Business
Interim Results
Interim Results.
About this update from Pagegroup Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n Michael Page International PLC\n20 August 2007\n\n 20 August 2007\n\n MICHAEL PAGE INTERNATIONAL PLC\n\n Half Year Results for the Period Ended 30 June 2007\n\n\nMichael Page International plc (\"Michael Page\"), the specialist professional\nrecruitment company, announces its half year results for the period ended 30\nJune 2007.\n\n\nFinancial Highlights (6 months to 30 June ) 2007 2006 Increase\n\nTurnover £395.8m £312.0m 26.8%\nGross profit £226.5m £166.6m 36.0%\nOperating profit £69.8m £45.1m 54.9%\nProfit before tax £69.2m £45.2m 53.1%\nBasic earnings per share 14.3p 9.1p 57.1%\nInterim dividend per share 2.4p 1.8p 33.3%\n\n\nKey Points\n \n• Record results with all regions growing operating profits organically\n in excess of 25%\n\n• Internationalisation of business continues; 60% of gross profits\n generated from outside the UK\n\n• Over 1,000 staff added in last 12 months\n\n• Group gross profit increased by 38.7% in constant currency\n\n• Conversion rate of operating profit from gross profit increased to\n 30.8% (2006: 27.1%) and before share based charges to 32.7% (2006: 30.2%)\n\n• £58.8m of cash generated from operations (2006: £26.7m)\n\n• 8.4m shares repurchased at a cost of £45.0m\n\n• Interim dividend increased by 33.3%\n\nCommenting on the results, Steve Ingham, Chief Executive of Michael Page, said:\n\n\"The quality of our staff, strength of the brand and our unique business model\nand strategy have all contributed to our achievement of another record set of\nresults in the first half of 2007 outperforming the generalist and specialist\nrecruitment sector. The investments we have made over the past 12 months are\nproducing strong returns and our strategy of geographic diversification is\nprogressing well with 60% of our gross profits being generated from outside the\nUK.\n\n\"There is a shortage of good quality candidates in virtually all the markets in\nwhich we operate and Michael Page's ability to generate candidates for our\nclients is a key factor in our success. There remain numerous opportunities for\nfurther expansion in both our existing and new businesses in the second half of\nthis year and beyond.\"\n\n\nAnalyst Meeting\n\nThe company will be presenting to a meeting of analysts at 9.30am today. The\npresentation and a recording of the meeting will be available on the com...