Michael Page: UK to remain challenging

Echoing peers’ recent pronouncements (e.g. see Hays – further UK cuts on private sector dip), UK-listed international recruitment firm Michael Page advised that the UK market will remain “challenging” at least in the short term, and that UK gross profit growth will remain muted at around H1 levels (8%). Across the whole business, gross profit rose 31% (30% at constant exchange rates) to £275m, with Americas leading the pace at 55%. Michael Page CEO, Steve Ingham, alluded to growth in its UK private sector activities countering “a more restrained” public sector. We are increasingly wondering whether the spurt we saw in the UK recruitment market at the end of last year, especially in the banking and financial services sector, was more a catch-up than a recovery.