PageGroup PLC on Monday kept its outlook for 2023 unchanged as it reported a lower profit for the first half of the year, amid a significantly lower special dividend.

The recruitment firm said pretax profit in the six months to June 30 declined 45% to £63.3 million from £114.5 million a year prior.

Revenue climbed 5.8% to £1.03 billion from £977.3 million.

However, cost of sales increased 15% to £507.1 million from £438.4 million. Administrative expenses widened 9.3% to £462.9 million from £423.6 million.

PageGroup declared an interim dividend of 5.13 pence per share, up 4.5% from 4.91p a year prior. Its special dividend however fell by 41% to 15.87p from 26.71p. The combined dividend decreased 34% to 21p from 31.62p.

For 2023, the company continues to expect operating profit in line with previous guidance.

Chief Executive Officer 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.’

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