Michael Page Q2 Gross Profit Declines, Posts Growth In Americas

(RTTNews) - Recruitment firm Michael Page International Plc. (MPGPF.PK, MPI.L) Tuesday reported decline in gross profit for the second quarter, on a reported as well as constant currency basis, adding that its performance improved in the Americas.

The company expects third-quarter to be another challenging quarter, as tough trading conditions continue.

Steve Ingham, CEO, said, "Overall PageGroup delivered a robust performance throughout the second quarter, against a backdrop of challenging market conditions across most of our regions, reporting gross profit of £135.2m, up 6.6% on the first quarter, and down only 2.0% year-on-year.''

Total gross profit for the quarter fell 2 percent to 135.2 million pounds from last year's 138.0 million pounds and dropped 3.8 percent on a currency-neutral basis.

In EMEA, the drop was 4.4 percent to 55.1 million pounds, generating 41 percent of the company's gross profit in the quarter.

UK's gross profit rose marginally, by 0.3 percent, to 31.2 million pounds., while in Asia Pacific, it fell 7.7 percent at 28.2 million pounds.

In the Americas, gross profit climbed 10.7 percent to 20.7 million pounds.

Permanent recruitment constituted 78 percent of gross profit, which was down 3.7 percent at 105.2 million pounds.

Gross profit from temporary recruitment rose 4.2 percent to 30 million pounds.

Looking ahead, Ingham added, "Activity levels remained strong throughout the quarter, but with difficult conditions likely to continue in several markets, we expect Q3 will be another challenging quarter.''

MPI.L is up over 1.4 percent in early morning trade at 436.10 pence.