BUSINESS LIVE: PageGroup earnings slump on hiring slowdown

(PA) – Premium fashion brand AllSaints has reported a “record” financial performance for the latest year after seeing sales jump by a quarter.

The retailer, which is known for its leather jackets and biker boots, said its total revenue for the year to the end of January hit £390.9million, up 25% from £312.9million the previous year.

The jump in sales came as the group steamed ahead with international expansion with its first store opening in mainland China, in Shanghai, and others in Taiwan and South Korea.

AllSaints, which is headquartered in Shoreditch in London, has about 240 shops, concessions and outlets in countries around the world and hires more than 2,000 staff.

Its improved 2022 sales were helped by investment in a new digital platform, the firm said.

Chief executive Peter Wood also said it was focused on product development and “rigorous” inventory management, which paid off for its financial performance.

Across the wider group, which includes New York-based luxury menswear brand John Varvatos acquired in 2021, sales surged by 36% to £457million.

The company also revealed its operating profit nearly tripled over the period, to £28.5million from £10.1million the prior year.

Card Factory shares soared on Monday after the group defied a weaker economic backdrop to see trading surpass forecasts during the first half of the year.

The greetings card and gifts company told investors it now anticipates its annual performance to be ‘materially ahead’ of prior expectations.

Recruiter PageGroup slashed almost 450 jobs in the first half amid a 45 per cent decline in first-half profit as companies in Asia, the UK and the US cutback on hiring.

The group, which has its headquarters in Surrey and operates in 40 countries, said it cut 448 jobs, or 5 per cent of its global workforce, to cope with tough market conditions.

Almost 100 UK employees were sent home, or 7 per cent of its workforce in the country, as ‘more challenging trading conditions’ drove revenues 3.2 per cent lower.

LSL Property Services shares have tumbled almost 14 per cent after it warned that annual profit would be ‘substantially lower’ than previously forecast as rising interest rates hit demand for homes.

The group, which owns estate agents Your Move and Reeds Rains as well as mortgage adviser Primis, said that the ‘larger than expected interest rate increase’ by the Bank of England in June had a ‘material impact on the mortgage market’.

LSL expects revenue for this first half to have come in at around £104million in the six months to the end of June, down from £160.9million from the previous year, with underlying operating profit falling to £3.5million, from £14.2million.

The mortgage lending market in H2 remains highly uncertain, resulting in a wider range of possible outcomes for the Group than usual.

We now expect that there will be lower levels of Purchase and Remortgaging activity than previously forecast for the second half of the year, with this only partly offset by increased lower margin Product Transfers. This change in the mortgage market will significantly impact Surveying and will also affect Financial Services, although to a lesser extent.

Full year Group profits will now be substantially lower than previously expected. We continue to expect Group profits in the second half of the year to be an improvement on H1, reflecting a more typical split across the year.

Recruiter PageGroup slashed almost 450 jobs in the first half amid a 45 per cent decline in first-half profit as companies in Asia, the UK and the US cutback on hiring.

The group, which has its headquarters in Surrey and operates in 40 countries, said it cut 448 jobs, or 5 per cent of its global workforce, to cope with tough market conditions.

Almost 100 UK employees were sent home, or 7 per cent of its workforce in the country, as ‘more challenging trading conditions’ drove revenues 3.2 per cent lower.

Permanent staff appointments fell at the steepest pace for three years, according to the latest survey of 400 recruitment agencies from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC).

Agencies blamed a weaker economic climate and reduced market confidence for the hiring slowdown.

There were frequent reports of redundancies and hiring freezes, while competition for skilled workers and the increased cost of living continued to place upward pressure on rates of starting pay during July, the REC found.

Chief executive Neil Carberry said:

The jobs market overall remains fairly robust, with vacancies and pay still rising and unemployment low, but there is a sense in today’s report that the economy will need some growth soon to sustain this positive picture.

Permanent hiring has been slowing all year. To some extent this is normalisation as the post-pandemic boom abates, but it is also driven by uncertainty.

Hiring overall is still at a good level, and some sectors remain under pressure from significant labour shortages, including hospitality and construction.

(AP) – Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil giant Aramco made $30billion in profit in the second quarter, a nearly 40% decline from the same period the previous year, which it attributed to lower crude oil prices.

Total sales stood at just over 400 billion riyals (about $106billion), down from 562 billion riyals ($150billion) in the second quarter of 2022. In an earnings report filed with the Saudi stock exchange Monday, Aramco said the decrease “mainly reflected the impact of lower crude oil prices and weakening refining and chemicals margins.”

Last week, Fortune magazine ranked Aramco, officially known as the Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the second biggest company in the world by revenue, behind only Walmart and ahead of Amazon and Apple. That came after the oil company reported a profit of over $160billion in 2022, the largest ever recorded by a publicly traded firm.

Those kinds of earnings will come under heightened scrutiny later this year when the United Arab Emirates, another major oil producer, hosts annual U.N. climate talks aimed at getting the world to slash emissions and reduce its reliance on fossil fuels.

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.’