The upbeat view of the UK recruitment market alluded to by Hays last week (see Hays sees faster UK growth) was reiterated by much smaller rival PageGroup (aka Michael Page International), which recorded a second successive quarter of 5% gross profit growth in its UK business at the end of 2013. The second-half pick-up brought UK gross profit just over 2% higher on the full year, vs a near-3% decline (constant currency) for the whole Group. PageGroup derives about a quarter of its gross profit from the UK.
The rest of the world remained a mixed bag, with PageGroup’s US business seeing gross profit soar 35% in Q4. Australia and Brazil remain ‘challenging’, as did its largest region EMEA. Interesting pointers to export market opportunities for UK businesses.