Recruiter PageGroup to slash leadership team in £15m cost-cutting drive

Recruitment giant Page Group is targeting £15 million in annual cost cuts in response to “challenging trading conditions”, partly by reducing the number of senior managers.

Chief executive Nicholas Kirk said the cuts come against “ongoing challenging trading conditions”, as the firm reported a 9.2% drop in profit for the first three months of 2025, compared with the previous year.

The profit of £194.2 million was also down 13% compared with the final quarter of last year, after the group said “subdued levels of client and candidate confidence impacted decision-making”.

PageGroup said it saw a slump in headcount of its fee-earning consultants to 5,296, down from 5,751 at the same point last year.

The firm is one of a raft of recruitment companies to have been knocked by the weak jobs market, after rival Robert Walters cut more staff earlier this year.

Mr Kirk added: “The conversion of interviews to accepted offers remained the most significant challenge, as ongoing macro-economic uncertainty continued to impact confidence, which extended time to hire.”

The industry has come under pressure from firms slowing down headhunting activity due to soaring cost pressures and uncertainty over the economic outlook.

PageGroup said it is targeting £15 million in annual savings from the cost-cutting measures.

Meanwhile, the London-listed company declined to give financial forecasts for the coming months because of uncertainty caused by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Mr Kirk said: “Against the ongoing challenging trading conditions, we have taken robust action to optimise the cost base by simplifying our management structure, reducing our leadership team and improving the efficiency of our business support functions – these actions will benefit the group from 2026 onwards.”

He added: “Despite the uncertain outlook due to the increasingly unpredictable economic environment, PageGroup has a highly diversified and adaptable business model, a strong balance sheet and our cost base is under continuous review.

“Given the recent introduction of tariffs and the resultant market uncertainty, we are not providing forward-looking guidance on business performance.”

Shares were down 2.9% in Wednesday morning trading.