PageGroup has warned that profits will be at the lower end of expectations and said there will be job cuts.
The recruitment company revealed that the jobs market has weakened across Europe and profits fell 17.2% to £196.7 million in quarter 4 last year.
Across the European, Middle East and Africa division gross profits fell 15.8% and the company revealed cuts by a further 2.4% or 130 positions to 5,370 in the period.
The City predicts full year earning will come in at £49 million to £58.5 million.
Nicholas Kirk, chief executive of PageGroup, said, “Market conditions remained challenging in the fourth quarter and whilst most markets were sequentially stable, we experienced a further worsening in Europe, particularly in our two largest markets, France and Germany.
“The conversion of interviews to accepted offers remains the most significant area of challenge as the ongoing macro-economic uncertainty continues to impact candidate and client confidence, also extending the time-to-hire.”
Speaking about the group’s job cuts, Kirk said, “We continue to review our fee earner headcount, making progress on our strategy by reallocating resources into the areas of the business where we see the most significant long-term structural opportunities, as well as ensuring it remains aligned to activity levels we are seeing in each of our markets.”
