(Reuters) -Randstad, the world’s largest employment agency, reported a quarterly core profit above market expectations on Wednesday, citing its resilient business model and robust underlying performance in difficult market conditions.
Financial and political upheaval in markets such as France, Germany and Britain has led employers to limit hiring and discouraged people from changing jobs. That, coupled with lower unemployment levels, has caused recruiters to put out gloomy forecasts and profit warnings in recent weeks.
“We took decisive action to strengthen the business – maintaining operational discipline, adapting the portfolio and reducing the cost base, while carefully balancing field capacity and strategic investments,” CEO Sander van’t Noordende said in the earnings statement.
Average headcount was down 4% organically in the fourth quarter of 2024 compared to a year earlier, Randstad said.
Its earnings before interest, taxes and amortization (EBITA) before one-offs was 200 million euros ($207 million) in the same period, above the 194 million expected by analysts on average in a company-provided consensus.
However, the company’s net result swung to a loss of 149 million euros in the quarter, hit by a goodwill impairment of 121 million euros related to the Sweden and Enterprise United Kingdom operating segments.
A fair value adjustment and impairments on its loans and financial commitments cost the group additional 139 million euros in the quarter, it said.
Randstad proposed a dividend of 1.62 euros per share to be paid for 2024.
($1 = 0.9654 euros)
(Reporting by Michal Aleksandrowicz in Gdansk; Editing by Milla Nissi)
