REG - PageGroup plc - Full Year Results for the Year Ended 31 Dec 2025
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RNS Number : 4009V PageGroup plc 05 March 2026
5 March 2026
Full Year Results for the Year Ended 31 December 2025
Resilient performance; Results in line with guidance
PageGroup plc ("PageGroup"), the specialist professional recruitment company,
announces its full year results for the year ended 31 December 2025.
Financial summary 2025 2024 Change Change
CC*
Revenue £1,596.6m £1,738.9m -8.2% -7.4%
Gross profit £769.5m £842.6m -8.7% -7.6%
Operating profit £20.9m £52.4m -60.2% -58.8%***
Profit before tax £16.2m £49.1m -67.0%
Basic earnings per share 2.9p 9.1p -68.1%
Diluted earnings per share 2.9p 9.0p -67.8%
Total dividend per share 8.57p 17.11p
FULL YEAR SUMMARY*
· Group gross profit down 7.6% to £769.5m (2024: £842.6m)
· Operating profit of £20.9m (2024: £52.4m), in line with guidance
· Conversion rate** of 2.7% (2024: 6.2%)
· Fee earner headcount decreased by 402 (7.5%) vs 2024, total closing
headcount of 6,820
· Gross profit per fee earner remains high despite market conditions,
due to decisive management actions
· Cost reduction programme reduced costs by c. £5m and remains on
track to deliver annualised savings of c. £15m from 2026
· Net cash of £31.4m (2024: £95.3m)
· Total dividends of £53.6m paid during 2025
· Final dividend proposed of 3.21p per share (2024: 11.75p)
· Client Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 66 (2024: 61), exceeding our
strategic goal for the second consecutive year
· 147,592 lives changed, tracking ahead of our target to change one
million lives by 2030
*At constant currency - all growth rates in constant currency at prior year
rates unless otherwise stated
**Operating profit as a percentage of gross profit
***Excluding impact of hyperinflation in Argentina
Commenting, Nicholas Kirk, Chief Executive Officer, said:
"The Group produced a resilient performance despite continued market
uncertainty. We saw variable market conditions across the regions, with
ongoing challenging conditions in Continental Europe and the UK. However, we
continued to grow in the US, and we saw improved conditions in Asia Pacific,
particularly during the second half of the year. The conversion of interviews
to accepted offers remains the most significant area of challenge as ongoing
macro-economic uncertainty continues to impact candidate and client
confidence, also extending the time-to-hire.
"We remain committed to our strategy and continue to reallocate resources into
the areas of the business offering the most significant long-term structural
opportunities, ensuring headcount in all our markets is aligned to activity
levels. Our fee earner headcount was down 402, or 7.5%, and we had a total
headcount of 6,820 (2024: 7,361) at the year-end. Gross profit per fee earner,
our measure of productivity, remains high, up 0.3% on 2024 and significantly
above pre-pandemic levels. Overall, our focus is to balance near-term
productivity with ensuring we remain well placed to take advantage of
opportunities when market conditions improve.
"We completed our cost optimisation programme during the year, which reduced
costs in 2025 by c. £5m and remains on track to deliver annualised savings of
c. £15m from 2026. The programme incurred a one-off cost of c. £15m in 2025,
as expected.
"In line with our long-term strategic goals, we made further improvements to
our customer proposition, resulting in our client NPS increasing to 66 in
2025, from 61 in 2024, exceeding our strategic goal of 60. We also continued
progress towards our goal of changing one million lives by 2030, with an
emphasis on our social impact programmes. As a business, we changed 147,592
lives in 2025.
"We continue to see the benefits of our investments in innovation and
technology. Customer Connect is supporting productivity and enhancing customer
experience, Page Insights is providing real-time data to inform business
decisions for both Page and our customers, and we continue to work with our
partners to deploy AI and automation tools into our working environment.
"Whilst the market outlook remains uncertain due to the unpredictable economic
environment, we will continue to control the controllables. We have a strong
balance sheet, our cost base is under constant review and given our highly
diversified and adaptable business model we remain confident in the execution
of our strategy."
Enquiries:
PageGroup plc +44 (0) 19 3226 4032
Nicholas Kirk, Chief Executive Officer
Kelvin Stagg, Chief Financial Officer
FTI Consulting +44 (0) 20 3727 1340
Richard Mountain / Georgia Badcock
The Company will host a conference call and presentation for analysts and
investors at 8:15am today. The live presentation can be viewed by following
the link:
https://www.investis-live.com/pagegroup/697ccb0720b2ad0010a68e5c/fweez
(https://www.investis-live.com/pagegroup/697ccb0720b2ad0010a68e5c/fweez)
Please use the following dial-in numbers to join the conference:
United Kingdom (Local) 020 3936 2999
All other locations +44 20 3936 2999
Please quote the access code 04 14 89 to gain access to the call
The presentation and recording to accompany the call will be available on the
Company's website later today at:
https://www.page.com/presentations/year/2026
(https://www.page.com/presentations/year/2026)
MANAGEMENT REPORT
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT
This Management Report has been prepared solely to provide additional
information to shareholders to assess the Group's strategies and the potential
for those strategies to succeed.
This Management Report contains certain forward-looking statements. These
statements are made by the Directors in good faith based on the information
available to them up to the time of their approval of this report and such
statements should be treated with caution due to the inherent uncertainties,
including both economic and business risk factors, underlying any such forward
looking information.
GROUP STRATEGY
We launched our strategy in September 2023 with three key strategic goals:
delivering operating profit of £400m, changing one million lives and
increasing our client NPS to over 60. To achieve our strategy, we have four
pillars of growth: our Core business, our Technology business, Page Executive
and our Enterprise Solutions business.
Our Core business is the main driver of Group performance. We define our Core
business as Michael Page and Page Personnel, which covers all disciplines
except Technology. We remain focused on strengthening our market-leading
positions, with a medium-term goal of building a c. £1bn gross profit
business. Despite the tougher market conditions, we have made progress with
our strategy. We have continued to reallocate resources to match activity
levels, as well as investing into business areas where we see the greatest
long-term opportunities. Whilst the macro-economic uncertainty continues to
impact the majority of our geographies, we saw a return to growth in the US
and improved conditions in Asia Pacific in 2025. As anticipated, this recovery
has been driven almost entirely by an improvement in the conversion rate of
offers to placements, rather than increasing activity levels.
Technology recruitment is a scale play, enabling us to build a high-volume,
high-value business. Our medium-term goal is to build a £350m gross profit
business, with a 20% conversion rate. As has been widely reported in recent
years, trading conditions in the technology sector have been challenging.
Despite this, Technology remains our second largest discipline at 12% of Group
gross profit. Within Technology, we continue to see a more resilient
performance from non-permanent recruitment. We are reshaping this business
from the pre-pandemic model, increasing our offering within contracting and
interim roles. This is particularly evident in markets such as Brazil, Greater
China, Colombia and Spain, which is now our second largest Technology business
after Germany. We have also been rolling out our proven contracting model from
Germany into other markets in Northern Europe. Despite the tough conditions
globally, there were some individual markets that delivered good growth in
2025, including the US, Colombia, Greater China, India and Japan.
Page Executive is a market gap play and we continue to see significant market
opportunities. We operate at salary levels above Michael Page, specialising in
senior leadership search and recruitment, as well as offering executive
advisory services. Our medium-term goal is to generate over £200m of gross
profit. Page Executive continues to deliver strong results despite the tough
macro environment, with gross profit down just 2% against a record comparator.
A decrease in placement volumes was mitigated by continued growth in average
salary levels and fee rates, a key element of Page Executive's strategy. Our
best performing markets included Spain, Colombia, Greater China and South East
Asia. We continue to believe that the market gap opportunity for Page
Executive is greater than we initially anticipated.
Enterprise Solutions is a partnership play. We support our largest strategic
customers with their complex, global requirements. We build deep, long-term
partnerships, leveraging our global scale, insights and technology to deliver
for our customers in a more efficient way, allowing them to focus on their
core business. Our medium-term goal is to deliver a business with gross profit
of £500m, at a conversion rate of 20%. Our well-established, global platform
across 34 markets allows us to consult with clients as they look to enter new
markets. And our customer centric approach, highlighted by our NPS,
increasingly makes us the partner of choice. Despite sector-wide challenges in
recruitment outsourcing, we delivered an encouraging performance in 2025.
Within Enterprise Solutions, our outsourcing business delivered growth of 18%
and a record performance. We have also seen a strong increase in our sales
pipeline as our strategic commitment to global customers gathers momentum.
Against our social impact goal of changing one million lives, we performed
strongly. Progress in this area is measured by the number of people whose
lives we have changed by placing them into work, as well as the number of
people who access programmes we run that support traditionally
underrepresented groups accessing employment. In 2025, we changed 147,592
lives, which brings us to a total of 793,323 lives changed since we set this
target in 2020. This puts us well on track to deliver our one million target
by 2030.
We also made excellent progress on our customer experience goal of achieving a
client NPS of over 60. NPS is a metric used to quantify customer loyalty and
satisfaction. In simple terms, it measures how likely our clients are to
recommend us to others. Our baseline NPS score was 52 in 2022. We saw
improvements in 2023 and 2024, and in 2025 our score grew again to 66, rating
us as 'excellent' and exceeding our target for the second consecutive year.
This highlights our commitment to providing excellent service to our
customers, further cementing our position as a benchmark of quality in our
industry.
Organic, scalable growth
Our strategy is to grow organically, achieved by drawing upon the skill and
experience of proven PageGroup management, ensuring we have the best and most
qualified home-grown talent in each key role. Our team-based structure and
profit share business model is highly scalable. The small size of our
specialist teams means we can increase headcount rapidly to achieve growth
when market conditions are favourable.
Conversely, when market conditions tighten, our headcount is reduced, mostly
via natural attrition, to ensure a lower cost base in difficult markets.
Having invested years in training and developing our highly capable management
teams, our objective is to ensure we retain this expertise within the Group.
By following this course of action, we typically gain market share during
downturns and position our businesses for market leading growth when economic
conditions improve.
Our strategy for organic growth has served the business well over the 49 years
since its inception and we believe it will continue to do so. We have grown
from a small, single-discipline recruitment company operating in one country
to a large multidiscipline, multinational business, operating in 34 countries.
Talent and skills development
We recognise that it is our people who are at the heart of everything we do,
particularly as an organically grown business, for which ensuring we have a
talent pool with experience through economic cycles and across both
geographies and disciplines is critical. The recruitment, development and
retention of talent is therefore a key priority for the Group. We have clear
and defined career pathways for consultants through to senior management and
Board level. This helps to ensure that we retain the best talent and develop
our people for leadership positions. Our strong track record of international
career moves and promotion from within means that people who join us know that
they could be our future senior managers and Main Board Directors.
Inclusion is fundamental to our culture and central to our success. It is
embedded in who we are and underpins the way we build and grow our business.
We recruit from a diverse set of backgrounds and value our consultants'
experiences greatly. We are a people business - the people who work here, the
companies we do business with, the candidates whose lives we change for the
better on a daily basis, and the communities and individuals we help as we
give back to others. We introduced our continuous listening strategy in 2020,
and the insights from these initiatives have allowed us to build understanding
and drive change and improvement. Underpinned by our global diversity and
inclusion framework, we have established numerous internal communities to
ensure all our employees have networks to connect, share and learn. We are a
business which reflects society and the clients and candidates whose lives we
change.
Sustainability
Our sustainability approach is driven by four goals: to drive positive social
impact; to reduce our carbon emissions; to advance gender equality in our
leadership; and to support our customers to find top sustainability talent.
Our purpose is to change lives and that is why our target to change one
million lives by 2030 sits at the centre of our corporate strategy. We change
lives by placing candidates and working with charities and other partners to
break down the barriers to employment for those from under-represented
backgrounds. In 2025, we changed a further 147,592 lives meaning we have
changed 793,323 lives since we set the target in 2020. More employees than
ever volunteered to support those often furthest from the workforce to prepare
for employment. This puts us well on track to deliver our one million target
by 2030.
Our carbon emissions continued to decrease in 2025, and across almost all
individual emissions categories. Our Scope 1 and 2 emissions decreased by a
further 17% this year. This progress was driven by our ongoing initiatives to
reduce energy consumption, source renewable energy and increasing our electric
company car offering. We also continue to monitor and reduce business travel
and take steps to reduce emissions across our value chain. These actions were
supported by improved data quality, alongside reductions in headcount and cost
efficiencies.
We continue to target 50% representation within our senior management by 2030,
and we are committed to increasing the number of women in leadership roles
within our business globally. On the Plc Board as at 31 December 2025, female
representation was 38%, and on our Executive Board female representation was
43%. At Director level, female representation was 45%.
At the start of the decade, we set a target to build a meaningful
sustainability business by 2026. We are proud to say that we have delivered
this goal, placing candidates into sustainability-related and green jobs
around the world, and achieving net fees from sustainability roles in 2025
that are more than five times those of 2019. For further information on our
sustainability efforts, please refer to https://www.page.com/sustainability
(https://www.page.com/sustainability) .
AI and Technology
Technology and AI have positively reshaped our industry in recent years,
driving a more data-led approach to recruitment. Like any major innovation, AI
presents both risks and opportunities for our industry, challenging
traditional recruitment practices whilst offering new ways to enhance
efficiency, insights, and customer service. We have been collaborating with
the most significant players in Big Tech for several years to develop safe and
secure, cutting-edge technology and AI systems for everyday use by our
consultants, delivering fast and accurate results. By implementing global
systems such as Customer Connect and our Global Finance System, together with
the planned rollout of our new global HRIS platform throughout 2026, we are
creating an integrated data ecosystem in which information is organised,
consistent, optimised, secure and governed. Our data intelligence platform
is built with market-leading systems including Azure, Databricks, GCP and
Salesforce, giving us the scalability and reliability to deploy AI at pace
across the organisation. All that said, whilst technology and AI are powerful
tools, we expect them to remain a vital supporting role to our consultants
rather than a replacement. By staying alert to emerging risks and continuing
to adapt, our relationship driven model and focus on white collar professional
recruitment positions us strongly for the future.
GROUP RESULTS
GROSS PROFIT Reported CC
% of Group 2025 (£m) 2024 (£m) % %
EMEA 53% 409.9 462.5 -11.4% -11.9%
Americas 19% 147.9 149.2 -0.9% +3.3%***
Asia Pacific 16% 120.6 126.4 -4.7% -1.4%
UK 12% 91.1 104.5 -12.8% -12.8%
Total 100% 769.5 842.6 -8.7% -7.6%
Permanent 72% 551.2 605.9 -9.0% -7.7%
Temporary 28% 218.3 236.7 -7.8% -7.5%
***Excluding impact of hyperinflation in Argentina
At constant exchange rates, Group revenue decreased 7.4% to £1,596.6m (2024:
£1,738.9m), and gross profit decreased 7.6% to £769.5m (2024: £842.6m) for
the year ended 31 December 2025. Gross profit per fee earner remained high,
up 0.3% in constant currencies, but down 0.8% in reported rates to £148.9k
(2024: £150.0k).
The Group's revenue and gross profit mix between permanent and temporary
placements were 35:65 (2024: 35:65) and 72:28 (2024: 72:28) respectively.
Revenue from temporary placements comprises the salaries of those placed,
together with the margin charged. This margin on temporary placements was in
line with 2024 at 21.0%. Pricing remained strong across the Group, as we
continued to see candidate shortages in the majority of our markets.
Total Group headcount decreased by 541 (-7.3%) in the year to 6,820. This
comprised a net decrease of 402 fee earners (-7.5%) and 139 non-operations
(-7.0%). We reduced our fee earner headcount in all four quarters, primarily
in Europe and the UK, in line with the tougher trading conditions seen
throughout 2025.
In total, administrative expenses decreased 4.2% in constant currencies to
£748.7m (2024: £790.1m). The Group's operating profit from trading
activities totalled £20.9m (2024: £52.4m).
OPERATING PROFIT AND CONVERSION RATES
The Group's organic growth model and profit-based team bonus ensures cost
control remains tight. Approximately three-quarters of costs were employee
related, including wages, bonuses, share-based long-term incentives, and
training & relocation costs. Depreciation and amortisation for the year
totalled £57.3m (2024: £62.9m).
Against the ongoing challenging trading conditions, we have taken robust
action to optimise our cost base by simplifying our management structure,
reducing our leadership team and improving the efficiency of our business
support functions. These initiatives incurred a one-off cost of c. £15m in
2025, partially offset by savings in 2025 of c. £5m. The programme remains on
track to deliver annualised savings of c. £15m from 2026.
Group operating profit declined 58.8% to £20.9m (2024: £52.4m) for the year
ended 31 December 2025, and the Group's conversion rate for the year decreased
from 6.2% in 2024 to 2.7%. This was due to the more challenging trading
conditions experienced through 2025 in the majority of our markets and one-off
costs relating to our cost optimisation programme, partially offset by the
reduction in fee earner headcount.
A net interest charge of £4.6m (2024: £3.3m) was due primarily to an IFRS 16
interest charge of £5.1m.
Earnings Per Share
In 2025, basic and diluted earnings per share both decreased to 2.9p (2024:
9.1p basic and 9.0p diluted), as a result of the decrease in profits due to
the tougher trading conditions.
Capital Allocation
The Group's strategy is to operate a policy of financing the activities and
development of the Group from our retained earnings and to maintain a strong
balance sheet position. The first use of our cash is to satisfy our
operational and investment requirements and to hedge our liabilities under the
Group's share plans.
The second use of cash is to make returns to Shareholders through ordinary
dividends. We review our liquidity over and above our operational and
investment requirements to determine the amount of these returns. Our policy
is to grow this ordinary dividend over the course of the economic cycle, in
line with our long-term growth rate, subject to affordability.
Thirdly, any remaining surplus cash will be returned to Shareholders through
supplementary returns, using special dividends or share buybacks.
We paid an interim dividend of 5.36p per share, flat on the 2024 interim
dividend. This amounted to a cash return to shareholders of £16.7m, paid out
in October 2025.
PageGroup's stated capital allocation policy is for the Directors to continue
to finance the activities and development of the Group from retained earnings
and to maintain a strong balance sheet position. While reviewing the Group's
current and future cash position, in light of the sustained challenging
trading environment and the ongoing unpredictable nature of our markets, the
Board believes it is prudent to declare a final dividend for 2025 of 3.21p
(2024: 11.75p) per ordinary share. This action balances the Group's current
level of profitability and affordability with the desire to continue to invest
in growth areas. The Board recognises the importance of dividends to
shareholders and will continue to assess the level of dividend payment while
considering the Group's prospects. When taken together with the interim
dividend of 5.36p (2024: 5.36p) per ordinary share, this represents a total
dividend for the year of 8.57p per ordinary share.
The proposed final dividend, which amounts to £10.0m, will be paid on 17 June
2026 to shareholders on the register as at 15 May 2026, subject to shareholder
approval at the Annual General Meeting on 28 May 2026.
We will continue to monitor our cash position in 2026 and will make returns to
shareholders in line with the above policy.
Cash flow and balance sheet
Cash flow in the year was strong, with £73.8m (2024: £145.9m) generated from
operations. The closing cash balance was £31.4m at 31 December 2025 (2024:
£95.3m).
In October 2025 the Group extended the maturity date of its £80m committed
multi-currency revolving credit facility agreement with HSBC and BBVA by one
year to 8 December 2028. There were no further amendments to the pricing,
covenants or other terms of the Facility. In addition, PageGroup maintains an
uncommitted Confidential Invoice Facility with HSBC whereby the Group has the
option to discount receivables in order to advance cash. The Invoice Facility
is for up to £50m depending on debtor levels. Neither of these facilities
were drawn as at 31 December 2025. We also have uncommitted bank overdraft
facilities of £22m. These facilities are used on an ad hoc basis to fund any
major Group GBP cash outflows.
Income tax paid in the year was £24.2m (2024: £19.3m) and net capital
expenditure was £11.4m (2024: £15.8m).
Total dividends of £53.6m were paid in 2025 (2024: £52.0m). In 2025, £8.3m
(2024: £13.2m) was spent on the purchase of shares by the Employee Benefit
Trust to satisfy future committed obligations under our employee share plans.
The most significant item in our balance sheet was trade receivables, which
amounted to £213.0m at 31 December 2025 (2024: £223.3m), comprising
permanent fees invoiced and salaries and fees invoiced in the temporary
placement business, but not yet paid. Day's sales in debtors decreased due to
temporary recruitment, which has a shorter collection period, being more
resilient in 2025 than permanent recruitment.
EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA (EMEA)
EMEA is the Group's largest region, contributing 53% of the Group's gross
profit in the year. With operations in 14 countries, PageGroup has a strong
presence in the majority of EMEA markets and is the clear leader in specialist
permanent recruitment in the two largest, France and Germany, and many of the
others. Across the region, permanent placements accounted for 65% and
temporary placements 35% of gross profit.
EMEA £m Growth rates
(53% of Group in 2025) 2025 2024 Reported CC
Gross Profit 409.9 462.5 -11.4% -11.9%
Operating Profit 31.4 60.9 -48.4% -48.8%
Conversion Rate (%) 7.7% 13.2%
In constant currencies, revenue declined 9.5% to £863.9m (2024: £946.8m) and
gross profit declined 11.9% to £409.9m (2024: £462.5m).
Market conditions remained tough throughout the year in EMEA, due to ongoing
political and macro-economic instability across most markets, particularly our
two largest, France and Germany. France, the Group's largest market, declined
17%. Temporary recruitment, down 7%, was more resilient than permanent, down
25%. Germany, our second largest market, declined 12%. Trading was challenging
but stable in H2, with companies continuing to limit and delay hiring
decisions due to macro-economic uncertainty. Our Technology and Finance
focused Interim business was the most resilient, down 5%. However, tough
conditions continued in Michael Page, down 22%. Spain delivered the standout
result in the region, growing 2%, with good levels of candidate and client
confidence. Elsewhere in Europe, market conditions remained challenging in all
countries.
The region delivered operating profit of £31.4m (2024: £60.9m), with a
conversion rate of 7.7% (2024: 13.2%). Excluding one off costs, underlying
operating profit was £39.4m, with a conversion rate of 9.6%. Profitability
decreased on 2024 due to the tougher trading conditions seen in 2025, albeit
the region continues to have the highest conversion rate of the Group.
Headcount across the region decreased by 326 (-9.2%) during the year, to 3,204
at the end of 2025 (2024: 3,530).
THE AMERICAS
The Americas accounted for 19% of the Group's gross profit in 2025, with North
America representing 11% of the Group and Latin America, 8%. The US, where we
have seven offices, has a well-developed recruitment industry, but in many
disciplines, for example Construction, there is limited national competition
of any scale. PageGroup's breadth of professional specialisms and geographic
reach is uncommon and provides a real competitive advantage.
Latin America has a highly under-developed recruitment industry, where
PageGroup enjoys the market-leading position with over 500 fee earners in
seven countries. There are few international competitors and none with
regional scale. Across the Americas, permanent placements accounted for 81% of
gross profit and temporary placements 19%.
Americas £m Growth rates
(19% of Group in 2025) 2025 2024 Reported CC
Gross Profit 147.9 149.2 -0.9% +3.3%***
Operating Profit 4.7 6.9 -32.6% -23.8%***
Conversion Rate (%) 3.2% 4.7%
***Excluding impact of hyperinflation in Argentina
In constant currencies and excluding Argentina due to hyperinflation, revenue
grew 5.2% to £282.8m (2024: £279.8m) while gross profit increased 3.3% to
£147.9m (2024: £149.2m).
In North America, gross profit grew 8%, due to the US, which was up 9%. We saw
good levels of activity and trading, with strong results particularly in our
largest discipline of Construction, as well as in Manufacturing.
In Latin America, excluding Argentina, gross profit declined 3% with mixed
performance across the region. Mexico, our largest country in the region,
declined 12%, due to the ongoing tariff uncertainty. Brazil grew 3%, driven by
our temporary recruitment business, up 10%. The remaining four countries in
the region grew 2% collectively.
The Americas delivered operating profit of £4.7m (2024: £6.9m) at a
conversion rate of 3.2% (2024: 4.7%). Excluding one off costs, underlying
operating profit was £6.5m, with a conversion rate of 4.4%, broadly in line
with 2024. Across the region, headcount decreased by 19 (-1.4%) in 2025 to
1,308 (2024: 1,327).
ASIA PACIFIC
Asia Pacific represented 16% of the Group's gross profit in 2025, with 84% of
the region being Asia and 16% Australia. Other than in the financial centres
of Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo, the Asian recruitment industry is generally
highly under-developed and offers attractive opportunities in both
international and domestic markets at good conversion rates. With a highly
experienced management team, just over 1,000 fee earners and limited
competition, the size of the opportunity in Asia is significant. Across Asia
Pacific, permanent placements accounted for 86% and temporary placements only
14% of gross profit, well below the Group average, however we have seen
increasing demand for flexible hiring options in recent years.
Australia is a mature, well-developed and highly competitive recruitment
market. PageGroup has a meaningful presence in white-collar permanent
recruitment in the majority of the professional disciplines and major cities
in Australia.
Asia Pacific £m Growth rates
(16% of Group in 2025) 2025 2024 Reported CC
Gross Profit 120.6 126.4 -4.7% -1.4%
Operating (Loss)/Profit -1.9 -8.3 +77.2% +81.7%
Conversion Rate (%) -1.6% -6.6%
In Asia Pacific, in constant currencies, revenue declined 3.7% to £215.2m
(2024: £231.8m) and gross profit declined 1.4% to £120.6m (2024: £126.4m).
In Greater China, where gross profit declined 7%, trading remained
challenging. Despite this, productivity remained high due to the level of
experience of our consultants. South East Asia grew 2%, with particularly
strong results in Page Executive. Japan declined 1%. India delivered the
standout result with another record year, up 14% on 2024. Australia declined
10%, with ongoing challenging conditions across all states.
The region made an operating loss of £1.9m (2024: loss of £8.3m), with a
negative conversion rate of 1.6%, albeit this was a significant improvement on
2024, due to the improved trading conditions. Excluding one off costs,
underlying operating loss was £1.7m, with a negative conversion rate of 1.4%.
Headcount across the region decreased by 64 (-4.2%) in the year, ending the
year at 1,468 (2024: 1,532). This was due to the finalisation of the
transition of our SSC from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur in the year.
UNITED KINGDOM
The UK represented 12% of the Group's gross profit in 2025. It is a mature,
highly competitive and sophisticated market with the majority of vacant
positions being outsourced to recruitment firms. In the UK, permanent
placements accounted for 70% and temporary placements 30% of gross profit.
We drove further efficiencies in the organisation through the migration of our
Page Personnel brand to Michael Page, which we completed in January 2025. Our
focus remains to ensure a seamless journey for our clients and candidates
through one core brand, Michael Page. There remain opportunities to increase
the size and breadth of our reach in the UK under the higher salary-level Page
Executive brand, as well as by growing our contracting/interim business and by
building on our existing strengths within permanent recruitment in Michael
Page.
UK £m
12% of Group in 2025 2025 2024 Growth rate
Gross Profit 91.1 104.5 -12.8%
Operating Loss -13.3 -7.1 -89.0%
Conversion Rate (%) -14.6% -6.7%
In the UK, revenue decreased 16.3% on 2025 to £234.7m (2024: £280.5m) and
gross profit decreased 12.8% from £104.5m in 2024 to £91.1m. We continued to
see clients deferring hiring decisions and candidates cautious about accepting
offers. Permanent recruitment declined 10% against 2024, with temporary down
19%, due partially to the migration of our UK Page Personnel business, which
had a greater degree of temporary recruitment, to Michael Page this year.
The operating result for the year was a loss of £13.3m (2024: loss of
£7.1m). While the UK trading business was profitable despite the tougher
trading conditions, the high proportion of Group senior management and Group
support based in the UK meant the region had a negative conversion rate of
14.6%. Excluding one off costs, the underlying operating loss was £7.9m.
Headcount decreased by 132 (-13.6%) in the year to 840 at the end of December
2025 (2024: 972).
OTHER FINANCIAL ITEMS
Taxation
The tax charge for the year was £7.2m (2024: £20.7m). This represented an
effective tax rate of 44.4% (2024: 42.1%). The rate is higher than the
effective UK rate for the calendar year of 25.0% (2024: 25.0%) due primarily
to the impact of irrecoverable overseas withholding taxes and permanent
differences, which have a disproportionate impact due to the reduction in
profits compared to the prior year. The prior year rate was significantly
impacted by the one off derecognition of certain deferred tax assets.
In 2025, the tax rate was impacted primarily by irrecoverable overseas
withholding taxes and differing overseas tax rates of 22.1%, other permanent
differences of 9.8%, offset against other tax movements (5.5%) and prior year
adjustments of (7.0%).
As at 31 December 2025, PageGroup's deferred tax assets were £28.5m (2024:
£18.1m) and its deferred tax liabilities were £0.7m (2024: £0.6m).
The tax charge for the year reflects the Group's tax strategy, which is
aligned to business goals. It is PageGroup's policy to pay its fair share of
taxes in the countries in which it operates and deal with its tax affairs in a
straightforward, open and honest manner. The Group's tax strategy is set out
in detail on our website in the Investor section under "Responsibilities".
UK deferred tax assets
The Group has recognised deferred tax assets of £8.7m (2024: £0.3m) in the
UK, primarily in respect of losses. These losses were mainly generated during
the current year due to challenging trading conditions and non-recurring
restructuring costs incurred by the Group. These losses can be carried forward
indefinitely and are able to be utilised against future profits generated in
the UK.
The Group has reviewed the latest forecasts, based on the most recent
financial budget and management projections, in order to assess the likelihood
of the losses being utilised within a reasonably foreseeable timeframe. Due to
the structure of the Group, changes in profitability of the operating entities
globally can significantly impact the UK's profitability. Based on various
scenarios applied to the Group, utilising differing levels of growth, the
forecast recovery period is between three and eleven years, with the average
utilisation period being six years. UK law restricts the amount of losses that
can be used in any given year to 50% of the in-year profits, over a de minimis
threshold of £5m, which contributes to the extended period of utilisation.
As such, the Group concluded it is probable that the UK business will generate
sufficient taxable profits against which we can utilise these losses.
Share options and share repurchases
At the beginning of 2025 the Group had 12.7m share options outstanding, of
which 5.3m had vested, but had not been exercised. During the year, options
were granted over 2.4m shares under the Group's share option plans. No options
were exercised during the year, and options lapsed over 2.0m shares. At the
end of 2025, options remained outstanding over 13.1m shares, of which 4.5m had
vested, but had not been exercised. During 2025, 2.9m shares were purchased by
the Group's Employee Benefit Trust, and no shares were cancelled (2024: 2.8m
shares were purchased and no shares were cancelled).
RISKS
The main factors that could affect the business and the financial results are
described in the "Principal Risks and Uncertainties" section in the PageGroup
plc 2025 Annual Report and Accounts, which will be available to shareholders
in April 2026.
KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIs)
KPI Definition, method of calculation and analysis
Financial
Gross profit growth How measured: Gross profit growth represents revenue less cost of sales
expressed as the percentage change over the prior year. It consists
principally of placement fees for permanent candidates and the margin earned
on the placement of temporary candidates.
Why it's important: This metric shows the income growth of the business. The
indicator is recorded in both constant and reported currency, as foreign
exchange movements in our international markets can impact it significantly.
How we performed in 2025: Gross profit decreased 7.6% in constant currencies
and 8.7% in reported rates against 2024. This was due to continued tough
trading conditions in 2025, which impacted client and candidate confidence.
Relevant strategic objective: Organic growth.
Ratio of gross profit generated from permanent and temporary placements How measured: Gross profit earned from permanent and temporary placements,
expressed as percentage of the Group's total gross profit.
Why it's important: This ratio reflects both the current stage of the
economic cycle and our geographic spread, as a number of countries culturally
have minimal white collar temporary roles. It gives a guide as to the
operational gearing potential in the business, which is significantly greater
for permanent recruitment.
How we performed in 2025: 72% of our gross profit was generated from permanent
placements, in line with 2024. During periods of market uncertainty, clients
often seek more flexible options in temporary recruitment. However, due to
softer activity and trading in our European businesses, where we have a higher
proportion of non-permanent business, as well as a tougher comparator in
temporary recruitment, we saw similar declines across permanent recruitment
(-7.7%) and temporary (-7.5%).
Relevant strategic objective: Diversification.
Basic earnings per share (EPS) How measured: Profit for the year attributable to the Group's equity
shareholders, divided by the weighted average number of shares in issue during
the year.
Why it's important: This measures the underlying profitability of the Group
and the progress made against the prior year.
How we performed in 2025: The Group saw a 68.1% decrease in Basic EPS to
2.9p, due to the decline in operating profit from 2024.
Relevant strategic objective: Sustainable growth.
Cash How measured: Cash and short-term deposits.
Why it's important: The level of cash reflects our cash generation and
conversion capabilities and our success in managing our working capital. It
determines our ability to reinvest in the business, to return cash to
shareholders and to ensure we remain financially robust through cycles.
How we performed in 2025: Cash decreased to £31.4m (2024: £95.3m). The
year-on-year movement was driven primarily by reduced cash generation from
operations, as a result of the ongoing challenging market conditions.
Relevant strategic objective: Sustainable growth.
Strategic
Fee earner headcount growth How measured: Number of fee earners and directors involved in
revenue-generating activities at the year-end, expressed as the percentage
change compared to the prior year.
Why it's important: Growth in fee earners is a guide to our confidence in the
business and macro-economic outlook, as it reflects our expectations as to the
level of future demand for our services above the existing capacity currently
within the business.
How we performed in 2025: Net fee earner headcount decreased by 402, or 7.5%,
in the year, resulting in 4,968 fee earners at the end of the year. We saw
reductions primarily across Europe and the UK, as the challenging trading
conditions continued in 2025. However, we continued to reallocate resources
into markets where we saw improvements in business confidence, such as in Asia
and the US.
Relevant strategic objective: Sustainable growth.
Gross profit per fee earner How measured: Gross profit divided by the average number of fee-generating
staff, calculated on a rolling monthly average basis.
Why it's important: This is our indicator of productivity, which is affected
by levels of activity in the market, capacity within the business and the
number of recently hired fee earners who are not yet at full productivity.
Currency movements can also impact this figure.
How we performed in 2025: Productivity grew 0.3% in constant currencies but
declined 0.8% in reported rates to £148.9k (2024: £150.0k). Whilst we
experienced tough trading conditions in 2025, our action on fee earner
headcount through the year, down 7.5%, meant productivity stayed relatively
flat on 2024 and at high levels for the Group.
Relevant strategic objective: Organic growth.
Conversion rate How measured: Operating profit (EBIT) expressed as a percentage of gross
profit.
Why it's important: This reflects how successful the Group is at managing
business related costs, growing fee-earner productivity and the level of
investment being directed towards future growth.
How we performed in 2025: The Group's conversion rate for the year decreased
to 2.7% (2024: 6.2%). This was reflective of the tougher trading conditions
during the year and one-off costs, partly offset by the reduction in fee
earner headcount.
Relevant strategic objective: Sustainable growth.
Client Net Promoter Score How measured: Client Net Promoter Score is a metric used to measure customer
satisfaction and loyalty.
Why it's important: This score helps the Group gauge the quality of our
customer service, and allows us to benchmark against our competitors.
How we performed in 2025: The Group's NPS improved to 66 (2024: 61), exceeding
our strategic target for a second consecutive year. This highlights our
commitment to providing excellent service to our customers, further cementing
our position as a benchmark of quality in our industry.
Relevant strategic objective: Sustainable growth.
People
Employee engagement index How measured: A significant output of the Company's periodically taken
employee surveys.
Why it's important: When there is a sustainable work environment and
motivated staff in the business, critical talent is retained and productivity
is enhanced.
How we performed in 2025: We recorded a 79% positive score for employee
engagement in the latest Employee Engagement Survey in 2025, broadly in line
with the previous year (2024: 80%). The 2025 survey included a combination of
questions, including: how valued our people felt; how proud they were to work
for PageGroup; and how they can see their work relates to PageGroup's purpose
of changing lives.
Relevant strategic objective: Sustainable growth.
To become Net-zero across our full value chain by 2050 How measured: The GHG Protocol is used to calculate direct and Indirect GHG
emissions.
Why it's important: In the emissions estimates, CO(2)e impact of our value
chain and operations are examined in absolute terms.
How we performed in 2025: Total GHG emissions (Scope 1, 2 and 3) decreased by
16% to 45,343 tCO(2)e. Operational emissions (Scope 1 and 2 emissions) reduced
by 17% to 1,623 tCO(2)e, due partly to the continued transition of our offices
to renewable energy. Value chain emissions (Scope 3) decreased by 16% to
43,719 tCO(2)e, with reductions across almost all Scope 3 categories including
purchased goods and services.
Relevant strategic objective: Sustainable growth.
Intensity values of GHG emissions How measured: Intensity levels of GHG emissions are measured by total
emissions per 1,000 people. For the Group, the most precise metric of activity
levels is headcount, which is not influenced by factors like fluctuations in
foreign exchange rates and business blend.
Why it's important: It helps to find the areas where emissions reduction
efforts have been successful, as GHG measurements are normalised in context of
the Group's changing business profile and especially movement in headcount.
How we performed in 2025: Tonnes of CO(2)e per employee decreased by 10% to
6.6 tonnes of CO(2)e per employee. The reduction in overall emissions
decreased by a greater amount than the reduction in headcount.
Relevant strategic objective: Sustainable growth.
The reporting boundaries and sources of data are comparable year-on-year.
Emissions reductions are due to a combination of actual reductions in carbon
emitting activities, improvements in data quality, changes to emissions
factors and updated methodology for calculating emissions from company cars.
The movements in KPIs are in line with expectations.
Nicholas Kirk Kelvin Stagg
Chief Executive Officer Chief Financial Officer
4 March 2026 4 March 2026
Consolidated Income Statement
For the year ended 31 December 2025
2025 2024
Note £'000 £'000
Revenue 3 1,596,577 1,738,937
Cost of sales (827,061) (896,351)
Gross profit 3 769,516 842,586
Administrative expenses (748,651) (790,137)
Operating profit 3 20,865 52,449
Financial income 4 1,580 2,170
Financial expenses 4 (6,218) (5,492)
Profit before tax 3 16,227 49,127
Income tax expense 5 (7,210) (20,684)
Profit for the year 9,017 28,443
Attributable to:
Owners of the parent 9,017 28,443
Earnings per share
Basic earnings per share (pence) 8 2.9 9.1
Diluted earnings per share (pence) 8 2.9 9.0
The above results all relate to continuing operations
Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income
For the year ended 31 December 2025
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Profit for the year 9,017 28,443
Other comprehensive income/(loss) for the year
Items that may subsequently be reclassified to profit and loss:
Currency translation differences net of tax 1,458 (10,101)
Items that may not subsequently be reclassified to profit and loss:
Actuarial gain/(loss) on retirement benefits net of tax 141 (264)
Total comprehensive income for the year 10,616 18,078
Attributable to:
Owners of the parent 10,616 18,078
Consolidated Balance Sheet
As at 31 December 2025
2025 2024
Note £'000 £'000
Non-current assets
Property, plant and equipment 9 43,472 45,811
Right-of-use assets 116,870 120,711
Intangible assets - Goodwill and other intangible 1,750 1,738
- Computer software 14,172 21,916
Deferred tax assets 28,495 18,127
Other receivables 10 14,502 13,164
219,261 221,467
Current assets
Trade and other receivables 10 302,572 315,257
Current tax receivable 22,520 18,023
Cash and cash equivalents 12 31,376 95,348
356,468 428,628
Total assets 3 575,729 650,095
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables 11 (205,870) (229,460)
Provisions (1,869) (2,653)
Lease liabilities (32,777) (33,418)
Current tax payable (1,404) (3,189)
(241,920) (268,720)
Net current assets 114,548 159,908
Non-current liabilities
Other payables 11 (15,342) (10,426)
Lease liabilities (99,477) (103,372)
Deferred tax liabilities (682) (609)
Provisions (3,681) (4,559)
(119,182) (118,966)
Total liabilities 3 (361,102) (387,686)
Net assets 214,627 262,409
Capital and reserves
Called-up share capital 3,286 3,286
Share premium 99,564 99,564
Capital redemption reserve 932 932
Reserve for shares held in the employee benefit trust (79,265) (75,391)
Currency translation reserve 10,884 9,162
Retained earnings 179,226 224,856
Total equity 214,627 262,409
Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity
For the year ended 31 December 2025
Reserve
for shares
Called-up Capital held in the Currency
share Share redemption employee translation Retained Total
capital premium reserve benefit trust reserve earnings equity
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Balance at 1 January 2024 3,286 99,564 932 (66,813) 19,985 249,534 306,488
Currency translation differences net of tax - - - - (10,823) 722 (10,101)
Actuarial loss on retirement benefits net of tax - - - - - (264) (264)
Net (expense)/income recognised directly in equity - - - - (10,823) 458 (10,365)
Profit for the year ended 31 December 2024 - - - - - 28,443 28,443
Total comprehensive (expense)/income for the year - - - - (10,823) 28,901 18,078
Purchase of shares held in the employee benefit trust - - - (13,161) - - (13,161)
Exercise of share plans - - - - - 533 533
Transfer from reserve for shares held in the employee benefit trust - - - 4,583 - (4,583) -
Credit in respect of share schemes - - - - - 2,520 2,520
Debit in respect of tax on share schemes - - - - - (45) (45)
Dividends - - - - - (52,004) (52,004)
- - - (8,578) - (53,579) (62,157)
Balance at 31 December 2024 and 1 January 2025 3,286 99,564 932 (75,391) 9,162 224,856 262,409
Currency translation differences net of tax - - - - 1,722 (264) 1,458
Actuarial gain on retirement benefits net of tax - - - - - 141 141
Net income/(expense) recognised directly in equity - - - - 1,722 (123) 1,599
Profit for the year ended 31 December 2025 - - - - - 9,017 9,017
Total comprehensive income for the year - - - - 1,722 8,894 10,616
Purchase of shares held in the employee benefit trust - - - (8,347) - - (8,347)
Transfer from reserve for shares held in the employee benefit trust - - - 4,473 - (4,473) -
Credit in respect of share schemes - - - - - 3,725 3,725
Debit in respect of tax on share schemes - - - - - (208) (208)
Dividends - - - - - (53,568) (53,568)
- - - (3,874) - (54,524) (58,398)
Balance at 31 December 2025 3,286 99,564 932 (79,265) 10,884 179,226 214,627
Condensed Consolidated Statement of Cash
Flows
For the year ended 31 December 2025
2025 2024
Note £'000 £'000
Profit before tax 16,227 49,127
Depreciation and amortisation charges 57,275 62,924
(Gain)/Loss on sale of property, plant and equipment, and computer software (29) 1,053
Share scheme charges 3,725 2,687
Net finance costs 4,638 3,322
Operating cash flow before changes in working capital 81,836 119,113
Decrease in receivables 18,401 47,442
Decrease in payables (26,440) (20,619)
Cash generated from operations 73,797 145,936
Income tax paid (24,175) (19,281)
Net cash from operating activities 49,622 126,655
Cash flows from investing activities
Purchases of property, plant and equipment (9,961) (15,662)
Purchases of intangible assets (2,523) (2,607)
Proceeds from the sale of property, plant and equipment, and computer software 1,103 2,364
Interest received 1,580 2,170
Net cash used in investing activities (9,801) (13,735)
Cash flows from financing activities
Dividends paid (53,568) (52,004)
Interest paid (1,145) (833)
Lease liability principal repayment (41,594) (40,630)
Proceeds from share option exercises - 533
Purchase of shares into the employee benefit trust (8,347) (13,161)
Net cash used in financing activities (104,654) (106,095)
Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents (64,833) 6,825
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year 95,348 90,138
Exchange gain/(loss) on cash and cash equivalents 861 (1,615)
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year 12 31,376 95,348
Notes to the consolidated preliminary results
For the year ended 31 December 2025
1. Corporate information
PageGroup plc (the "Company") is a limited liability company incorporated in
Great Britain and domiciled within the United Kingdom whose shares are
publicly traded. The consolidated preliminary results of the Company as at
and for the year ended 31 December 2025 comprise the Company and its
subsidiaries (together referred to as the "Group").
The consolidated preliminary results of the Group for the year ended 31
December 2025 were approved by the Directors on 4 March 2026. The Annual
General Meeting of PageGroup plc will be held at the registered office, 200
Dashwood Lang Road, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 2NX on 28 May 2026 at 9.30am.
2. Accounting policies
Basis of preparation
Whilst the information included in this preliminary announcement has been
prepared in accordance with the recognition and measurement criteria of
International Accounting Standards in conformity with the requirements of
Section 408 of the Companies Act 2006 and UK-adopted International Accounting
Standards (IFRSs), this announcement does not itself contain sufficient
information to comply with IFRSs.
The consolidated financial statements comprise the financial statements of the
Group as at 31 December 2025 and are presented in UK Sterling and all values
are rounded to the nearest thousand (UK £'000), except when otherwise
indicated.
Going concern
The Board has undertaken a review of the Group's forecasts, and associated
risks and sensitivities, in the period from the date of approval of the
financial statements to March 2027 (review period).
The Board considered a variety of downsides that the Group might experience,
such as a global downturn, a cyber attack resulting in significant
reputational damage and loss of clients and candidates, and the Group's
business model becoming ineffective due to new innovations such as recruitment
using AI and technology. All modelled scenarios would be expected to impact
gross profit and headcount, impacting conversion.
The Group had £31.4m of cash as at 31 December 2025, with no debt except for
IFRS 16 lease liabilities of £132.3m. Debt facilities relevant to the review
period comprise a committed £80m RCF maturing December 2028, an uncommitted
UK trade debtor discounting facility (up to £50m depending on debtor levels)
and uncommitted bank overdraft facilities of £22m. These facilities were
undrawn as at 31 December 2025. The Group's forecast financial position
indicates compliance with all relevant banking covenants during the review
period.
Despite the macro-economic and political uncertainty that currently exists,
and its inherent risk and impact on the business, based on the analysis
performed there are no plausible downside scenarios that the Board believes
would cause a liquidity issue.
Given the Group's fundamental strengths, the level of cash in the business and
the Group's borrowing facilities, the geographical and discipline
diversification, limited customer concentration risk, as well as the ability
to manage the cost base, the Board has concluded that the Group has adequate
resources to continue in operation, meet its liabilities as they fall due,
retain sufficient available cash and not breach the covenants under the RCF
for the foreseeable future, being the period to 31 March 2027. The Board
therefore considers it appropriate for the Group to adopt the going concern
basis in preparing its financial statements.
Nature of financial information
The financial information contained within this preliminary announcement for
the 12 months to 31 December 2025 and 12 months to 31 December 2024 do not
comprise statutory financial statements for the purpose of the Companies Act
2006, but are derived from those statements. The statutory accounts for
PageGroup plc for the 12 months to 31 December 2024 have been filed with the
Registrar of Companies and those for the 12 months to 31 December 2025 will be
filed following the Company's Annual General Meeting.
The auditor's reports on the accounts for both the 12 months to 31 December
2025 and 12 months to 31 December 2024 were unqualified and did not include a
statement under Section 498 (2) or (3) of the Companies Act 2006.
The Annual Report and Accounts will be available for Shareholders in April
2026.
New accounting standards, interpretations and amendments adopted by the
Group
The accounting policies adopted in the preparation of the condensed
consolidated preliminary results are consistent with those followed in the
preparation of the Group's annual consolidated financial statements for the
year ended 31 December 2025.
The Group has not early adopted any standard, interpretation or amendment that
has been issued but is not yet effective that has had a material impact on the
financial statements.
3. Segment reporting
All revenues disclosed are derived from external
customers.
The accounting policies of the reportable segments are the same as the Group's
accounting policies. Segment operating profit represents the profit earned by
each segment including allocation of central administration costs. This is the
measure reported to the Group's Board, the chief operating decision maker, for
the purpose of resource allocation and assessment of segment performance.
(a) Revenue, gross profit and operating profit by reportable
segment
Revenue Gross Profit
2025 2024 2025 2024
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
EMEA 863,858 946,755 409,936 462,450
Asia Pacific 215,231 231,842 120,572 126,455
Americas 282,775 279,825 147,886 149,181
United Kingdom 234,713 280,515 91,122 104,500
1,596,577 1,738,937 769,516 842,586
Operating Profit
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
EMEA 31,412 60,895
Asia Pacific (1,906) (8,345)
Americas 4,682 6,949
United Kingdom (13,323) (7,050)
Operating profit 20,865 52,449
Financial expense (4,638) (3,322)
Profit before tax 16,227 49,127
The above analysis by destination is not materially different to the analysis
by origin.
The analysis below is of the carrying amount of reportable segment assets,
liabilities and non-current assets. Segment assets and liabilities include
items directly attributable to a segment as well as those that can be
allocated on a reasonable basis. The individual reportable segments exclude
current income tax assets and liabilities. Non-current assets include
property, plant and equipment, computer software, goodwill and other
intangible assets.
(b) Segment assets, liabilities and non-current assets by
reportable segment
Total Assets Total Liabilities
2025 2024 2025 2024
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
EMEA 267,942 287,233 213,216 216,982
Asia Pacific 79,636 77,088 44,728 52,470
Americas 95,116 96,260 49,871 49,330
United Kingdom 110,515 171,491 51,883 65,715
Segment assets/liabilities 553,209 632,072 359,698 384,497
Income tax 22,520 18,023 1,404 3,189
575,729 650,095 361,102 387,686
Property, Plant & Equipment Intangible Assets
2025 2024 2025 2024
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
EMEA 17,602 16,607 1,965 1,889
Asia Pacific 3,385 4,295 4 13
Americas 5,446 6,710 7 9
United Kingdom 17,039 18,199 13,946 21,743
43,472 45,811 15,922 23,654
Right-of-use assets Lease liabilities
2025 2024 2025 2024
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
EMEA 70,021 74,027 76,247 78,025
Asia Pacific 11,384 9,980 12,002 16,728
Americas 12,826 11,538 14,536 13,269
United Kingdom 22,639 25,166 29,469 28,768
116,870 120,711 132,254 136,790
The below analyses in notes (c) and (d) relates to the requirement of IFRS 15
to disclose disaggregated revenue by streams and region.
(c) Revenue and gross profit generated from permanent and
temporary placements
Revenue Gross Profit
2025 2024 2025 2024
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Permanent 556,247 610,889 551,233 605,865
Temporary 1,040,330 1,128,048 218,283 236,721
1,596,577 1,738,937 769,516 842,586
(d) Revenue generated from permanent and temporary placements by
reportable segment
Permanent Temporary
2025 2024 2025 2024
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
EMEA 268,296 310,496 595,562 636,259
Asia Pacific 103,058 107,768 112,173 124,074
Americas 120,381 121,903 162,394 157,922
United Kingdom 64,512 70,722 170,201 209,793
556,247 610,889 1,040,330 1,128,048
The below analysis in note (e) revenue and gross profit by discipline (being
the professions of candidates placed) has been included as additional
disclosure over and above the requirements of IFRS 8 "Operating Segments".
(e) Revenue and gross profit by discipline
Revenue Gross Profit
2025 2024 2025 2024
£'000 £'000 £'000 £'000
Accounting and Financial Services 588,519 656,048 267,304 280,564
Technology 260,424 278,896 93,004 107,152
Legal, HR, Secretarial and Other 238,220 267,805 115,614 135,858
Engineering, Property & Construction, Procurement & Supply Chain 361,513 379,407 189,499 208,932
Marketing, Sales and Retail 147,901 156,781 104,095 110,080
1,596,577 1,738,937 769,516 842,586
4. Financial income / (expenses)
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Financial income
Interest receivable 1,580 2,170
Financial expenses
Interest payable (1,145) (834)
Interest on lease liabilities (5,073) (4,658)
(6,218) (5,492)
5. Taxation
The tax charge for the year was £7.2m (2024: £20.7m). This represented an
effective tax rate of 44.4% (2024: 42.1%). The rate is higher than the
effective UK rate for the calendar year of 25.0% (2024: 25.0%), due primarily
to the impact of irrecoverable overseas withholding taxes and permanent
differences, which have a disproportionate impact due to the reduction in
profits compared to the prior year. The prior year rate was significantly
impacted by the one off derecognition of certain deferred tax assets.
In 2025, the tax rate was impacted primarily by irrecoverable overseas
withholding taxes and differing overseas tax rates of 22.1%, other permanent
differences of 9.8%, offset against other tax movements (5.5%) and prior year
adjustments of (7.0%).
As at 31 December 2025, PageGroup's deferred tax assets were £28.5m (2024:
£18.1m) and its deferred tax liabilities were £0.7m (2024: £0.6m).
The tax charge for the year reflects the Group's tax strategy, which is
aligned to business goals. It is PageGroup's policy to pay its fair share of
taxes in the countries in which it operates and deal with its tax affairs in a
straightforward, open and honest manner. The Group's tax strategy is set out
in detail on our website in the Investor section under "Responsibilities".
UK deferred tax assets
The Group has recognised deferred tax assets of £8.7m (2024: £0.3m) in the
UK, primarily in respect of losses. These losses were mainly generated during
the current year due to challenging trading conditions and non-recurring
restructuring costs incurred by the Group. These losses can be carried forward
indefinitely and are able to be utilised against future profits generated in
the UK.
The Group has reviewed the latest forecasts, based on the most recent
financial budget and management projections, in order to assess the likelihood
of the losses being utilised within a reasonably foreseeable timeframe. Due to
the structure of the Group, changes in profitability of the operating entities
globally can significantly impact the UK's profitability. Based on various
scenarios applied to the Group, utilising differing levels of growth, the
forecast recovery period is between three and eleven years, with the average
utilisation period being six years. UK law restricts the amount of losses that
can be used in any given year to 50% of the in-year profits, over a de minimis
threshold of £5m, which contributes to the extended period of utilisation.
As such, the Group concluded it is probable that the UK business will generate
sufficient taxable profits against which we can utilise these losses.
6. Dividends
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Amounts recognised as distributions to equity holders in the year:
Final dividend for the year ended 31 December 2024 of 11.75p per ordinary 36,879 35,211
share (2023: 11.24p)
Interim dividend for the year ended 31 December 2025 of 5.36p per ordinary 16,689 16,793
share (2024: 5.36p)
53,568 52,004
Amounts proposed as distributions to equity holders in the year:
Proposed final dividend for the year ended 31 December 2025 of 3.21p per 9,995 36,803
ordinary share (2024: 11.75p)
The proposed final dividend had not been approved by the Board at 31 December
and therefore has not been included as a liability.
The proposed final dividend of 3.21p (2024: 11.75p) per ordinary share will be
paid on 17 June 2026 to shareholders on the register at the close of business
on 15 May 2026.
7. Share-based payments
In accordance with IFRS 2 "Share-based Payment", a charge of £3.7m has been
recognised for share options and other share-based payment arrangements
(excluding social charges) (31 December 2024: £2.7m).
8. Earnings per ordinary share
The calculation of the basic and diluted earnings per share is based on the
following data:
Earnings 2025 2024
Earnings for basic and diluted earnings per share (£'000) 9,017 28,443
Number of shares
Weighted average number of shares used for basic earnings per share ('000) 312,322 314,038
Dilution effect of share plans ('000) 924 1,068
Diluted weighted average number of shares used for diluted earnings per share 313,246 315,106
('000)
Basic earnings per share (pence) 2.9 9.1
Diluted earnings per share (pence) 2.9 9.0
The above results relate to continuing operations.
9. Property, plant and equipment
Acquisitions and Disposals
During the year ended 31 December 2025 the Group acquired property, plant and
equipment with a cost of £10.0m (2024: £15.7m).
10. Trade and other receivables
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Current
Trade receivables 225,331 234,948
Less allowance for expected credit losses (12,376) (11,660)
Net trade receivables 212,955 223,288
Other receivables 7,038 8,404
Accrued income 68,045 68,716
Prepayments 14,534 14,849
302,572 315,257
Non-current
Other Receivables 14,502 13,164
11. Trade and other payables
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Current
Trade payables 7,331 15,110
Other tax and social security 47,727 47,555
Other payables 29,638 37,111
Accruals 121,174 129,684
205,870 229,460
Non-current
Other tax and social security 2,016 1,196
Accruals and other payables 13,326 9,230
15,342 10,426
12. Cash and cash equivalents
2025 2024
£'000 £'000
Cash at bank and in hand 31,376 95,348
Short-term deposits - -
Cash and cash equivalents 31,376 95,348
Cash and cash equivalents in the statement of cash 31,376 95,348
flows
The Group operates multi-currency cash concentration and notional cash pools.
Through the cash concentration arrangement, cash is swept between the Group's
Treasury centre in the UK and subsidiaries from most of mainland Europe,
Mexico (USD only), Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan. In addition, the
Group maintains an auto cash sweep arrangement in the US with manual sweep
between the US and UK. The multi-currency notional cash pool is held at the
Treasury centre. In this way, cash from 85% of the Group (by revenue) is
managed at the Treasury centre. The structures facilitate interest
compensation of cash whilst supporting working capital requirements.
PageGroup maintains a Confidential Invoice Facility with HSBC whereby the
Group has the option to discount invoices in order to advance cash on its
receivables. The facility is used only ad hoc in case the Group needs to fund
any major GBP cash outflow. The facility was undrawn as at 31 December 2025.
13. Annual General Meeting
The Annual General Meeting of PageGroup plc will be held at 200 Dashwood Lang
Road, Addlestone, Surrey, KT15 2NX on 28 May 2026 at 9.30am.
14. Publication of Annual Report and Accounts
This preliminary statement is not being posted to shareholders. The Annual
Report and Accounts will be posted to shareholders in due course and will be
delivered to the Registrar of Companies following the Annual General Meeting
of the Company.
Copies of the Annual Report and Accounts can be downloaded from the Company's
website:
https://www.page.com/presentations/year/2025
(https://www.page.com/presentations/year/2025%20%0d)
Responsibility statement of the Directors on the annual
report
The responsibility statement below has been prepared in connection with the
Company's full annual report for the year ending 31 December 2025. Certain
parts of the annual report are not included within this announcement.
We confirm that, to the best of our knowledge:-
a) that the consolidated financial statements, prepared in accordance with
UK-adopted international accounting standards, give a true and fair view of
the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit of the Parent Company
and undertakings included in the consolidation taken as a whole; and
b) the management report, which is incorporated into the Directors' Report,
includes a fair review of the development and performance of the business and
the position of the Company and the undertakings included in the consolidation
taken as a whole, together with a description of the principal risks and
uncertainties they face.
On behalf of the Board
N Kirk K Stagg
Chief Executive Officer Chief Financial Officer
4 March 2026 4 March 2026
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