PageGroup Regulatory News (PAGE)

11 July 2018

PageGroup plc

SECOND QUARTER AND FIRST HALF 2018 TRADING UPDATE

Q2 Gross profit growth of 16.0%

Q2 Highlights*

· Strong growth of 16.0% (14.5% in reported rates); a record quarterly gross profit of £208.2m

· Large, High Potential markets (33% of Group) +24%

· EMEA +18.6%; France +15%; Germany +25%

· Asia Pacific +18.4%; Greater China +18%; SE Asia +18%; Australia +10%

· Launched in Vietnam, fifth country in SE Asia

· UK (17% of Group) -1.9%; market sentiment remains cautious

· Strongest growth in Americas +29.2%; US +27%; Latin America +32%; Brazil +23%

· Technical disciplines fastest growing at +26.4%

· Record headcount at 7,457, +136 fee earners in Q2 (+183 in Q1); +10 support staff

· Strong balance sheet, net cash c. £85m (Q1 2018: c. £91m; Q2 2017: c. £89m)

· 2018 Operating profit expected to be slightly ahead of consensus of current market forecasts**

* in constant currencies except where stated

** company compiled consensus of £134m

Q2 GROSS PROFIT ANALYSIS

H1 GROSS PROFIT ANALYSIS

Commenting, Steve Ingham, Chief Executive Officer said:

"The Group grew 16.0% in constant currencies in Q2, delivering a record quarterly gross profit of £208.2m, with 20 countries growing over 20%. This is the first time the Group has generated more than £200m in a quarter and is the highest quarterly growth rate for seven years.

"Our Large, High Potential markets grew 24% collectively, with all five delivering record quarters. Germany continued its strong performance from Q1, with growth of 25%. In Asia Pacific, both Greater China and South East Asia grew 18% and we opened in Vietnam, our fifth country in South East Asia. The US grew 27% and Latin America was up 32%, including Brazil up 23% and Mexico up 25%. The other four countries in Latin America, with headcount of over 300, grew 46% collectively.

"In our Large, Proven markets, the UK, now 17% of the Group, with continued impact from the uncertainty related to Brexit, was down -1.9%, an improvement on the -7.1% in Q1, benefiting from the timing of Easter. France, 16% of the Group, whilst challenged by mid-week bank holidays and the disruption of strikes, grew 15%. Both Italy and the Netherlands grew strongly up 23% and 18%, respectively. However, the political challenges in Catalonia limited our growth in Spain to 8%. In Australia, following our investments in fee earner headcount and a new office in Canberra, we continued to see improvement, with growth of 10%.

"Outside these two categories, we saw strong growth in the majority of our other markets. India and Japan had record performances as a result of our continued investment, growing 27% and 35% respectively. Other standout performances were Belgium, Canada and Portugal up 41%, 30% and 34%, respectively.

"Adverse foreign exchange movements impacted our reported performance, decreasing gross profit by c. £3m in Q2. Demonstrating our continued confidence in many of our markets, the Group added 136 fee earners in the quarter and now has a record total headcount of 7,457. This investment has been mainly into our Large, High Potential markets.

"We are pleased with the Group's strong performance in the first half. However, there remain challenges in a number of our markets, including Brexit in the UK, trading in Catalonia and forthcoming elections in Latin America.

 "We will continue to focus on driving profitable growth as we progress towards our Vision of 10,000 headcount, £1bn of gross profit and £200m - £250m of operating profit, while being able to respond quickly to any changes in market conditions. In 2018 we now expect operating profit to be slightly ahead of the consensus of current market forecasts*."

*company compiled consensus of £134m.

Group Trading Update

PageGroup delivered a record quarterly gross profit of £208.2m, up 16.0% in constant currencies and 14.5% in reported rates. Adverse foreign exchange movements decreased our reported gross profit by c. £3m in Q2 and c. £6m for the first half of the year. In constant currencies, both Michael Page and Page Personnel grew 16%.

Headcount

Having added 786 fee earners in 2017, net fee earner additions in H1 2018 were 319, with 183 in Q1 and 136 in Q2. Our operational support headcount increased by 10 in the quarter, giving a joiner ratio of fee earner to operational support staff of 93:7. Our overall fee earner to operational support staff ratio remained at the record of 78:22, with 5,816 fee earners and a total headcount of 7,457.

Perm/Temp mix

In constant currencies, Group gross profit from permanent recruitment was up 17.6% in Q2, with temporary recruitment growth slower at 10.7%. Permanent recruitment grew 15.7% in reported rates to £161.5m and temporary recruitment grew 10.5% to £46.7m. This resulted in a ratio of permanent to temporary recruitment of 78:22.

Q2 Gross Profit - Discipline analysis

Our strategy to diversify and operate from a more balanced portfolio of disciplines continued, with the Accounting and Financial Services disciplines representing 34% of the Group, whilst the other disciplines now represent two-thirds of the Group, a new record, up from 63% at the end of 2017. The strongest performing disciplines continued to be our technical disciplines, which grew 26.4% collectively in constant currencies and are now our second largest category. Our Professional Services discipline category grew 21.7%, with particularly strong growth in our Technology discipline.

H1 Gross Profit - Discipline analysis

Geographical analysis (unless otherwise stated all growth rates are in constant currency) 

EMEA grew gross profit by 18.6% to £100.0m, with 7 countries achieving record quarters. Michael Page and Page Personnel continued to perform strongly across the region up 21% and 16%, respectively. France, representing 16% of the Group, grew 15%, a record quarter, despite challenges of mid-week bank holidays and the disruption of strikes. Germany, one of our Large, High Potential markets, grew 25%, a sixth consecutive record quarter. Michael Page Interim, now around 20% of our German business, grew 38%, up from 31% in Q1. Southern Europe delivered a second consecutive record quarter, growing 15%, with Italy up 23% and Spain up 8%, despite continued tough trading conditions in Catalonia. Benelux grew 24%, with the Netherlands and Belgium up 18% and 41%, respectively. The Middle East and Africa grew 30%, with a record quarter in the UAE. Fee earner headcount was up 44 in the quarter, with the highest increases in France and Germany.

Asia Pacific gross profit grew 18.4%, with 5 countries achieving record quarters. Greater China, one of our Large, High Potential markets, grew 18%, a record quarter, with particularly strong growth in Mainland China, up 22% and a successful first quarter of trading in our new office in Chengdu. South East Asia, another of our Large, High Potential markets, recorded strong growth of 18%, with Singapore up 25% as market conditions continued to improve. During the quarter, we opened in Vietnam, our fifth country in South East Asia. In Japan, our investment in headcount in both the Gaishikei and Nikkei market led to an acceleration in growth to 35%, up from 19% in Q1 2018; a record quarter. India, with now over 100 fee earners, also achieved another record quarter, up 27%. Following the investment in fee earners in 2017 and the opening of our new Canberra office in Q3 2017, Australia grew 10%, up from 6% in Q1 2018. Overall fee earner headcount in the region grew 46 for the quarter, with increases mainly in Australia, India and Japan.

The UK declined -1.9% in the quarter. This was an improvement on the decline of -7.1% in Q1 2018, in part due to the impact of the timing of Easter. Our Page Personnel business, which represented 24% of the UK, grew by 5%. However, our Michael Page business, which is more senior candidate focused, continued to be impacted by uncertainty, declining -4%. In response to the trading conditions, fee earner headcount fell by 16.

The Americas continued to be our fastest growing region, up 29.2% to £30.9m. North America grew 27%, with the US +27% and Canada +30%, both achieving record quarters. Our regional offices continued to perform particularly strongly, up 38%, and now represent 55% of the US, a proportion that has grown by around 50% since 2015. In Latin America we grew 32%. The Brazilian market continued to recover, with growth of 23% for the quarter, up from 12% in Q1 2018. Mexico grew 25% with the other four countries in Latin America, with headcount of over 300, growing 46%, collectively. In line with our strategy of investing in our Large, High Potential markets, fee earner headcount grew 62 in the quarter.

Financial Position

Other than the effects of trading in the first half, the payment of a final dividend of £27.4m for 2017 and the purchase of shares into the Employee Benefit Trust (EBT) of c. £10m (2017: £nil), there have been no significant changes in the financial position of the Group since the publication of the results for the year ended 31 December 2017. Net cash at 30 June 2018 was approximately £85m (31 March 2018: c. £91m; 30 June 2017: c. £89m).

Shares

At 30 June 2018 there were 327,862,127 Ordinary shares in issue, of which 12,171,163 were held by the EBT. The rights to receive dividends and to exercise voting rights have been waived by the EBT over 8,884,861 shares and consequently these shares should be excluded when calculating earnings per share. The total number of voting rights in the Company is 327,862,127

Enquiries:

Further information:

The Company will host a conference call and presentation for analysts and investors at 8.30am today. The live presentation can be viewed by following the link:

https://www.investis-live.com/pagegroup/5af18476cc5d470e00371fe5/jyrs

Please use the following dial-in numbers to join the conference:

Please quote participant access code 98 41 10 to gain access to the call.

A presentation and recording to accompany the Q2 Trading Update Presentation will be posted on the Company's website during the course of the morning of 11 July 2018 at:

http://www.page.com/investors/investor-library/2018.aspx

PageGroup will issue its interim results for the six months ending 30 June 2018 on 8 August 2018, followed by its Third Quarter 2018 Interim Management Statement on 10 October 2018.

Cautionary Statement

This Second Quarter and First Half 2018 Trading Update has been prepared solely to provide additional information to shareholders to assess the Group's strategies and the potential for those strategies to succeed. The Trading Update should not be relied on by any other party or for any other purpose. This Trading Update contains certain forward-looking statements. These statements are made by the Directors in good faith based on the information available to them up to the time of their approval of this Trading Update and such statements should be treated with caution due to the inherent uncertainties, including both economic and business risk factors, underlying any such forward-looking information.

This Trading Update has been prepared for the Group as a whole and therefore gives greater emphasis to those matters that are significant to PageGroup and its subsidiary undertakings when viewed as a whole.