Fourth-quarter revenue at Swedish staffing firm Poolia (POOLB: SS) decreased by 1.1%, year-on-year, during the fourth quarter ending 31 December 2017 to SEK 196.8 (€19.8 million).

According to Poolia, the decline in its revenue for the fourth quarter occurred due to a decrease in its German operations. Poolia stated that sales in Germany were down ”to a greater extent than usual, negatively impacted by customers' acquisition of consultants”.  Additionally, the group cited slower than expected recruitment business and that the cost of sick leave and the proportion of unpaid consultants were unusually high during the quarter. Operations in Germany fell by 7.1% in the fourth quarter, year-on-year.

Poolia also stated that fewer working days in the quarter compared with the previous year resulted in a comparative impact of approximately SEK -4 million (-€0.4 million) on revenue and about MSEK -1 million (-€0.1 million) on operating profit.

In Sweden, revenue increased by 0.6% in Q4 2017 compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, Finland operations grew by 5.1% for the same period.

President and CEO Morten Werner attributed the 0.6% revenue growth in Sweden to an adverse effect from Poolia Sweden's implementation of a number of important projects and investments such as branding, new web development, GDPR adaptations and a local move in Stockholm.

Werner commented on the results, “It is gratifying to note the sales growth in Finland of 5.1%, which shows that our efforts are now beginning to yield results.”

“Market conditions in Poolia's three markets continue to be positive,” Werner said. “We are experiencing good demand for both staffing and recruitment services. We solve more assignments than ever and get high ratings from our customers. However, the lack of candidacy continues, which, in addition to our consultants becoming increasingly employed by our customers, creates challenges in our rental business. We deal with this with faster processes and improved candidate offerings. Our recruitment business runs well and expands year after year with good profitability.”
Poolia also reported full year revenue of revenue amounted to SEK 771.5 million (€77.8 million), a decrease of 1.7% from last year.

Poolia set a new 52-week low during today's trading session when it reached SEK 12.50 (€1.26). Over this period, the share price is down -24.32%. As of last trade, shares stood at SEK 13.85 (€1.40), down 15.55% on the day. Based on its current share price the company has a market value of SEK 214.81 million (€21.6 million).