LISBON: Fourth-quarter revenue at Randstad Holding NV rose 7% on an organic basis, which excludes the impact of currency, acquisitions and divestitures and adjusts for working days. European markets fueled the growth, with revenue up 10% each in France and Germany and strong results from other European countries.
Revenue edged up 1% on an organic basis in North America, Randstad’s largest market. In Randstad’s second-largest market, the Netherlands, revenue rose 2%.
Randstad’s combined US businesses were flat — as they were in the third quarter as well. Revenue rose 2% in US staffing/inhouse but US professionals revenue fell 4% in the fourth quarter following a 3% decrease in the third quarter. In Canada, revenue rose 4% year over year, remaining ahead of the market.
Randstad said it expects M&A activity to be limited in 2017 as it plans to focus on harnessing the potential of recent acquisitions: Randstad completed its acquisition of Monster Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: MWW) on Nov. 1, 2016. The company acquired professional staffing company BMC in the Netherlands on Jan. 12 for an enterprise value of €65 million and Randstad France gained control of French consulting and engineering firm Ausy as of Jan. 31. Randstad has also made a number of other investments last year, including Italian staffing firm Obiettivo Lavoro Group in July and Tokyo-based staffing firm Careo Holdings Ltd.
“We see growth in the blue collar segment in Europe and that is a sign of an early cycle (in recovery),” Randstad CFO Robert Jan van de Kraats told Reuters following the release of its earnings results. Van de Kraats said he had seen signs of growth in Europe since late 2013 but it seemed to be picking up now.
