Recruiters Page Group and Robert Walters reduce headcount as markets cool
Recruitment firms Page Group and Robert Walters have both announced that they had to cut down on the number of people they put into work last year due to a challenging job market.
Robert Walters revealed that its staff numbers fell by 9% to 3,980 at the end of December, while Page's dropped by 15.7% to 7,859. Robert Walters also reported that its net fee income decreased by 10% to £386.8 million in 2023, with its pre-tax profit plunging 63% to £20.8 million during the same period.
In the UK, its net fee income dropped by 18%, and in London, it fell by 29% as the financial services and technology sectors pulled back. The company was also facing difficulties in other parts of the world.
"In 2023 we saw the anticipated bounce-back in the Chinese economy fail to materialise, and consolidation of a sharply rising interest rate cycle across many countries, with a resultant cooling in global labour markets," it said. The Asia-Pacific region, which makes up 43% of its fees, saw a decrease in fees by 9%. Among the countries in the region, Australia was down 19% while Japan dropped 1%.
In Europe, which accounts for a third of fees, things were flat, largely due to a stand-out performance from Belgium where net fee income rose 21% and Germany, where it rose 8%. These offset falls in France and the Netherlands.
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Separately, Page Group announced that its profit had fallen 39.6% to £117.4 million. Both companies had previously reached record highs. In 2022, Page Group's staff numbers peaked around September, while Robert Walters' net fee income hit a record £428.2 million over the year.
However, because Page reduced its staff by 1,092 people in 2023, it managed to maintain its gross profit per fee earner at the same record levels as in 2022.
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