April 15 (Reuters) - UK's PageGroup reported on Monday a nearly 13% drop in group gross profit in the first three months of 2024 due to slow hiring across its markets, and said job flows deteriorated toward the end of the quarter.

Global recruiters have flagged persistent challenges in the hiring market due to low confidence among employees and employers accompanied with a slowdown in the technology sector and slower recovery in China.

"Conversion of final interviews to accepted offers is still the most significant challenge, as candidate and client sentiment remains subdued reflecting the general macro-economic uncertainty in most of our markets," CEO Nicholas Kirk said in a statement.

The recruiter, which helps hire executives, professionals and clerical staff, reported group gross profit of 219.7 million pounds ($273.79 million), down 12.8% from a year-ago period.

The company said it exited the quarter with an 18% drop in March job flows.

($1 = 0.8024 pounds) (Reporting by Prerna Bedi and Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)