Michael Page Posts Higher Profit In H1 - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Recruitment firm Michael Page International Plc (MPGPF.PK, MPI.L) or PageGroup announced a rise in first-half pre-tax profit to 32.02 million pounds, from last year's 28.24 million pounds, with profit attributable to owners of the parent climbing year-over-year to 21.45 million pounds, from 18.77 million pounds.

In the first half, earnings per share amounted to 7.0 pence, higher than 6.1 pence, reported a year back.

Half-yearly Group revenue edged up by 0.1% to 503.25 million pounds, from 502.63 million pounds, while it decreased 0.9% at constant exchange rates.

Commenting on the outlook, PageGroup's Chief Executive said: "Activity levels remained strong throughout the second quarter, but with difficult conditions likely to continue in several markets and as this is the seasonally quieter summer period in both Continental Europe and the UK, we expect Q3 will be another challenging quarter." He also added, "... At this time, we expect our full year operating profit from trading activities to be in line with current market estimates."

Further, the board has decided to maintain the interim dividend at 3.25 pence per share, payable on October 4, 2013 to shareholders on the register at September 6, 2013.