Profits up at Michael Page

Mon, 16 Aug 2010

Michael Page International has seen profits grow due to an increase in permanent hires and international business, according to its half year results for the period ended 30 June 2010.

The group’s results reveal:

·     Revenue of £393.5m, up 8% from £364.7m on the same period last year

·     Gross profit of £209.6m, a rise of 17%, compared to £178.8m on the corresponding period last year

·     Operating profit was £49.6m, from £32.2m (2009)

·     Profit before tax of £61.4m, rising from £43.2m in 2009 (up 42%)

·     Asia Pacific, Latin America and newer developing countries rose 43%* year-on-year

·     All regions grew sequentially in H1 2010

·     71% of gross profit generated from outside the UK

·     53% of gross profit generated from non finance and accounting disciplines

*constant exchange rate

Steve Ingham, chief executive of Michael Page, says: “We delivered a strong performance in the first half of 2010, driven largely by greater permanent recruitment activity as confidence levels improved, leading to higher rates of job churn.  

“While we are now entering the seasonally quieter holiday period, we have seen a continuation of these trends in the group’s performance during July.

“We are benefiting from our investment in diversifying the group internationally, with over 70% of our gross profit in the first half derived from areas outside of the UK and more than 50% of our gross profit generated from non-finance and accounting disciplines. Over 40% of our fee earners are located in developing recruitment markets, where prospects for long-term growth are strong. We have market-leading positions in specialist recruitment in Asia and Latin America and are particularly optimistic about the opportunities available to us in these regions, where we will continue to invest in additional headcount. In the UK, Continental Europe and North America, we have experienced improvements in job flow in virtually all markets.

“It is the nature of our business that visibility is short and the general level of business confidence and economic activity may be threatened by fiscal consolidation in the UK and Europe, however, we remain quick to react to changing market conditions.  Having maintained our presence in all our markets, the strength of our geographic discipline and industry sector diversification, combined with our operational gearing, means that our profitability is much improved over last year.”

For more from Steve Ingham, see Recruiter’s upcoming profile (1 September)