Ides of March critical for Michael Page

Terry Benson, chief executive, said March would be a key month in order to see where things were headed.

The comments came as Michael Page, which returned to the market in a scaled back 650m(€1.07bn) flotation last March, reported a fall in pre-tax profits from 58m to 54m, after an exceptional charge of 6m, in the year to December 31.

Benson said all the company's markets remained difficult. The UK was the best performing, although conditions in the City of London and in IT and telecoms remained difficult. Conditions in the US were tough, while east Asia was linked to the health of the US economy.