Adecco (ADEN: VX), the world’s largest staffing firm, today reported revenue for the first quarter ending 31 March 2017 of €5.7 billion, an increase of 7% organically compared with the same period last year.

In 2017, Q1 revenue growth was driven by an increase in Adecco’s Italy business and by a continuation of the market improvement in France that started in H2 2016.

“In Q1 2017, The Adecco Group maintained its positive momentum, thanks to our more than 33,000 colleagues and over 700,000 associates around the world,” Adecco Chief Executive Alain Dehaze, said. “In Q1 2017, every one of our regional business segments delivered positive revenue growth, organically and trading days adjusted. Reflecting our focus on driving productivity, our 6% underlying revenue growth was delivered with an increase of only 1% in FTE employees. And importantly, we converted our strong profit growth into excellent cash flow.”

“Our strategic agenda is to Perform, Transform, and Innovate,” Dehaze said. “Alongside driving our operating performance in the first quarter, we are continuing to transform and innovate to capture the opportunities we see in the evolving world of work.”

Adecco also announced that it would further expand its digital strategy with the launch of Adia, an end-to-end online staffing model.

Adia, is a mobile-first, cloud-based, end-to-end platform that enables employers to easily request temporary staff for hourly or daily assignments. It is targeting hospitality and events candidate profiles for the SME segment. Adia’s algorithm matches jobs to workers based on skills, level of experience, proximity to the place of work as well as the job seeker’s real-time availability.

The company stated, “The launch of Adia reflects both our clear vision of the future of work, and our strategy to work with the best minds and ideas to co-create new solutions with leading technology partners. Adia has been developed in close collaboration with Infosys, a global leader in technology services. After a successful pilot phase, Adia has been launched in 5 cities across Switzerland, with a multi-country roll-out plan for the coming quarters.”

“We are excited to announce today the launch of our digital Adia brand as part of the deployment of our digital strategy,” Dehaze said. “Adia is an end-to-end online staffing model targeting hospitality and events candidate profiles for the SME segment. Developed in close collaboration with Infosys, Adia is a great example of our strategy to co-create new solutions with leading technology partners, in order to realise our vision of the future of work.”

Revenue broken down by segment was as follows:

In France, the company’s biggest market, revenue was up 8% on the year. Revenue increased by 9% in General Staffing, which accounts for over 90% of French revenues, and grew by 1% in Professional Staffing, on the year. According to Adecco, revenue growth continued to be strong in construction and logistics and automotive. Permanent placement revenues in France were up 10%.

Adecco also commented on the recent election in France which saw the election of Emmanuel Macron to the French presidency. Adecco Chief Executive Alain Dehaze stated that he believes Macron’s election will fuel jobs growth.

"We know that one of his short-term key priorities is to continue to reform the labour code, allowing companies to have more flexibility and clarity when they need to hire or lay off," Dehaze told Reuters in an interview. "This should drive competitiveness and at the end fuel job creation."

North America General Staffing was flat, as growth at large customers was offset by a softer development amongst smaller clients. UK & Ireland General Staffing was up 16%, with strong growth in retail and local government. Permanent placement revenues increased by 6% in North America General Staffing and declined by 8% in UK & Ireland.

North America Professional Staffing was up 2%. Growth was driven by high demand in Medical & Science and Engineering & Technical, partly offset by declines in IT and in Finance & Legal. UK & Ireland Professional Staffing was up 5%, driven by the continued positive impact of prior year client wins. Permanent placement revenues declined by 4% in North America Professional Staffing and by 16% in UK & Ireland Professional Staffing.

In Germany & Austria, revenues were up 4% or flat with trading days adjusted. In Switzerland, revenues grew by 9% or by 8% with trading days adjusted.

In the Nordics, revenues were up 12% or up 6% with trading days adjusted, led by growth in Sweden and Norway. Revenues in Benelux were up 6% or up 2% with trading days adjusted. In Belgium the group states that it continued to deliver broad-based growth, and in the Netherlands, revenue growth improved thanks to a strong sequential development.

Italy showed the highest year-on-year growth at 28%, organically, for the first quarter.

In Japan, revenues were up 3% to €327 million, with Adecco stating that there was good growth in professional staffing.

In Iberia, revenues were €243 million, up 10%, organically.

In the Rest of World region, revenue growth was 4% in Australia & New Zealand, 9% in Latin America, 8% in Eastern Europe & MENA, 8% in Asia, and 9% in India.

In Lee Hecht Harrison, the group’s Career Transition and Talent Development business, revenue increased by 8% in constant currency following the acquisition of Penna. Organically revenue was up 1%, with growth in the USA and the UK partially offset by declines in France and Canada.

“We recognise that the global economic outlook remains uncertain and will adapt to any changes in market conditions, maintaining price discipline and tight cost control,” Dehaze said.

Adecco Group set a new 52-week high during today's trading session when it reached CHF 75.85 (€69.50), up 0.53% on the day. Over this period, the share price is up 28.34%. Based on its current share price the company has a market value of CHF 12.91 billion (€11.82 billion).