Thank you and, good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us at short notice this morning. We'd like to welcome you to the PageGroup first quarter trading update. I'm Kelvin Stagg, Chief Financial Officer, and on the call with me is Steve Ingham, Chief Executive Officer. Although I will not read it through, I'd just like to make reference to the legal formalities that are covered in the Cautionary Statement in the appendix for this presentation, and which will also be available on our website following the call. The improvement in trading conditions we experienced in 2021 continued into the first quarter of 2022. Consequently, the Group delivered gross profit of GBP 258.2 million, another record quarter for the Group. Against 2021, we grew 42.6% in constant currencies.
To remind you, the impact of COVID-19 remained significant in Q1 2021, when we were down 10% compared to 2019, albeit exiting down only 2% in March. Despite this, in Q1 2022, even against 2019 pre-pandemic levels, we still grew 28.3%. We delivered a record performance in March, our first month with over GBP 100 million of gross profit. This helped to deliver an improvement in productivity of 18% on Q1 2021. Reflecting the continued improvement in trading conditions, in Q1, we increased our fee earner headcount by 345. This was marginally above the level of fee earner headcount investment we made in Q3 and Q4 of 2021. To support this growth, our non-operational headcount rose by 105, and as such, our ratio of fee earners to non-operational staff remained at 78/22.
Overall, the Group had 6,427 fee earners and a total headcount of 8,288. We have a strong balance sheet with net cash at the end of March of around GBP 122 million. This compares to GBP 154 million at the end of 2021, having paid our annual and quarterly bonuses in January, as well as having purchased GBP 15 million worth of shares for the Employee Benefit Trust in Q1. I will now give a brief financial review. In line with previous quarters, trading was stronger in permanent recruitment compared to temporary. Overall, permanent recruitment grew 46.3% against 2021, with temporary up 31%. Reflecting this, our ratio of permanent to temporary gross profit was 78/22, broadly in line with Q4 2021.
In Michael Page, permanent recruitment represented 85% of gross profit, while in Page Personnel it was less, at 60%. Michael Page continued to be more resilient across both permanent and temporary recruitment, reflecting the more favorable conditions and stronger trading in higher income roles. However, it was encouraging to see an improvement in Page Personnel towards the end of the quarter as offices reopened in many of our markets. Our five large high potential geographic markets of Germany, Greater China, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and the U.S. continued to deliver standout results. Collectively, they represented 38% of the Group and grew 49%. Germany, Latin America, and the U.S. all delivered record quarters, with Southeast Asia and Greater China delivering strong results despite the recent COVID lockdowns in mainland China impacting growth in March.
We now have over 2,500 fee earners in these five markets, which compares to around 800 in 2010 as we recovered from the Global Financial Crisis. Our high potential disciplines of technology and healthcare and life sciences continue to be among the strongest performing, and technology remains our second-largest discipline. Reflecting the improvement in trading conditions, we continued to invest in our platform. In Q1, we added 345 fee earners. This investment was in the markets where we saw the strongest growth as well as the highest potential for the future. Our fee earner headcount of 6,427 at the end of Q1 was a record for the Group. To support growth, our non-operational headcount rose by 105 in Q1, and as such, our ratio of fee earners to non-operational headcount remained at 78/22.
Despite this investment in headcount, we still delivered an improvement in productivity of 18% on Q1 2021. This fee earner headcount and gross profit chart shows the unprecedented scale of the decline in Group gross profit in 2020 due to COVID-19 and the comparison to the Global Financial Crisis in 2008. It also shows how we chose strategically to maintain and invest in our headcount, which has driven the sharp recovery seen in 2021 and now into Q1 2022. In 2009, our fee earner headcount reduced by 1,139 or 31% from a lower base of 3,654 at the end of 2000. During 2020, our fee earner headcount reduced significantly less, down 882 or 15%.
I will now hand you over to Steve for a regional review and a summary.
Thank you, Kelvin. The improvement in trading conditions we saw in 2021 continued into 2022. Overall, for the quarter, we grew 42.6% against 2021, a new record quarter for the Group. We saw strong double-digit growth in all four regions, with the Americas being our fastest growing. 19 individual countries delivered record quarters. We delivered a new record for the Group in March, which was the first month of gross profit in excess of GBP 100 million. Our five large high-potential geographies of Germany, Greater China, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and the U.S. delivered standout results, growing 49% collectively. Compared to the Q1 2019 pre-pandemic gross profit, the Group delivered growth of 28.3%, progressing from the 24.2% we saw in Q4.
In our largest region, Europe, Middle East and Africa, which represented 50% of the Group, we grew 41.1% on Q1 2021. Overall conditions continued to be more favorable in Michael Page, which is focused on higher income permanent recruitment and was up 45% for the quarter. Conditions were more challenging in Page Personnel, which is focused on lower-level recruitment with a higher proportion of temporary and was up 36% overall. However, they improved throughout the quarter. France, which represented 13% of the Group, grew 30%, delivering a record quarter. Page Personnel, representing around 60% of France, was up 28%. Michael Page, which has been more resilient through the pandemic, grew 33%. Germany, the Group's third-largest market, now representing 11% of the Group, delivered another record quarter, up 56%, with strong growth in all three brands.
Our primarily technology-focused Michael Page Interim business was the best performing, up 65%. We now have over 600 fee earners in Germany, having added over 100 in the past 12 months, which positions us well for ongoing growth in this large high-potential market. Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain all delivered strong growth, and 10 countries in the region delivered record quarters. In Asia Pacific, representing 19% of the Group, Q1 gross profit grew 35.8% from 2021. In Asia, 15% of the Group, we grew 40% with strong double-digit growth across all countries. In Greater China, 7% of the Group, we grew 23%. Mainland China was up 18% despite the impact of the recent lockdowns. Hong Kong, which has been slower to recover than other markets in the region, was up 37%.
Southeast Asia, our other large high-potential market in the region, delivered strong growth of 56%, with record performances in Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines. India, which represents 11% of Asia, delivered another record quarter, up 79%, and we now have around 200 fee earners in this market. Japan, with a similar number of fee earners, grew 47%. Australia, also with a similar number of fee earners, grew 22% in Q1, with March being the best month in 10 years. Performance during the quarter was particularly strong in Melbourne and Canberra. The Americas, representing 17% of the Group, was our fastest growing region in Q1, with growth of 56.6%. In the U.S., the improvements in trading conditions seen in the second half of 2021 continued into Q1, which was up 60%.
This represented a strong quarter with strong results in all offices, though most significantly in Boston and Houston. There was good growth across all disciplines with strong performances from property and construction, our largest discipline in the U.S., as well as technology. In Latin America, gross profit grew 51%, delivering a record quarter. Mexico, our largest country in the region, had a record quarter up 52%, and Brazil grew 47%. The remaining countries in the region were up 53% collectively, with record quarters for Colombia, Argentina and Panama. In the U.K., which represented 14% of the Group, gross profit grew 43.4%. Page Personnel, which operates at lower salary levels and was more impacted by the pandemic, grew 70%, while Michael Page grew 36%. I will now provide a summary of our results. The growth we saw in 2021 continued into 2022.
Group gross profit was up 42.6% against 2021, with a strong broad-based performance across all of our geographies, disciplines and brands. We delivered another record quarter for the group with record performances in 19 countries. We exited the quarter strongly in March, which was a record month and the first time the Group has delivered gross profit in excess of GBP 100 million. This ongoing improvement in Q1 was seen throughout the Group and was achieved despite the backdrop of macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, as well as continued COVID-19 restrictions in certain markets. We believe that our strategy of maintaining and investing in our platform throughout the pandemic by investing in experienced hires and focusing on technology and innovation have been key to us achieving these outstanding results. We delivered strong levels of productivity, which is up 18% on Q1 2021.
This was driven by our investment strategy as well as favorable trading conditions. These include wage inflation and increased fee rates due to high demand for and short supply of candidates, as well as the shorter time to hire, facilitated by video interviewing and investments in new systems. We continue to invest in headcount to ensure we're able to capitalize on future growth opportunities in Q1. In Q1, we added 345 fee earners, with the most significant increases in the markets where we saw the highest growth. We focused on productivity, and during the quarter we successfully implemented Customer Connect, our global operating system in France, as well as four of our countries in Latin America. We will complete the rollout of this system with the go lives in Brazil, Mexico and Panama in Q2.
We remain highly cash generative and ended the quarter with net cash of around GBP 122 million. PageGroup has minimal exposure to either Russia or Ukraine. However, we're acutely aware of the human suffering this war has brought and are committed to supporting refugees, particularly into suitable employment where we can. We're already working with RefuAid in providing sustainable solutions to employment for refugees in the U.K. Looking ahead, there continues to be a high degree of global macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty. However, we maintain our focus on being the leading specialist recruiter in each of the markets in which we operate. We're pleased with the Group's performance in Q1 and most notably, our new record for the Group in March.
At this early stage in the year, we currently expect 2022 operating profit to be slightly ahead of company-compiled consensus of GBP 202 million. As announced separately today, having consulted with me, the nomination committee has decided that now is the right time to commence the process to identify my successor, and I've indicated my support for their decision. I've been privileged to lead PageGroup over the last 16 years, and I'm immensely proud of everything we've achieved together. While the process is ongoing, I'll continue to pursue relentlessly our vision, and will look forward to handing over the reins of this incredible company to my successor in due course. Kelvin and I will now be happy to take any questions you may have.
Of course, if you'd like to ask a question via the telephone lines, you can do so by pressing star followed by one on your telephone keypad. If you've joined us online, please click the Request to Speak flag icon. If you choose to withdraw your question, please press star followed by two. When preparing to ask your question, please ensure your phone is unmuted locally. As a reminder, that's star followed by one on your telephone keypad now. Our first question comes from Anvesh Agrawal of Morgan Stanley. Anvesh, your line is now open.
Hi. Good morning. I got three questions, if I can. First, I mean, it's pretty clear that the geopolitical uncertainty so far didn't have any impact on the Group. But how are you thinking about headcount addition as we go ahead? Are you still sort of planning to continue to add heads in Q2, Q3? The second question is if you can provide a bit more color on the exit rate. I mean, obviously the comps were tougher through the quarter, but have you seen the sequential improvement continuing from January, February and March? Finally, some more color on China would be great. What sort of an impact you're seeing from the lockdowns and how's the situation there?
Yeah, good morning. Yes, I can handle that quite clearly I think. Look, if we continue to grow at this rate, 42%, then we are gonna struggle to sustain that without the higher headcount. That said, our primary focus is to continue to improve the productivity of the people that we have. There are a lot of people that have joined in the last year. The majority of people will not be at full productivity yet. Also the impact of the rollout of Customer Connect, which was throughout last year and is still happening today as we finish it. The impact and the benefits of a new CRM system won't be truly felt. Our primary focus is productivity.
I think it's realistic, you know, like I say, if we continue to grow at over 40%, which would be quite something, then we would have to hire similar levels to the numbers we hired last year into this year. That is with productivity going up first as our primary objective. In terms of the exit rate, I mean, it's math. You could work it out. We did in excess of GBP 100 million. That result in March is about 15% higher than we've ever achieved in a month before so q uite significant. Yes, I mean, January and February are very small months, but the growth rate has continued to improve, which is great to see.
The reality is with so much going on in the world, ranging from COVID, as we know over the last few years, to what's going on obviously in Ukraine and so on, inflation. I mean, things can change. At the moment, we're seeing absolutely no indication of that anywhere. You know, KPIs remain positive as we've gone into April. You know, looking forward, as much as we can tell, things are in good shape. We're definitely in good shape as a business, and prepared for hopefully any eventuality. In terms of China, I mean, look, I, the chap who actually runs the whole of China, who's in Hong Kong, has finally brought his family home to the U.K. for a break to see parents and so on.
I had a long chat to him over dinner about the situation. It is incredibly tough there, and I suppose the best way of sort of describing it is that really, this is the first time they've been in lockdown. Like it or not, we've had to get used to it elsewhere and, you know, we've been in and out of lockdowns here in the U.K., and we've sort of come to accept when we are in lockdown, we're in lockdown, and when we're not, we're not. This is the first time that China has really experienced it, plus the rules and the definition of what lockdown means in China is a little bit more significant than here. It is proving to be very tough on people.
I think there's been an initial shock, and there's no doubt about it. In mainland China, we've seen the business hesitate. That said, business does have to continue. There's a lot of consumers in China. We deal a lot with the local market now as well as the international market. I still believe that people will be looking to change jobs if they need to. At the moment, whilst there is a hesitation short term because of lockdowns, I'm sure like the rest of the world, they, like us, will be able to see through it and will continue to grow.
Okay. That's very clear. Congratulations, Steve, for the great strength, and hopefully we have a few more quarters with you still.
Thank you.
Thank you for your questions, Anvesh. As a reminder, if you'd like to submit a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad now. Our next question comes from Rory McKenzie of UBS. Rory, your line is now open.
Morning all. Just three from me, please. Firstly, can you just talk about wage inflation? Any. Your latest thoughts on what it's running at, whether it's continuing to improve sequentially versus last time we spoke. Secondly, in the U.K., you're talking about the kind of different mix of the different businesses. Can you say what that means for the overall labor market? You know, I think overall the U.K. maybe gross profit was a little bit lower this quarter, you know, compared to the 2019 level, than it was in the previous quarter. Lastly, Steve, can you just talk about the decision you've come to to leave the company you've been at for 35 years? You know, clearly it's in very good shape at the moment as these results show.
Was that important to you? Yeah, anything else that maybe you were thinking about as you decided now is the time to move on? Thank you.
Sure. Thank you for your three questions, the first on wage inflation. Look, it's difficult to be specific because it varies enormously from location to location and obviously from job type to job type. We see more wage inflation where demand is highest and supply is weakest. You know, if there is a specific skill set in technology, for example, or any other discipline, and there is shortage of candidates, then clients ultimately will potentially offer more money to persuade somebody to join them. That is the wage inflation that we see. We don't see the underlying challenges that companies see. Has it increased sequentially? Yes. I mean, the demand for candidates continues.
It's getting tougher and tougher to find candidates, which plays well into our hands because it means those clients that have got their own resourcing functions and so on are finding it more and more difficult and are having to outsource to meet their needs. Look, this continues to help us. We do see at times in the legal sector, in technology sector, to be honest, across many of them, we do see some incredible jumps in salary from what somebody's being paid currently to what they're getting when they move jobs. Excuse me. I mean, look, that can change, but at the moment it seems an ongoing challenge for companies, and it's something that we clearly benefit from. I'm not sure I totally understood the second question.
I don't think our GP is behind that of 2019 and we've just had our best quarter and month than we've had pre-Brexit vote. Actually, it's a significant step up for us, and I think what was noticeable was the improvement in Page Personnel where it's fair to say that with offices closed a lot of the time, low-level temps was not the first thing on a client's mind, and therefore our temp numbers in Page Personnel had dropped during the pandemic and are now starting to climb nicely. In terms of industry-
Sorry. Just clarify on the U.K. Comparing the gross profit, this quarter versus the equivalent quarter in 2019, it was up, I guess, 7% and the equivalent quarter from Q4 was up 14%. I know we're now looking kind of two versus three-year stacks. Yeah, just was interested on, you know, on the changing mix that you were talking about in Page Personnel, for example, recovering and whether that had any impact on that, the overall gross profit rate.
I'm still not quite sure I'm totally clear on it. Kelvin, are you in terms of the numbers that he's just come up with?
No, not necessarily. I mean, the U.K. is now growing, and it's clearly growing over last year when it was impacted pretty hard. The business that hadn't been growing was Page Personnel. Michael Page had moved ahead quite quickly. The Page Personnel business has got a much higher proportion of temp at lower level salaries. What we've seen probably over the last 18 months was that with people not working from offices, hiring low-level admin people on a temporary basis was difficult to manage on the day-to-day, and therefore the temp business in the U.K., as we saw in France, Page Personnel had been slow to recover.
We've now started to see those temp numbers building back up again and that business is now moving into more sort of flat, but hopefully later in the quarter into growth. Again, I'm not quite sure if that answered your question, but that's.
No, that's helpful color. I'll follow up on the numbers. Thank you.
Okay. On the third question. Look, well, three years ago, I had an accident and was confined to a wheelchair. I think it was accepted that I could do the job for the time being, whilst we focused on succession and started that process, and I continued to strengthen the executive board. Largely, I guess, because I had been in the business for 36 years and, from when the business was only 200, 240 people. Therefore, I know each of the countries we've opened. We've opened over half of them since I've been CEO. So, I know the different management teams. I've been very lucky to travel to them all.
I think therefore I could sustain the dialogue, particularly with the use of video. Then came COVID, and obviously, it didn't matter whether I was in a wheelchair or whatever, most CEOs were constrained on their travel. As markets start to open up now, you know, the nomination committee have seen the need for a CEO in Page to travel and engage with the local markets to make sure that they are in tune with, you know, the strategic challenges in each market and advise and so on. I concur with that decision. I think it's absolutely important. In 2018, I traveled to 26 countries and went into many offices in many of those countries all in a year. I cannot do that today.
You know, yes, it's a decision that the nomination committee have made. I'm comfortable with it. Well, all my career, I've been focused on developing those people beneath me, and I, you know, will continue to do that and make sure there's somebody ready to pick up the reins from me.
Thank you. Again, congratulations on all you achieved, and look forward to speaking again soon. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Rory. As a reminder, if you'd like to submit a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad now. Our next question comes from Thomas Truckle of Jefferies. Thomas, your line is now open.
Yes. Thank you both for today's presentation. Thomas Truckle here, just standing in on behalf of Kean Marden. I have two questions, if I may. The first of which is regarding Rory's question. You mentioned candidate shortages. I think the wording was it becoming tougher? I just wanted to clarify that. Are you seeing any abating in those candidate shortages or are they indeed, say, worsening sequentially? Secondly, just on Russia, Ukraine, obviously Q1 has been a very strong set of numbers, but have you seen any spillover into nearby geographies, particularly Poland and Germany? Many thanks.
No problem. Look, we wish Kean well with his recovery. First on candidate shortages, no, nothing's changed. I mean, it's still a challenge. Not in every market and in every discipline. There will be somewhere we have got good supply of candidates. In many, they're in short supply. There are pinch points, of course. You know, I mentioned those and they're reflected in the wage inflation we naturally see as a result. Certainly that's not changing at all. You know, clearly there are a lot of Ukrainians moving to other countries. Some of those candidates will create an opportunity for candidates, maybe with technology skills and so on.
Of course, we will do our best where possible to place them as well, to help as much as possible a difficult situation. With regards to Russia and Ukraine, y eah, I mean, it's one of the only countries we've closed in our history and we chose in 2014 to take that decision and pull out of Russia. Obviously, on reflection, we're glad that we did. We've very limited exposure. I mean, literally six or so jobs that were related to Russia in some way, which we are now not engaged with.
In terms of the migration of people obviously escaping from Ukraine, yes, I must admit, I drew the same conclusion as you, which is that surely it must impact some of the neighboring countries such as Poland, and we've kept a very close eye on it. The answer is, at the moment, no impact. Poland finished with a record March by quite some considerable way. Incredibly resilient, incredibly strong, and it's the most obvious market impacted. I forget. I suppose the next closest would be Germany. Well, you can see the results as we've highlighted them. Phenomenal achievement in Q1 and after a phenomenal set of results last year from Germany. At the moment, Thomas, no impact. That can change, but no impact at the moment.
Perfect. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Thomas. As a final reminder, if you wish to submit a question, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad now. That's star followed by one on your telephone keypad. We currently have no further questions. I'll hand back over to Steve Ingham for any closing remarks.
Yes, thank you. I think Easter has probably taken its toll on the audience. As there are no further questions, thank you all for joining us this morning. Our next update to the market will be our Q2 trading update on the 13th of July. Thanks, everyone.