Shortlist, 12 August 2010: Adecco's local business has posted a solid quarter, with revenue rising 13% organically to $152 million and EBITA of $3.5 million for the quarter.
The $3.5 million surplus was a substantial improvement over the result in the GFC-affected June quarter last year, when Adecco's Australian and NZ business were only marginally above break-even.
Local revenue was $A152 million, up 23% with currency impact, or 13% on an organic basis (excluding currency impact and acquisitions).
Adecco local CEO, Jeff Doyle said that the underlying business performance was even better than indicated by the $3.5 million EBITA, because this included a number of one off restructuring reductions.
Doyle told Shortlist there was a clear indication that the business was accelerating, with a 14% sequential increase in revenue in June, over the March quarter.
For the half year, local sales increased 16% to $295 million and gross margin rose 60 basis points. Half-year EBITA was up substantially to $A6.3 million.
Doyle said perm recruitment continued to be strong for the group, and standout performers during the quarter were Adecco Office, Adecco Industrial, Judd Farris and Ajilon.
He said Adecco would continue with the back office transformation process he started not long after taking over as CEO. The return on the investment in systems and development would really start to flow through in calendar 2011, he said.
Globally, Adecco's revenues bounced back 13% on an organic basis, to EUR 4.6 billion, and EBITA before integration costs was EUR 175 million (up 46% organically). Net profit was EUR 97 million.
Global chief executive, Patrick de Maeseneire, said business conditions improved progressively throughout the quarter in all Adecco's key markets.
He said the professional staffing business had returned to growth in the second quarter and the temp staffing business had stabilised.
De Maeseneire said June revenue growth was the strongest in the quarter (16%) and this trend had continued into July, and to date, Adecco had seen no evidence of a slow down and demand remained robust across all key markets.