RECRUITMENT specialist Michael Page International maintained its recovery with better than expected results for the second quarter of the year.
In a trading update today the company, which has a financial and legal recruitment office in Liverpool’s Edmund Street, said both permanent and temporary sectors were improving.
And while the UK picture was still fragile, it reported strong progress in Asia and Latin America.
Overall gross profits for the group in the first half were 31.3% up at £275.1m.
Second quarter gross profits showed a 32.4% improvement at £147.8m.
Broken down into regions they reveal a 6.4% increase in UK gross profits of £34.3m for the second quarter. The UK represents 23% of group gross profits.
The Asia Pacific region, which contributes 19% of group gross profits, achieved a 50.8% rise to £27.2m, while the Americas (15% of group gross profits) managed a 51.3% improvement with £22.2m of gross profits for the second quarter.
A sectoral breakdown shows that gross profits from permanent recruitment, which accounts for 80% of business, rose by 34.8% to £118.6m for the second quarter.
The temporary market was 23.5% better at £29.2m in the same period.
Progress in both sectors led to an increase in headcount at the group during the second quarter, with 269 new roles following several office openings abroad.
Chief executive Steve Ingham said today: “We continue to achieve very strong growth from Latin America and Asia and combined they now represent over 20% of the group’s gross profits, with 28 offices across 11 countries and over 1,000 staff.
“I would like to make a special mention of our business in Tokyo, which having been impacted by the recent earthquake and tsunami, has proved to be remarkably resilient, achieving an all-time gross profit record in June.”
He added: “We anticipate that in the short-term our UK business will maintain modest growth. However, our outlook for Asia and Latin America remains strong and in Europe continues to improve.
“While our second quarter gross profit was ahead of our expectations, we continue to invest significantly in developing our business both by geography and discipline and, as a consequence, anticipate that our full year profits will be broadly in line with current market estimates.”
Liverpool stockbroker Panmure Gordon recommended shareholders to hold their Michael Page stock after today’s update, saying: “Page remains the key pick in recruiters in terms of franchise and reach, though we see little in these figures to believe the shares need to be chased at current levels.
“We trim our target price slightly (544p to 515p), but the shares remain a firm hold.”
