AMSTERDAM: Dutch employment services group Randstad Holding NV posted a 26 percent rise in fourth-quarter core earnings on Thursday, slightly ahead of forecasts, and said growth had picked up in the first months of 2015.
Earnings before interest, taxation, amortisation (EBITA) rose to 199 million euros ($227 million), the company said in a statement, helped mainly by improved business in North America and the Netherlands.
That topped the 192 million euros in underlying EBITA forecast by analysts polled by Reuters.
Revenue rose 5 percent to 4.5 billion euros, in line with forecasts.
"What we saw in Q4 was that growth in the US continued to gain momentum. In Europe, the Dutch market was stronger," Chief Financial Officer Robert Jan van de Kraats said in an interview.
Looking at the first two months of 2015, he said "organic growth was up 6.5 percent in January and it looks like volumes in February were about the same level".
The world's second-largest jobs company by sales after Swiss-based Adecco SA, Randstad said that in January revenue held steady at 6 percent growth in North America and accelerated to 11 percent in the Netherlands, compared to 5 percent growth in the fourth quarter.
Employment services companies are considered a good indicator of economic trends because they track the hiring practices of businesses.
In Germany, where Randstad is the largest employment agency with roughly 10 percent market share, sales slipped one percent in the fourth quarter, while core earnings dropped 10 percent, which Van der Kraats said was due to higher wage costs.
Sales in France fell by 8 percent in the fourth quarter and were down 1 percent in January "implying improved conditions" this year, Randstad said.
Randstad shares were up 5 percent at the opening and were trading up 4.5 percent at 50.09 euros at 0805 GMT
Comments
Comments are closed.