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(Alliance News) - PageGroup PLC on Wednesday said it achieved gross profit growth in its first half but expects an annual operating profit at the lower end of market expectations due to "challenging" macroeconomic conditions.
Shares in PageGroup were down 15% at 426.80 pence in morning trade.
The recruitment company said its total gross profit for the first half of 2019 was GBP433.5 million, a 9.5% increase as reported and also 9.5% at constant currency.
For the second quarter alone, gross profit was GBP224.6 million, a 7.9% rise over its GBP208.2 million gross profit the year before and a 7.4% rise at constant currency.
In both the second half and the second quarter, gross profit increased most sharply in the Americas, with reported growth of 21% to GBP69.1 million from GBP57.3 million in the first half and 19% to GBP36.9 million from GBP30.9 million in the second quarter.
Europe, the Middle East & Africa - which accounted for 49% of the group's profit in the first half and 48% in the second quarter - also performed well with half-year reported profit growth of 9.3% to GBP213.1 million from GBP194.9 million.
Nonetheless, despite this growth, 2019 operating profit is expected to be at the low end of market expectations due to a difficult economic environment, PageGroup said.
Chief Financial Officer Kelvin Stagg commented: "We will continue to focus on driving profitable growth, while continuing our strategic investments towards our Vision of 10,000 headcount, GBP1 billion of gross profit and GBP200 million to GBP250 million of operating profit. It is clear that macro-economic conditions in a number of our regions are becoming more challenging, and, as such, we currently expect 2019 operating profit to be towards the lower end of the range of current market forecasts."
