First Quarter 2015 Trading Update

RNS Number : 0833K

Michael Page International PLC

14 April 2015

 

14 April 2015

FIRST QUARTER 2015 TRADING UPDATE

Highlights*

·     11% Group gross profit growth, continued good growth in all four regions

·     Ongoing and anticipated FX headwinds lowered reported Q1 gross profit by c. £5m

·     Record total headcount of 5,680

·     Strongest growth in EMEA +12%; Germany +17%; Southern Europe +29%

·     Continued growth in the UK +11%; Page Personnel +25%

·     Asia Pacific +11%; Asia +14%; Australasia +4%  

·     North America +11% against stronger comparatives

·     Strong growth in Latin America outside Brazil helped region to grow +4%; Brazil -14%

·     Focus on return from 2014 fee earner investment; 65 fee earners added in Q1

*in constant currencies

Q1 GROSS PROFIT ANALYSIS

		Reported (£m)			Constant
Year-on-year	% of Group	Q1 2015	Q1 2014	%	%
EMEA	40%	54.0	52.7	+2.6%	+12.1%
UK	27%	36.5	32.8	+11.3%	+11.3%
Asia Pacific	19%	25.8	23.0	+12.3%	+10.8%
Americas	14%	19.3	18.1	+6.7%	+7.1%
Total	100%	135.6	126.6	+7.2%	+10.9%
Permanent	77%	105.1	97.7	+7.6%	+10.9%
Temporary	23%	30.5	28.9	+5.8%	+11.0%

Commenting, Steve Ingham, Chief Executive Officer said:

"The 10.9% increase in the Group's gross profit in constant currencies for the first quarter reflects continued year-on-year growth in all four regions. Our three largest regions of EMEA, UK and Asia Pacific all saw stable growth rates compared to those in the fourth quarter. The Americas grew 7% year-on-year, but this growth rate moderated sequentially due to demanding comparatives in the US and worsening conditions in Brazil. However, Latin America excluding Brazil saw improving growth rates in all other countries, particularly Mexico, Colombia and Argentina. In total, 23 countries achieved growth of over 10%.

"In reported rates, first quarter gross profit was up 7.2% to £135.6m. As expected, we were impacted by foreign exchange movements which lowered our reported figure by 3.7 percentage points, equivalent to £4.8m of gross profit.

"Having added 468 fee earners in 2014, net fee earner additions slowed in the first quarter to 65 as we continued to focus on improving conversion rates. Fee earners will be added selectively during the year in those regions where market conditions support investment.

"We are pleased with our performance in the first quarter and, as we look ahead, we expect to see similar trends in market conditions prevailing across our major regions. Sterling remains strong and this continues to impact our results. We remain focused on productivity and we continue to expect our reported Group conversion rate to improve at a similar rate of growth as that seen over the past couple of years. This early in the year, and with the level of visibility we have, the Board continues to believe the performance for the year will be in line with its expectations."

Enquiries:

PageGroup	[phone]
Steve Ingham, Chief Executive Officer
Kelvin Stagg, Chief Financial Officer
FTI Consulting	[phone]
Richard Mountain / Susanne Yule

The Company will host a conference call and presentation for analysts and investors at 8.30am today. The live presentation can be viewed by following the link:

http://www.axisto-live.com/investis/clients/pagegroup/presentations/55193e62cc4145440b390d4c/15q1

Please use the following dial-in numbers to join the conference:

United Kingdom (Local)	020 3059 8125
All other locations	[phone]

Please quote "PageGroup" to gain access to the call

A presentation and recording to accompany the call will be posted on the Company's website during the course of the morning of 14 April 2015 at:

http://www.pagegroup.co.uk/investors/reports-and-presentations/presentations-and-webcasts/2015.aspx

The Group will issue its Second Quarter Trading Update on 14 July 2015.

Group Trading Update

Michael Page International plc ("PageGroup") delivered first quarter gross profit of £135.6m, up 7% in reported rates and up 11% in constant currencies, with growth in all four regions. As indicated in our full year results presentation in March, the FX impact on our results in 2015 is expected to be significant.

Ongoing Investment

Having added 468 fee earners in 2014, we slowed our investment in fee earners to 65 in the first quarter. Total headcount increased by 102 in the quarter to 5,680, with some temporary additions in operational support staff to progress key strategic projects, such as the new system roll-out in Europe and some overlap as support activities are standardised and consolidated within regions.

Perm/Temp mix

Group gross profit from permanent recruitment grew 8% to £105.1m (Q1 2014: £97.7m) temporary recruitment grew 6% to £30.5m (Q1 2014: £28.9m). This resulted in a ratio of permanent to temporary recruitment of 77:23. In constant currencies, both permanent and temporary recruitment were up 11%.

Discipline analysis

		Reported (£m)			Constant
Year-on-year gross profit	% of Group	Q1 2015	Q1 2014	%	%
Finance & Accounting	40%	54.3	49.3	+10.0%	+13.8%
Legal, Technology, HR, Secretarial, Healthcare	20%	27.8	25.7	+8.3%	+11.5%
Engineering, Property & Construction, Procurement & Supply Chain	20%	26.5	26.0	+2.2%	+6.5%
Marketing, Sales & Retail	20%	27.0	25.6	+5.6%	+9.3%
Total	100%	135.6	126.6	+7.2%	+10.9%

Geographical analysis (unless otherwise stated all growth rates are in constant currency)

EMEA	Gross Profit (£m)		Growth Rates
(40% of Group)			Reported	Constant
Q1 2015 vs. Q1 2014	54.0	52.7	+2.6%	+12.1%
Headcount at 31 March 2015: 2,162 (31 December 2014: 2,113) Gross profit growth in constant currencies: ·    France (13% of Group) +5% on Q1 2014 ·    Germany (6% of Group) +17% on Q1 2014

Compared to the prior year, EMEA was up 12% and in line with our Q4 growth rate. France was up 5%, with Michael Page up 10%, ahead of Page Personnel up 2%. In Germany, gross profit growth increased to 17%, compared to 14% in the last quarter, with Page Personnel up 29%. Holland, Switzerland, Poland and Southern Europe grew strongly, with the Middle East, despite the fall in the oil price and ongoing political instability, up 9% with a record quarter in the UAE. Fee earner headcount grew by 24 across the region.

UK	Gross Profit (£m)		Growth Rates
(27% of Group)
Q1 2015 vs. Q1 2014	36.5	32.8	+11.3%
Headcount at 31 March 2015: 1,463 (31 December 2014: 1,441)

The UK gross profit growth rate remained similar to the previous quarter at 11%. There was a notable performance from the Northern region, and Page Personnel again performed strongly, up 25%. Within Michael Page, our Finance & Accounting, Engineering and Property & Construction businesses all performed well. Fee earner headcount grew by 15 in the quarter. The mix (87:13) and growth rates of Private and Public Sector remained in line with the last few quarters.

Asia Pacific	Gross Profit (£m)		Growth Rates
(19% of Group)			Reported	Constant
Q1 2015 vs. Q1 2014	25.8	23.0	+12.3%	+10.8%
Headcount at 31 March 2015: 1,164 (31 December 2014: 1,141) Gross profit growth in constant currencies: ·    Asia (13% of Group) +14% on Q1 2014 ·    Greater China (58% of Asia) +18% on Q1 2014 ·    Australia / New Zealand (6% of Group) +4% on Q1 2014

Asia Pacific grew 11% in constant currencies and 12% in reported rates, helped by the strong Chinese Renminbi. Asia grew by 14%, flat on Q4. Good growth continued in Greater China, up 18%, with a strong result from our Beijing office. Our businesses elsewhere in Northern & Eastern China and Page Personnel Hong Kong also performed well. Malaysia and Indonesia were up 40% combined, with a good result from Japan (+14%) and a record quarter in India (+41%). In Australasia, we achieved 4% growth, with Australia marginally improving to 4% and all states growing with the exception of Queensland. Within Australia, our Page Personnel business performed extremely well, up 25%. Fee earner headcount in the region increased by 18.

Americas	Gross Profit (£m)		Growth Rates
(14% of Group)			Reported	Constant
Q1 2015 vs. Q1 2014	19.3	18.1	+6.7%	+7.1%
Headcount at 31 March 2015: 891 (31 December 2014: 883) Gross profit growth in constant currencies: ·    Latin America (7% of Group) +4% on Q1 2014 ·    Brazil (50% of LatAm) -14% on Q1 2014 ·    North America (7% of Group) +11% on Q1 2014

The Americas grew 7% in both reported and constant currencies, with the strong US dollar offsetting weaker currencies in the rest of the region. Overall North America enjoyed good growth, up 11%, helped by an excellent result in Canada, +35%, with a record quarter from our Montreal office. The US, now against tougher comparatives, grew 7% in constant currency and 17% in reported rates, with growth in our New York operations offset by a difficult Oil & Gas market in Houston. Overall Latin America was up 4%. In Brazil, the market remained cautious with a number of political and economic challenges. As a result, Brazil fell by 14%. However, Latin America excluding Brazil grew 35%, with particularly strong results from Mexico, Argentina and Colombia. Fee earner headcount grew by 8 in the region.

Financial Position

Save for the effects of trading in the first quarter described above, there have been no other significant changes to the financial position of the Group since the publication of the results for the year ended 31 December 2014.

Net cash at 31 March 2015 was in the region of £100m (31 December 2014: £90.0m). The increase in cash compared to December is as a result of cash inflows from the exercise of share options of around £18m.

Subject to shareholder approval at the AGM set for 4 June 2015, the proposed final dividend for 2014 of 7.58p per share is due to be paid on 22 June 2015 to shareholders on the Register as at 22 May 2015, implying a full year dividend of 11.0p per share for the year.

The Group will issue its Second Quarter Trading Update on 14 July 2015.

Shares

At 31 March 2015 there were 325,279,590 Ordinary shares in issue, of which 16,149,864 were held by the EBT. The rights to receive dividends and to exercise voting rights have been waived by the EBT over 13,230,229 shares and consequently these shares should be excluded when calculating earnings per share. The total number of voting rights in the Company is 325,279,590.

Cautionary Statement

This First Quarter 2015 Interim Management Statement ("IMS") has been prepared solely to provide additional information to shareholders to assess the Group's strategies and the potential for those strategies to succeed. The IMS should not be relied on by any other party or for any other purpose. This IMS contains certain forward-looking statements. These statements are made by the Directors in good faith based on the information available to them up to the time of their approval of this report and such statements should be treated with caution due to the inherent uncertainties, including both economic and business risk factors, underlying any such forward-looking information.

This IMS has been prepared for the Group as a whole and therefore gives greater emphasis to those matters that are significant to PageGroup and its subsidiary undertakings when viewed as a whole.

 

END

 

 

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