The Adecco Group, the world’s largest staffing provider, reported fourth-quarter revenue fell 1% on an organic basis, which excludes the effect of currency as well as acquisitions and divestitures. Organic growth fell from the 2% pace achieved in the third quarter, driven by a slowdown in the European market.

The company reported a net loss attributable to shareholders of €112 million (US$127.5 million), attributable to a noncash goodwill impairment of €270 million (US$308.8 million) in Germany.

Gross margin improved to 19.1%.

In North America, general staffing revenue rose 6% on an organic basis, driven by client wins and strong seasonal demand. North America’s professional staffing revenue fell 4% as declines in IT and engineering & technical offset good growth in finance & legal and medical & science.

However, permanent placement revenues were up by 31% in North America Professional Staffing and by 12% in North America general staffing.

Business Process Outsourcing revenue, which includes MSP and RPO business lines, rose 25% on an organic basis in the quarter. Revenue in the company’s Career Transition & Talent Development segment, which includes outplacement provider Lee Hecht Harrison and recently acquired training provider General Assembly, rose 24% on an organic basis.

Revenue by geography

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“The group ended the year with a strong performance, despite an increasingly challenging market backdrop in Europe,” CEO Alain Dehaze said. “While revenues declined by 1% [on an organic and trading-days adjusted basis], we outperformed in a number of key regions, including France, US general staffing and Italy. Underlying profitability also further improved in Q4 2018, building on the positive trend of the prior quarter. Investments in our ‘Perform, Transform, Innovate’ strategy, which have impacted margins in 2017 and 2018, are now delivering the first financial results, in addition to laying strong foundations for future profitable growth.”

Revenue by business line

Full-year revenue

Adecco’s full earnings report is available online.

Share price and market cap

Adecco shares were down 5.19% today in Switzerland to 50.82 Swiss francs at 7:27 a.m. Eastern time; the company had a market cap of 8.93 billion Swiss francs, according to FT.com.