8th Aug 2018 08:50
LONDON (Alliance News) - PageGroup PLC on Wednesday issued a special dividend for the fourth consecutive time, after reporting a 18% jump in interim profit.
For the half year to June 30, the FTSE 250-listed recruitment company posted pretax profit of GBP67.2 million, up from GBP56.9 million a year ago.
Revenue increased 12% year-on-year to GBP751.6 million from GBP673.1 million. At constant currency, revenue was up 13%.
The company said exchange rate movements reduced revenue by GBP8 million and operating profit by GBP1 million. Total interim operating profit stood at GBP67.2 million, up from GBP56.9 million recorded a year ago.
The company said it ended the first half of the year with both "record" fee earner and total headcount. Fee earner headcount grew 5.8% to 5,816, while total headcount reached 7,457.
PageGroup lifted its interim divided 5.1% to 4.10 pence per share from 3.90p paid to shareholders for the comparative year ago period. Additionally, it issued a special dividend of 12.73p - unchanged from last year.
Chief Executive Officer Steve Ingham said: "We are pleased with the group's strong performance in the first half. However, there remain challenges, 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, GBP1 billion of gross profit and GBP200 million to GBP250 million of operating profit, whilst being able to respond quickly to any changes in market conditions."
PageGroup shares were trading up 0.7% at 603.00p each.
Related Shares:
PageGroup