"Strong growth for Adecco Australia, extra boost from MPS"
10 November 2010 12:25pm
shortlist.net.au
Adecco Australia and New Zealand posted healthy sales and profit growth in the September quarter.
Revenue was up 25% organically to €117 million ($A168.7m), and EBITA was €5 million ($A6.7 million), up 91%.
Gross margin increased 31% organically during the quarter and perm sales alone were up 55%.
Including the contribution from property recruitment specialist Judd Farris, part of the recently acquired MPS Group, total sales rose 35%, and perm sales increased by 189%.
Australia and New Zealand CEO Jeff Doyle told Shortlist Adecco's EBITA margin during the quarter was 4%, but when the costs of its company-wide systems upgrade were excluded, this figure rose to 4.6%.
Doyle said the office and industrial business was one of the standout performers during the quarter, with sustained growth in both temp and perm staffing.
New Zealand also had a successful quarter, he said.
"It's starting to perform very strongly now, which is great to see in what is still a pretty tough environment over there. It would say to me that [the NZ business is] out there taking market share."
Ajilon, the IT consulting business, also recorded another good performance, Doyle added.
"It's a bloody good result while we continue to transform the business. We won't get the benefits of the [transformation] projects until the end of next year, but that's well in place."