Recruitment firm PageGroup has revealed that its profits plummeted over the first half of the year after it was hit by a wide slowdown in hiring.
The company also cut more than 200 jobs across its operations amid efforts to improve its finances.
Shares in the business moved lower in early trading after it also posted a slump in revenues.
Bosses at the company said it came after it reported a “slight deterioration” in activity, particularly in Germany and France.
PageGroup revealed that pre-tax profits sank by 99% to £0.2 million over the six months to June 30, compared with a £27.7 million profit a year earlier.
The London-listed firm said the sharp fall in profits was partly linked £13 million in one-off costs linked to restructuring efforts.
In April, the company revealed plans to cut senior manager jobs as part of an overhaul designed to reduce costs.
On Tuesday, the group said it reduced its headcount of fee-earner roles by 207 to 5,163 at the end of June as it responded to “more challenging trading conditions”.
It said the majority of job cuts took place in its European business and in the UK.
It also revealed that revenues fell by 11.1% to £798.4 million for the half-year.
Nicholas Kirk, chief executive officer, said: “The group delivered a resilient performance in H1 despite ongoing macro-economic uncertainty.
“Whilst activity levels remained robust across most of our markets, we experienced a slight deterioration in activity levels and trading in continental Europe towards the end of the period, particularly in our two largest markets, France and Germany.
“Elsewhere, we saw some improvement in activity, trading and customer confidence in Asia and the US.”
Shares in PageGroup were down 3% on Tuesday morning.
