Swedish staffing firm Poolia (POOLB: SS), which merged with Uniflex in 2018, reported revenue for the fourth quarter ending 31 December 2018 of SEK 476.2 million (€45.4 million), down 6.9% compared to the previous year.

Due to the merger between Poolia and Uniflex, which was completed on 31 October 2018, the fourth quarter figures refer to the results of both companies. The group elected to recalculate its comparative figures, whereby the merger has been reported as if it had taken place on 1 January 2017. As a result, comparative figures for 2017 include Uniflex's income, expenses, assets and liabilities. Periods before 2017 have not been recalculated, so comparisons with these have not been calculated.

Because of the merger, in 2018, Uniflex announced that it delisted from Nasdaq Stockholm.

The group added that its quarterly earnings were positively affected by several cost savings implemented in connection with the merger and said additional positive effects will occur in coming periods, especially during the first quarter of 2019.

At the same time, the group's earnings were negatively affected in the fourth quarter by calendar effects. In 2018, December had few working days and “many holidays on weekdays”. 

Poolia has restructured its segment reporting following its merger with Uniflex which includes geographical divisions for both Poolia and Uniflex.

In the Poolia section, the geographical segments comprise Sweden, Germany and Finland. For Uniflex, the geographical segments comprise of Sweden, Norway and Finland.

The group said price pressure in the Uniflex Sweden segment has remained high. In Uniflex Sweden, measures have been taken in the fourth quarter to reduce costs. 

In Poolia Germany, the effects of labour legislation changes had a significantly greater negative impact on Poolia than was expected. According to the group, measures to reverse the German operations have begun during the first quarter of 2019.

Jan Bengtsson, CEO Poolia, commented on the merger and fourth quarter results, “The merger has been well received by customers, suppliers and personnel, and it has created good opportunities to build a strong staffing group.” 

“Our costs have been reduced by SEK 20 million (€1.9 million) on an annual basis, which will have full effect in 2019. The merger was a necessary measure to meet the price pressure that is found primarily in the Uniflex segments and to be able to increase sales efforts in the Poolia companies. The latter measure is facilitated by the fact that, thanks to the merger, we have been able to coordinate large-scale sales between the group's subsidiaries,” Bengtsson said.

During the fourth quarter Poolia opened an office in Norway and launched www.poolia.no. Revenue is expected to be reported in the first quarter of 2019.

The newly merged company also reported full year revenue of SEK 1.94 billion (€185.3 million), down 0.8% compared to the previous year.

Poolia set a new 52-week low during today's trading session when it reached SEK 7.30 (€0.69). Over this period, the share price is down 45.64%. As of last trade, Poolia shares were down 6.55% on the day. Based on its current share price the company has a market value of SEK 284.03 million (€26.83 million).