Hays (HAS) came up against a heady cocktail of challenges in the last three months of 2019 – strikes in France, a UK election and Australian bushfires. These events exacerbated already tough conditions in countries that account for 45 per cent of the recruiter’s overall fees. Experiencing “markedly” slower growth in December, the group’s like-for-like net fees declined by 4 per cent in the second quarter. With currency headwinds only adding to the weak macroeconomic backdrop, the group has warned that operating profit for the first half of the 2020 financial year will come in at around £100m, falling short of the £124m seen a year earlier.
Germany is Hays’ largest market and lower levels of activity in the manufacturing and automotive sectors saw net fees from temporary and contracting recruitment fall by 10 per cent in the second quarter. Meanwhile, permanent hiring proved more troublesome in the UK and Ireland with the private sector particularly paralysed by ongoing Brexit uncertainty. Despite double-digit net fee growth in Japan and Malaysia, Asia continues to be overshadowed by US-China trade war uncertainties and anti-government protests in Hong Kong.
