Increased profits from two of the world’s largest temporary staffing providers provided investors with some reassurance that the sector could be on the route to recovery.

Both sales and net income rose at Manpower in its third quarter, with revenue growing by 11% to $3.2bn and a profit increase of 8% to $43.8m, compared with the same quarter in 2002. On a constant currency basis, however, revenue increased by a more modest 2%.

Chairman and chief executive Jeffrey Joerres said that his outlook for the current quarter was “cautiously optimistic”, but that his definition of this was evolving.

“This time last year we saw a similar upturn in business, but it dropped off in the New Year,” Joerres told Recruiter. “We’ll wait until the second half of this quarter to see whether it’s a real upturn or just a cycle within a cycle.”

The story at Adecco was fairly similar. The company’s net income increased by some 30% to €104m, compared with €80m in the third quarter of 2002.

Group revenue declined by 3%, to €4.2bn, but increased 2% on a constant currency basis.

Adecco continued to reduce its operating costs – this period by 9% – building on reductions it made in the first and second quarter of this year. Since the beginning of 2003, the company has cut staff and trimmed back its branch network.

The UK was one of Adecco’s best performing regions, with sales up 5% on the same period in 2002, and profits ahead of last year. Sales in Adecco’s staffing divisions in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Belgium declined.