The results, released this morning, reveal gross profit was up to €1.193bn (£1.07bn) from €1.191bn in the same quarter of last year, though revenue fell from €6.02bn to €5.95bn over the same period.

Across the group’s international operations, its biggest increase in revenue was recorded in its ‘Rest of World’ division - with revenue up 10% from €489bn to €520bn, while the largest decline in revenues was witnessed in Germany - down 15% from €616bn to €512bn year-on-year. In the UK, revenue was flat.

Commenting on the group’s performance, CEO Jacques van den Broek pointed to a “solid” set of results with robust gross margins and balanced cost management offsetting ongoing challenging macroeconomic conditions in Europe.

“Our organic revenue growth turned slightly negative, reflecting slowing market growth in particularly Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, mainly related to weakness in automotive-related industries,” Van den Broek said.

“We continued to gain market share in several countries, while maintaining strong pricing discipline. Our sound regional diversification continued to pay off, as Asia Pacific and the Latin America region delivered significant contributions to our growth and profitability.

“Furthermore, our digital strategy progressed well, reflected by a successful worldwide cloud migration and implementation of a new front-office system in Germany and Japan. These new systems enable our sales and recruiting colleagues to focus even more on the human touch.”