* Year pretax profit 86.1 mln stg in line with guidance
* Total dividend up 11.1 pct to 10 pence
* Better trading conditions so far in 2012
By Neil Maidment
LONDON, March 6 (Reuters) – British recruitment company Michael Page said its market had stabilised after a turbulent 2011, as growth in regions like Asia and Latin America helped to offset a stagnant financial services sector weighed down by the euro zone crisis.
Growth in the recruitment sector, which includes rivals Hays and Robert Walters, saw a steady slide in 2011 as global economic uncertainty and austerity measures weighed on the confidence of clients to hire and candidates to move jobs.
Michael Page said on Tuesday the beginning of 2012 had shown signs of stabilisation with gross profit up 10 percent compared to 9 percent in December, although trading in March – a key month because it tends to be clear of holidays around the world – would paint a better picture of this year’s prospects.
“In the first two months of 2012, with the exception of financial services, we have seen no significant further slowing, and in a number of geographies activity levels have remained strong,” the company said.
“I would hasten to add that it is just two months and March for us is a huge month in the quarter,” chief executive Steve Ingham told Reuters. “But it does make us feel a bit more positive than perhaps we did in terms of the direction things were travelling in the fourth quarter.”
Michael Page, which issued a profit warning late last year due to the euro zone crisis, posted a pretax profit before non-recurring items of 86.1 million pounds ($137 million), up 19.3 percent and in line with earlier company guidance.
Shares in the FTSE 250 firm, which employs over 5,000 people in 33 countries, were down 2.7 percent to 466.45 pence at 0927 GMT.
“Although the global recruitment market has clearly slowed down recently, the group has started the current year well and we will be increasing our forecasts,” Investec Securities analyst Robert Morton said in a note.
For 2011, revenue surpassed the 1 billion pound mark for the first time with gross profit up 25 percent to a record 554 million pounds. The dividend rose 11 percent to 10 pence.
The group, which places people in accounting, financial and legal jobs, said growth in 2011 had been underpinned by strong performances in Germany and France in Europe, while its Asia Pacific business was boosted by a robust commodities industry in Australia.
Ingham said the firm had not seen any signs of an upturn in its global financial services market, where banks have cuts large swathes of jobs and remain reluctant to begin hiring again with an uncertain economic outlook.
The group reiterated its plans to focus on long-term growth opportunities in emerging markets and said it would probably expand headcount if trading in March went well. This year it has completed new country openings in Colombia and Morocco, and will move into Taiwan at the end of March.
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