Adecco revenue growth halves as slowing economies impact hiring
Adecco today said its revenue growth slowed to two per cent in the third quarter as economic uncertainty took its toll on hiring.
The Swiss recruitment firm’s growth was down from four per cent in the three months to the end of June and slowed further to one per cent in September and October combined.
“As we communicated during our September investor seminar, trading in Q3 2018 was challenging, with growth slowing in a number of European markets,” said chief executive Alain Dehaze.
Despite this, Adecco recorded better-than-expected profits of €270m (£236m). The company, which specialises in temporary staffing, also saw a five per cent rise in revenue in France, its largest market.
But the growth figures mirror news that the Eurozone expansion rate has fallen to a four-year low.
Figures released by Eurostat indicated GDP growth in the region rose just 0.2 per cent in the third quarter, with analysts pointing to Italy’s stagnating economy as a major factor in the European slowdown.
Dehaze said: “Our businesses responded decisively to the slowdown in market growth, making the appropriate cost adjustments to protect our margin.
“And while ongoing strategic investments and the transformation of our German business impacted the headline Ebitda margin, we made good progress in improving underlying profitability.”