Results for the quarter, released this morning, reveals overall group revenue declined 2% year-on-year down to €5.92bn (£5.4bn) from €6.05bn in the same quarter last year, while gross profit increased 2% to €1.13bn from €1.11bn.

Revenue growth was strongest in the group’s Japan operation (up 12% year-on-year), while the biggest decline in revenue was recorded in the Germany, Austria, Switzerland (DACH) region (down 14% on the previous year). In the UK & Ireland, the group saw a 1% decline and flat revenue growth in its general staffing and professional staffing divisions respectively.

Group CEO Alain Dehaze said the results demonstrate the further strong execution of the group’s strategy: “Despite the external headwinds, we continued to deliver consistent underlying margin expansion and improved productivity. We increased gross margins for the fourth consecutive quarter, supported by a focus on higher value solutions, the roll-out of value-based pricing tools and tighter labour markets.

“Organic revenue growth slowed in the quarter, driven mainly by Europe. This partly reflected robust growth in the same period of the prior year, and also continued weakness in automotive and manufacturing sectors in many European economies. We see the year-on-year comparison base becoming less challenging as the second half progresses, given the slowdown in the European economy in the late summer of 2018.”

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