of Robert Walters’ bullish Q2 update in the summer, the market consensus was for a pre-tax profit of £57mln for 2022. This has since been pared back to £56mln due to the increasingly uncertain global economic outlook and analysts will be eager for information on how the challenging macro-economy is affecting performance at Robert Walters.
Meanwhile, PageGroup PLC (LSE:PAGE) will be expected on Wednesday to provide more news on the hiring situation after August saw the company announced strong first-half growth in fees and profit, but a slight slowdown in hiring in some of its markets in July.
While flagging a "heightened degree" of global economic and geopolitical uncertainty, the global group still stuck to its outlook of £206mln operating profit for the year after reporting a 27.5% jump in revenue and pre-tax profit in the first half.
A first-quarter update from Hays PLC (LSE:HAS) on Thursday will also be scrutinised for further news about headcount and skills shortages and the impact of global economic headwinds.
In August Hays reported record profit growth of 128%, proposed a special dividend of £121.2mln and said it was confident it will “navigate current uncertainties”.
Fees for the year ended June jumped 32%, including 24 country records, driven by strong client and candidate confidence, management actions and continued improved fee margins.
“With macroeconomic uncertainties increasing," said chief executive Alistair Cox, the focus was turning to "leveraging the investments we have made and increasing our already strong consultant productivity.”