Recruiter PageGroup feeling pain on Brexit jitters

Recruiter PageGroup today revealed its UK arm is struggling as multinational companies delay recruitment decisions because of Brexit worries.

The confidence of jobseekers hunting for senior positions was also hit, and the company saw a 7.6% fall in UK gross profits between July and September.

That was worse than the City expected and greater than the 4.5% slide in its second quarter. The shares dropped by 5.5% to 496.6p.

Chief executive Steve Ingham said that the UK’s performance was “understandable” against the backdrop of Brexit.

“Until we know what Brexit means then it is a cause of anxiety and causing people to defer decisions,” he said.

But group profits climbed by 11.8% with a strong performance from Europe — led by France — as well as China, the US and Asia Pacific. In a sign of confidence, the recruiter increased its fee-earner headcount dramatically in the third quarter, and has added 566 fee earners, or 12% of the existing staff, in the year to date.

PageGroup is also paying a special dividend to investors.

The third special dividend in three years means the company is paying investors a yield of 5%.