Fourth-quarter revenue rose by 2% at Adecco, the world’s largest staffing firm. The company reported softness in parts of Europe, especially France and Germany. Fourth-quarter revenue fell 5% in France. However, revenue rose 15% in North America.

Adecco reported trends have turned more positive since the start of the year in Europe and Japan, where revenue rose 1% in constant currency. North America and emerging markets remain strong, it said. And company revenue rose 4% in January and February combined on a constant currency basis and when adjusted for business days.

The Switzerland-based staffing provider also reported restructuring costs of €23 million (US$28.0 million) in the fourth quarter, up from €17 million in the year-ago quarter.

Quote

“Market conditions in 2014 were rather mixed, but our colleagues showed again that they can adapt well to changing conditions, and delivered another strong performance,” said CEO Patrick De Maeseneire.

“With 5.3%, we delivered our best-ever fourth quarter margin,” De Maeseneire said. “This provides an excellent base as we head into 2015. In addition, revenue growth in constant currency and adjusted for trading days was 4% for January and February combined, a clear pick-up compared to the end of 2014. And since GDP growth is forecasted to accelerate in 2015, we expect a further positive development of demand for flexible labor going forward.”

Revenue by segment

Revenue by business line

All revenue changes in below country notes are reported on an organic basis, which excludes impact of currency, acquisitions and divestitures. 

France

• Company said weakness in construction, its largest industry exposure in France, weighed on revenue.
• Office revenue fell 23%.
• Professional staffing revenue fell 8%.

North America

• Industrial revenue rose 13%.
• Office revenue rose 5%.
• Professional staffing rose 2% with growth of 1% in IT, 9% in finance & legal and 15% in Medical & Science. Engineering & technical was down 3%.
• €4 million in restructuring costs for move to single headquarters in North America.

Germany & Austria

• Industrial revenue down 2% reflecting weaker demand from clients in manufacturing.

Japan

• Revenue flat in office, which accounts for 75% of revenue from this market.

Full-year revenue

Share price and market cap

Shares in Adecco rose 5.69% to 79.85 Swiss francs. The company had a market cap of 14.30 billion Swiss francs, according to Google.