Michael Page reports fall in profits The white-collar recruiter reported an 11.4pc fall in pre-tax profits in the first six months of the year to £32m, compared with the same period last year. Group revenue was up 0.1cent to £503.2m, however, at constant exchange rates it was down 0.9pc. In Europe, Middle East and Africa, its largest division representing 41pc of gross profit, revenue fell 5.8pc at constant exchange rates. Around half of this comes from its permanent recruitment businesses in France and Germany, which the firm said continued to be impacted by wider euro zone issues. In Britain, around a quarter of the group, its revenue and gross profit were broadly flat, with hiring trends in sectors such as digital and the public sector the strongest. The downturn in the mining and commodities sector hit the group's Australia business, which reported a 20pc fall in profits. Steve Ingham, chief executive officer of PageGroup, said: "With difficult conditions likely to continue in several markets and as this is the seasonally quieter summer period in both Continental Europe and the UK, we expect Q3 will be another challenging quarter." The company also announced it had cut its headcount by 144 - the equivalent of 2.8pc of its workforce - since the start of the year, mostly from operational support jobs. Shares in the recruiter were down 4.1pc in early trading on Tuesday.