The results reveal revenue of €5.99bn (£5.06bn), down 1% from €6.1bn in Q4 2018, while GP was largely unchanged, coming in at €1.201bn, down from €1.207bn over the same period.

For the full year, the group posted revenue of €23.6bn, down from €23.8bn in Q4 2018 and gross profit of €4.72bn, up from €4.70bn in the fourth quarter of 2018.

The group’s stand out performer was its Rest of the World segment, which saw revenue growth of 9% on the same quarter last year, with 13% and 23% growth reported respectively in India and Latin America.

However, revenue was down 15% in Germany, and in the UK it was down 2% on the same quarter last year.

CEO Jacques van den Broek said: “Financially, 2019 was a challenging year, but we have been able to demonstrate our resilience once again. 

“Randstad's increasingly diversified portfolio by region and activity paid off. Our group revenue was slightly down year-on-year organically, reflecting ongoing macro and political uncertainties, primarily in Northern Europe. 

“At the same time, we continued our outperformance in several key geographies. Importantly, we were able to further improve our pricing power and discipline, reflecting increasing scarcity in labour markets and the successful implementation of our digital pricing tools globally. All in all, we protected our full-year 2019 EBITA margin, arriving at a sound level of 4.6%, while at the same time investing significantly in the future.”

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