International specialist recruitment firm PageGroup (MPI: LSE) reported record group gross profit for the second quarter ending 30 June 2017 of £182.0 million, an increase of 7.7% in constant currency (CC) compared with £156.9 million during the same period last year.

Q2 Gross profit broken down by recruitment type was as follows:

Q2 Gross profit broken down by region was as follows:

PageGroup also reported group gross profit for H1. Gross profit for H1 was broken down by recruitment type as follows:

Gross profit for H1 was broken down by region was as follows:

"The group delivered record gross profit, with growth of 7.7% in constant currencies, despite the impact of Easter, which this year fell in Q2 versus Q1 in 2016,” Steve Ingham, Chief Executive Officer said. “As reported in our last trading update, this inflated our Q1 growth rate of 9.1% and had the reverse impact this quarter.”

"We are pleased with the strong performance across the majority of our regions, bearing in mind the timing of Easter. However, there remain a number of uncertainties as we continue through 2017, including the impact of Brexit negotiations and political uncertainty in the UK, elections in Germany and Brazil's ongoing macro-economic challenges. Costs from our headcount investments including in new markets such as the Nikkei market in Japan, our contracting business in Germany and our Page Personnel businesses, continue,” Ingham said.

"France, having increased fee earner headcount by 19% year-on-year, delivered another excellent quarter, with growth of 23%,” Ingham said.

“The UK was down 4.5%, with Easter falling in Q2 and client and candidate confidence levels continuing to be impacted by Brexit and political uncertainty,

“In our large, high-potential markets, growth in Greater China accelerated, up 11%. Excluding Singapore where market conditions remained challenging, South East Asia, delivered growth of 35%,

“In the US, where we increased fee earners by 28% year-on-year, we saw a strong improvement, up 17%. Latin America, excluding Brazil, delivered growth of 18%. Finally, Germany achieved a record quarter, up 13%,” Ingham said.

Q2 Gross Profit by discipline was as follows:

"Performance levels have improved since the start of the year, which has been reflected in Consensus moving up 13% since March 2017. Our outlook for full year operating profit is in line with current consensus (company compiled consensus operating profit of £111.5 million).

"Looking ahead, we will continue to focus on driving profitable growth, while being able to respond quickly to any changes in market conditions," Ingham said.

In trading today Pagegroup traded at £480.00, down 1.88% on the day and 5.88% below its 52-week high of £510.00, set on 11 May 2017. Based on its current share price the company has a market value of £1.60 billion.