Speculation that Adecco may be about to launch a bid for Hays is “the marriage rumour that never dies”, according to Tim Evans (pictured left), director at Boxington Corporate Finance.

Evans’ comments to Recruiter came after Friday’s Daily Mail market report suggested that Adecco could be lining up a £2.2bn or 160p-a-share cash bid. This is not the first time such a rumour has occurred.

Evans continues: “If there is any truth in it, it is because Adecco feels that possible competitive bids in the sector are relatively weak in balance sheet terms.

“In the event of an offer, Adecco will be more worried about BPO [business process outsourcing] and IT solutions businesses who, arguably have more synergies than a recrutment company would.”

Adecco analyst Chris Burger at Helvea in Zurich told Recruiter he didn’t believe there was any truth behind the rumour. “Of course Adecco wants to strengthen its professional staffing business but at the moment Hays is too big. Adecco recently bought MPS [in 2009] and will be integrating MPS.

“It is too early and Hays is exposed to the UK market. And I am not sure Adecco is interested in the UK market.

“At the moment I expect they will do some bolt-on acquisitions of professional players but also in more fragmented markets like the US and emerging markets like Germany.”

Burger understood that Adecco has a €150m (£133m) war chest, which he noted was less than Hays would cost. Adecco could conceivably buy Hays if it was prepared to issue some new shares, he said.