BUSINESS LIVE: PageGroup earnings slump on hiring slowdown

LSL Property Services has warned annual profit will be ‘substantially lower’ than previously forecast due to subdued activity in the British mortgage market.

The British housing sector is in the middle of a pronounced slowdown, as high mortgage costs and tight credit conditions eat into demand.

The company, which provides services to mortgage intermediaries and estate agent franchisees, said it expected there would be lower levels of purchase and remortgaging activity than previously forecast for the second half of the year.

Vinyl record sales have continued to soar despite the popularity of streaming services such as Spotify.

More than 2.7m LPs were sold in the first six months of 2023, up 12 per cent from last year, according to figures from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

The vinyl revival has continued to gain speed. In 2022, records enjoyed their largest volume of sales since 1990 – with 5.5m flying off British shelves.

PageGroup profits slumped 44.6 per cent to £63.9million in the first half the of the year as the recruitment firm suffered a slowdown in global hiring.

However, the executive, professional and clerical specialist raised its interim dividend to 5.13p and revealed a special dividend of 15.87p as it maintained full-year forecasts.

CEO Nicholas Kirk said:

‘Looking forward, there remains a high level of global macro-economic and political uncertainty in the majority of our markets. However, against this backdrop, we continue to see candidate shortages and good levels of vacancies, as well as continued high fee rates.

‘We are also seeing the benefits from our investments in innovation and technology, where Customer Connect is supporting productivity and enhancing customer experience and Page Insights is providing real time data to inform business decisions.

‘We have a highly diversified and adaptable business model, a strong balance sheet, and our cost base is under continuous review and can be adjusted rapidly to match market conditions. Given these fundamental strengths, we believe we will continue to perform well despite the uncertainty.’