* Says more caution in UK hiring among multinationals
* Hiring for finance jobs, higher paid positions most hit
* UK Q3 gross profit fell 4.7 pct, less than expected
* Group Q3 gross profit up 1.3 pct
* Stock up over 4 pct, positive read across for peers (Adds CEO, analyst comments, peer details, share movements)
By Esha Vaish
Oct 11 (Reuters) - Confidence among employers in Britain is"fragile" following the country's vote to leave the EuropeanUnion, with multinational firms holding off from hiring,particularly in the financial services sector, recruiterPageGroup said on Tuesday.
The company, which makes about a quarter of its earnings inBritain, said its gross profit there fell 4.7 percent in thethree months to Sept. 30 at constant currencies and it would cutabout 20-30 UK jobs if there was no improvement this quarter.
"At the moment they're slightly fewer jobs and (firms are)taking slightly longer to turn jobs into new appointments ....It's that sort of caution we're talking about, rather than jobsgetting pulled," Chief Executive Steve Ingham told Reuters,adding he did not expect the British recruitment market torecover this quarter.
Although British consumers have taken "Brexit" in theirstride, helping the economy show some resilience, surveysreleased on Monday suggested firms are cautious about investing,stoking fears unemployment could rise.
PageGroup, which mainly finds candidates to fill permanentpositions, said employers were particularly wary when recruitingfor higher paid jobs.
The company is the first UK recruiter to give an insight onhiring trends after the Brexit vote in June. Staffing firms suchas PageGroup, Hays, Robert Walters and SThree are seen as gauges of wider economic health becausepeople tend to switch jobs more often when confidence rises.
The 4.7 percent drop in PageGroup's UK gross profit to 37.8million pounds ($47 million) in the third quarter was steeperthan the 2.3 percent fall in the previous quarter, but less thanfour analysts forecast, as hiring for lower paid and temporarypositions held up better than expected.
That could be good news for Hays, which has a strong UKposition in such roles, Morgan Stanley analysts wrote in a note.
Hays, which reports quarterly results on Tuesday, said lastmonth hiring in Britain weakened sharply after Brexit. RobertWalters reports results on Monday, having previously blamedBrexit for lower first-half profit.
PageGroup shares were up 4.2 percent to 363.6 pence at 1025GMT. Hays and Robert Walters were both up 2.5 percent.
PageGroup's worldwide gross profit rose 1.3 percent atconstant currencies to 158.6 million pounds, helped by stronggrowth in Latin America outside of Brazil and in continentalEurope - indicating the concerns around Brexit have not yetspread to the rest of the region.
It announced interim and special dividends totalling 31.7million pounds from its cash pile of about 100 million. MorganStanley expects a similar payout in the first half of 2017.
($1 = 0.8042 pounds) (Reporting by Esha Vaish in Bengaluru; Editing by Kate Holtonand Mark Potter)
