Recruitment specialists Pagegroup slashed more than a thousand staff in the last year, as its profit took a hit from the slowdown in the jobs market.
The London-listed company said its headcount was by 15 per cent for 2023, down by 1,092 on the previous year. It noted that in total, it sits at 7,859, which is down by 1,161 in 2022.
It said as a “result of this action on headcount”, its gross profit or free earner, which it uses to measure productivity, was ‘flat’.
The company, however, had disappointing profit figures for the 12 months to 31 December, recording a gross profit of just over £1bn, down -6.4 per cent, an operating profit down -39.4 per cent, and a profit before tax of -39.6 per cent, at £117.4m.
Despite the drop in profits, Pagegroup said its revenue sat at £2bn, a one per cent increase on the previous year.
After taking ‘action’ on headcount, it said gross profit per fee earner was “at record levels”.
Its chief executive Nicholas Kirk, said the firm “produced a resilient performance in 2023 in challenging market conditions”.
“Despite the year-on-year decline in gross profit and operating profit, we saw good activity levels through most of the year, albeit the conversion of final interviews to accepted offers and therefore gross profit became increasingly challenging due to ongoing lower levels of candidate and client confidence.”
He added the company “saw a slower end to 2023 due to macro uncertainty impacting candidate and client sentiment, which has continued into January and February, albeit they are two of the smallest months of the year from a trading perspective”.
Kirk also announced its board “proposed an increase in the final dividend of 4.5 per cent to 11.24 pence per share, reflecting confidence in the continued strategic progress” of Pagegroup, which “combined with the interim dividend of 5.13p and the special dividend of 15.87p, this represents a total dividend of 32.24p”.
Looking ahead to the rest of the year, he warned about continuing uncertainty, but said the firm has “a highly diversified and adaptable business model, a strong balance sheet, and our cost base is under continuous review and can be adjusted rapidly to match market conditions”.
This comes as the UK entered a technical recession, with many companies in the economy looking to cut back on costs, in part, by slashing jobs.
Other recruitment firms like Robert Walters, have also slashed jobs, with that firm saying headcount was down by nine per cent, in an update this morning.