Recruitment firm PageGroup has cautioned profits will be towards the lower end of expectations and revealed more role cuts as it said the jobs market had weakened further across Europe.
The company said its group gross profits fell 17.2% to £196.7 million in the final quarter of 2024 – down 13% with currency movements stripped out.
Gross profits in the UK tumbled 16.3%, with a 15.8% drop across the European, Middle East and Africa division – which accounts for more than half of group earnings.
It revealed further role reductions as its fee-earner workforce fell by another 2.4% – or 130 positions – to 5,370 during the quarter, while it also shed another 49 back office roles.
Cost-cutting efforts also saw it close shared service centres in the UK and Singapore, with activities switched instead to Barcelona, Buenos Aires and Kuala Lumpur.
These closures saw it take £5 million in one-off costs, according the group.
It now expects full-year earnings at the lower end of the £49 million to £58.5 million range pencilled in by the City.
Nicholas Kirk, chief executive of PageGroup, said: “Market conditions remained challenging in the fourth quarter and whilst most markets were sequentially stable, we experienced a further worsening in Europe, particularly in our two largest markets, France and Germany.
“The conversion of interviews to accepted offers remains the most significant area of challenge as the ongoing macro-economic uncertainty continues to impact candidate and client confidence, also extending the time-to-hire.”
On the group’s job cuts, he said: “We continue to review our fee earner headcount, making progress on our strategy by reallocating resources into the areas of the business where we see the most significant long-term structural opportunities, as well as ensuring it remains aligned to activity levels we are seeing in each of our markets.”
He cautioned a “high degree of macro-economic and geopolitical uncertainty remains across the majority of our markets, notably in France and Germany”.
