Japanese staffing giant Persol (2181: JP), reported revenue today for the first six months ended 30 September 2023 of JPY 654.88 billion (USD 4.3 billion), an increase of 7.8% compared to the same period last year.

H1 Revenue by segment

In the Staffing segment, the group operates a temporary staffing business, including mainly clerical and administrative staff dispatching and wide range of staffing services. Sales for the H1 period rose by 7.4% year on year. The increase in revenue is attributed mainly to the number of active temporary staff.

The BPO segment is a new segment consisting mainly of the business process outsourcing (BPO) business, which belonged to Staffing SBU (strategic business unit) until the previous fiscal year. Sales for the H1 period was down 5.1% year on year.

The Technology segment had been Professional Outsourcing SBU until the previous fiscal year. Some businesses were transferred to BPO SBU. In this segment, the group operates manufacturing and development outsourcing business in IT and engineering areas and temporary staffing business specialized in engineers dispatching. Sales were up 14.2% over the year. Revenue increased because the engineering area saw growth in demand, mainly for development in the manufacturing industry. An additional factor was steady growth in the IT area.

In the Career segment, the group mainly operates placement business, supporting corporate clients' mid-career hiring activities, and job recruitment media business. Sales were up 29.2%. Revenue in the placement business and job recruitment media business increased due to efficient, stronger sales promotion activities in addition to the growth of demand for hiring among customers although slight signs of uncertainty began to be seen in business confidence.

In the APAC segment, the group operates a temporary staffing business and placement business in Asia and a staffing business and facility management business in Australia (those businesses are operated under the PersolKelly brand in Asia and under Programmed brand in Australia.) Sales were up 6.0% year on year. Revenue increased due to progress in the recovery from the impact of the spread of Covid-19 pandemic, with steady growth in sales from the facility management business in particular.

Separately yesterday, Kelly Services reported revenue fell 5.8% in constant currency to $1.12 billion during its Q3 earnings. 

Looking ahead the company forecasted revenue of JPY 1.34 trillion (USD 8.84 billion) for the full year ended 31 March 2024.

Persol Holdings shares closed today at JPY 249.20 (USD 1.65), down 0.56% on the day and 19.46% above the 52 week low of JPY 208.60 (USD 1.38) set on 24 October 2023. The company has a market cap of JPY 584.40 billion (USD 3.85 billion).