BUSINESS LIVE: PageGroup earnings slump on hiring slowdown

London-listed stocks are trading lower this mroning, with the FTSE 100 weighed down by heavyweight miners, while shares of Unite Group have fallen to the bottom of the index after a rating downgrade.

The industrial metals and mining sector are down 0.7 per cent, tracking a decline in copper prices.

Shares of students accommodation provider Unite Group have slipped 1.8 per cent to the bottom of the FTSE 100 after RBC Capital Markets cut its rating to ‘sector perform’ from ‘outperform’.

The Confederation of British Industry has scrapped its annual conference as it continues to reel over allegations of workplace misconduct.

The event is usually attended by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, as well as city bigwigs, who discuss key policy issues facing business.

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.

‘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.’