RWA, STEM, PAGE: Stocks to eye on amid slowing UK hiring

Highlights

• UK’s employers slowed their recruitment process through recruitment agencies by the most in 17 months in July amidst uncertainty over the economy.
• The Bank of England recently raised the borrowing cost for the sixth consecutive month to 1.75%, making it the biggest rise in 27 years.
• The central bank expects inflation to rise even further to 13% in October, with the recession hitting late 2022 and early 2023.

According to a recent survey, the most of the UK’s employers have slowed their recruitment process in July amidst uncertainty over the economy. According to the recent report by KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), Brexit, ongoing skills shortages, and hesitancy from workers to move jobs in economic uncertainties all led to a tighter supply of qualified staff. 

The Bank of England recently raised the borrowing cost for the sixth consecutive month to 1.75%, making it the biggest rise in 27 years. The central bank also expects inflation to rise even further to 13% in October, with the recession to hit between late 2022 and early 2023. This means that the UK economy will see the most prolonged downturn for the UK economy since the 2008 financial crisis.

The survey further revealed that the new vacancies fell to a 16-month low. Further, the supply of candidates to fill jobs, too witnessed a fall since April 2021.

Kalkine Media deep drives into three FTSE listed recruitment stocks that you may keep an eye on. 

Robert Walters Plc (LON: RWA) 

The UK-based recruitment company, Robert Walters Plc, engaged in placing professionals into a contract, permanent and temporary positions. The company’s share was experiencing a drop of 1.51% at 13:06 (GMT+1) on Friday and were trading at GBX 522.00. The FTSE All-Share listed firm currently has a market cap of £407.42 million, with EPS standing at 0.46. As of 5 August, Robert Walters Plc has given negative returns of -19.69% and -32.21% to its shareholders on an annual and YTD basis, respectively.

Sthree Plc (LON: STEM) 

An international specialist staffing company, Sthree Plc’s share, was experiencing a drop of 0.93% at 13:10 (GMT+1) on Friday and were trading at GBX 372.00. The FTSE All-Share listed firm currently has a market cap of £502.32 million, with EPS standing at 0.32. As of 5 August, Sthree Plc has given negative returns of -25.15% and -19.50% to its shareholders on an annual and YTD basis, respectively.

PageGroup Plc (LON: PAGE) 

The British-based recruitment company PageGroup Plc engaged in recruitment consultancy and other ancillary services. The company’s share was experiencing a drop of 0.95% at 13:06 (GMT+1) on Friday and were trading at GBX 457.20. The FTSE 250 listed firm currently has a market cap of £1,516.90 million, with EPS standing at 0.37. As of 5 August, PageGroup Plc has given negative returns of -25.11% and -27.83% to its shareholders on an annual and YTD basis, respectively.

Note: The above content constitutes a very preliminary observation or view based on market trends and is of limited scope without any in-depth fundamental valuation or technical analysis. Any interest in stocks or sectors should be thoroughly evaluated taking into consideration the associated risks.