Second-quarter revenue growth at The Adecco Group was boosted by strength from several European countries. Adecco reported general staffing revenue in North America fell 4% on an organic basis, but professional staffing revenue rose 2%. The world’s largest staffing provider also announced a partnership with artificial intelligence firm Mya Systems to use its recruiting chatbot and the rollout of online staffing platform Adia to the UK.

Overall, the Adecco’s revenue rose 5% on an organic basis. The fastest growth took place in France, Italy, Iberia and Benelux. Other large, global staffing firms had also reported fast growth in European markets and slower growth in North America.

Looking to the UK and Ireland, general staffing revenue was up 8% organically and professional staffing revenue fell 6% driven by declines in IT and finance and legal.

In addition to earnings, Adecco announced a global partnership with San Francisco-based Mya Systems to use its recruiting chatbot, which utilizes matching algorithms and machine learning to cull large lists of applicant pools then automatically schedules interviews with candidates. The chatbot will interface with Adecco’s applicant tracking systems and calendar systems. TechCrunch reported in May that Mya Systems raised $11.4 million in a series A funding round.

Adecco is also rolling out its Adia online staffing platform to the UK, targeting hospitality and events candidates. The platform, which is being developed with Infosys, was launched in Switzerland earlier this year.

Quote

“In Q2 2017, we made further progress on our strategic agenda of perform, transform and innovate, thanks to the engagement of our more than 33,000 colleagues,” said CEO Alain Dehaze. “Our performance continued: revenue growth was robust, driven in particular by strength in France, Italy, Iberia and Benelux.”

Revenue by segment

Revenue by business line

BPO revenue rose 18% on an organic basis. BPO includes managed service program, recruitment process outsourcing and digital revenue. It had included vendor management system revenue until December when Adecco sold a majority stake in Beeline to the private equity firm that also owned a majority stake VMS provider IQN.

Separately, freelancer management system provider WorkMarket yesterday announced it acquired FMS provider OnForce from Adecco.

Detail by country

All of the following revenue changes are reported on an organic basis:

France

• General staffing revenue, which accounts for more than 90% of revenue, rose 9% while professional staffing fell 2%.
• Revenue growth was broad-based and continued to be strong in logistics, construction and automotive. Permanent placement revenue rose 13%.

North America, UK & Ireland General Staffing

• North America general staffing, which accounts for approximately 75% of revenue, was down 4%.
• UK & Ireland general staffing, which represents approximately 25% of revenue, rose 8% with strong growth in retail and in local government.
• Permanent placement revenue rose 13% in North America general staffing and fell 11% in UK & Ireland.

North America, UK & Ireland Professional Staffing

• North America professional staffing, which represents approximately 65% of revenue, rose 2% with modest growth in medical and science, engineering & technical and IT, while revenue was flat in finance & legal.
• UK & Ireland professional staffing represents approximately 35% of revenues and fell 6%, driven by declines in IT and finance & legal.
• Permanent placement revenue rose 9% in North America professional staffing and fell 23% in UK & Ireland professional staffing.

Germany, Austria, Switzerland

• In Germany & Austria, revenue fell 5%, or down 1% with trading days adjusted.
• In Switzerland, revenue fell 1%, but rose 3% when adjusted for trading days.

Benelux and Nordics

• In the Nordics, revenue rose 2%, up 7% trading days adjusted, led by strong growth in Sweden and good growth in Norway.
• Revenue in Benelux rose 10%, up 13% trading days adjusted.
• Growth in Belgium continued to be broad-based, and the Netherlands achieved double-digit revenue growth attributable to a strong sequential development and the weak prior year base.

Italy

• Growth was broad-based across service lines, including temporary staffing, permanent placement, outsourcing and training.

Japan

• Revenue rose 5%, or up 3% adjusted for trading days, with good growth in professional staffing and in permanent placement.

Rest of World

• Revenue growth was 4% in Australia & New Zealand; 9% in Latin America; 4% in Eastern Europe and the Middle East and North Africa; 10% in Asia; and 4% in India.

Lee Hecht Harrison

• Revenue fell 3% on an organic basis, with low- to mid- single-digit declines in Adecco’s largest markets of the USA, France, Canada and UK.

Share price and market cap

Shares in Adecco closed 6.41% to 69.40 in Swiss francs. The company has a market cap of 11.75 billion Swiss francs, according to Google Finance.