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View All NewsPageGroup gross profit rises 3.7% in constant currency
International specialist recruitment firm PageGroup plc reported gross profit rose 3.7% in constant currency to £156.9 million (US$210.2 million) in its fiscal second quarter ended June 30.
| (£ millions) | Q2 2016 | Q2 2015 | % change | Constant currency % | Q2 2016 (US$millions) |
| Gross profit | £156.9 | £145.3 | 8.0% | 3.7% | $210.2 |
Michael Page International plc last month changed its name to PageGroup plc.
Gross profit fell in constant currency across all regions except Europe, Middle East and Africa, where gross profit rose 13.6% in constant currency.
North America gross profit fell 2%; US gross profit alone fell 1%. The company noted a challenging financial services market in New York offset good growth elsewhere. Procurement and supply chain and property and construction performed well.
Gross profit by geography
| (£ millions) | Q2 2016 | Q2 2015 | % change | Constant currency % | Q2 2016 (US$millions) |
| Europe, Middle East and Africa | £67.5 | £55.1 | 22.7% | 13.6% | $90.4 |
| United Kingdom | £38.3 | £39.2 | -2.3% | -2.3% | $51.3 |
| Asia Pacific | £30.6 | £30.2 | 1.3% | -3.3% | $41.0 |
| Americas | £20.5 | £20.8 | -1.5% | -1.1% | $27.5 |
Quote
“We saw good performances in Continental Europe and Latin America (ex-Brazil), which combined now account for around 45% of the Group,” said CEO Steve Ingham. “However, the challenging market conditions in several of our larger markets, including Greater China, the UK and Brazil, continued.”
Ingham continued, “It is too early to say how the result of the [UK’s] EU Referendum will impact our results going forward, but the environment leading up to the vote caused a slightly weaker result in June. With continued uncertainty in the UK following the Referendum result, ongoing challenges in some of our other larger markets, the unpredictable nature of the current cycle and our limited visibility, we will continue to focus on driving profitable growth, whilst remaining able to respond quickly to any changes in market conditions.”
Gross profit by segment
| (£ millions) | Q2 2016 | Q2 2015 | % change | Constant currency % | Q2 2016 (US$millions) |
| Finance and accounting | £60.9 | £56.9 | 7.0% | 3.0% | $81.6 |
| Legal, technology, HR, secretarial and other | £34.7 | £30.8 | 12.6% | 7.7% | $46.5 |
| Engineering, property & construction, procurement & supply chain | £30.5 | £28.5 | 7.2% | 2.6% | $40.9 |
| Marketing, sales and retail | £30.8 | £29.1 | 6.0% | 2.0% | $41.3 |
Share price and market cap
Shares in PageGroup plc closed up 2.65% to £318.00, and the company had a market cap of £990.83 million, according to Yahoo!