Recruiter Pagegroup reports higher first-half profit

(Reuters) - Global recruitment firm PageGroup Plc <PAGE.L> on Wednesday reported higher first-half pretax profit, boosted by a rise in hiring from Europe, the Middle East and Africa region.

The company, which focuses on placing candidates mainly in permanent rather than temporary jobs, said profit rose 10.9% to 74.6 million pounds in the six-month period ended June 30, while gross profit from the UK fell 0.3%.

(Reporting by Samantha Machado in Bengaluru)