14th Jan 2021 10:30
(Alliance News) - Recruitment firm Hays PLC on Thursday said "trends improved" in its second quarter, though fees continued to fall annually as the Covid-19 pandemic continues to hurt the jobs market.
Fees fell 16% annually, or 19% like-for-like, in the second quarter ended December 31. The 19% like-for-like decline was slowed from a 29% plunge in the first quarter.
"Despite markets remaining significantly impacted by the pandemic, trends improved through the quarter in both Temp & Perm," Hays said.
Like-for-like net fees for temporary staff placements fell 13% annually in the second quarter and dropped 26% for permanent staff.
On the back of "stronger fees" Hays now expects first-half operating profit of around GBP25 million, though this would only be a quarter of the GBP100.1 million a year earlier.
By region, like-for-like net fees in Germany and the company's UK & Ireland arm had the largest plunges, each falling 20% in the second quarter. In Australia, they fell 19%. In the Rest of the World, they declined 16%.
Chief Executive Alistair Cox said: "Our markets remain significantly impacted by the pandemic, although encouragingly fees grew sequentially versus the prior quarter, with stronger momentum in both Temp and Perm. Activity in Australia increased after its local lockdown restrictions eased, and we saw improvement in Germany across the quarter with signs of increasing business confidence."
"It is too early to quantify any negative impacts of new UK and European lockdowns and, as ever, our New Year 'return to work' trends will be a key driver of second half performance. However, our business is rising to the challenges we face."
Hays shares were 2.5% higher at 144.90 pence each in London on Thursday morning.
By Eric Cunha; [email protected]
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