Adecco, the world’s largest staffing firm, reported revenue rose 3% on an organic basis, which excludes the impact of currencies, acquisitions and divestitures. When also adjusting for the number of business days in the quarter, revenue rose 3.5%.

Permanent placement revenue rose 5% on an organic basis.

By region, North American revenue fell 1% on an organic basis while the biggest percent increases in organic revenue were in Italy, followed by Adecco’s “rest of world” category, which includes Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, Eastern Europe, India and elsewhere.

Lee Hecht Harrison revenue rose 14% in constant currency following the acquisition of Penna Consulting in May 2016. Organically, revenue was up 5%, with growth in the US and the UK offset by declines in France and Canada.

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“While delivering these results, we made further progress in deploying our strategic priorities,” said CEO Alain Dehaze. “We are strengthening our competitive position, working with leading partners to streamline our processes and upgrade our customer-facing and back office IT. We are also acting on areas of underperformance, improving the performance of businesses currently operating below their potential, and exiting those that structurally cannot achieve our goals.”

Revenue by segment

Revenue by business line

All revenue changes in the following country notes are reported on an organic basis:

France

• Revenue increased by 3% in general staffing, which accounts for more than 90% of revenue.
• Revenue grew by 14% in professional staffing.
• Revenue growth continued to be good in construction and logistics and very strong in automotive.
• Permanent placement revenue rose 22%.

North America

• General staffing, which accounts for approximately half of revenue, declined by 1%.
• Revenue declined by 3% in industrial and by 2% in office.
• Professional staffing revenue were flat, with growth of 16% in medical and science and 3% in finance and legal, and declines of 4% in both IT and engineering and technical.
• Permanent placement revenue in North America was flat.

UK & Ireland

• Professional staffing revenue rose 2%. Revenue rose by 5% in IT, partially offset by a 12% decline in finance and legal.
• General staffing revenue rose 7%.
• Permanent placement revenues fell 3%.

Germany, Austria, Switzerland

• In Germany & Austria, revenue fell 2%, driven by a decline in automotive.
• In Switzerland, revenue declined by 3%, negatively affected by reductions in the export-related and medical sectors.

Benelux and Nordics

• In the Nordics, revenue rose 8% with good growth in all countries. Adecco made an acquisition in Finland to reach critical mass in this market.
• Revenue in Benelux fell 2%. Adecco said it outperformed the market in Belgium with broad-based growth, while in the Netherlands, its price discipline negatively affected growth in a competitive market.

Italy

• Revenue rose 13%.
• Continued strong growth was seen in permanent placement.
• Regulatory changes in 2015 continued to have a positive effect.

Japan

• Revenue rose 2%, with continued strong growth in professional staffing and permanent placement.

Iberia

• Revenue rose 8%.

Rest of World

• Revenue rose 10%.
• Revenue growth was 9% in Australia and New Zealand, 9% in Latin America, 10% in Eastern Europe & MENA, 7% in Asia, and 20% in India.

Share price and market cap

Shares in Adecco were down 0.35% to 57.50 Swiss francs. The company had a market cap of 9.85 billion Swiss francs, according to Google.