Swedish staffing firm Dedicare (DEDI: SS) reported revenue today for the fourth quarter ended 31 December 2024 of SEK 389.0 million (€34.4 million), a fall of 16.2% compared with the same period last year.

The company said all markets were down.

Bård Kristiansen, CEO and managing director, said in the earnings report, “Continued weak progress in the fourth quarter concluded a challenging 2024. The challenging market for healthcare staffing also left its mark on the final quarter of the year, with net sales and EBITA both down significantly in the quarter, year-on-year.”

Revenue in the quarter for the Sweden segment stood at SEK 75.6 million (€6.7 million), down by 33.2% on the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

The group said the Swedish healthcare staffing market was hit hard by limits on staff contracting. Dedicare said that, so far in 2025, it still sees no signs of improvement in the Swedish healthcare staffing market and have witnessed several insolvencies among its competitors.

Norway’s healthcare staffing market also kept declining in the quarter. Combined with price pressure and greater Nordic-wide competition, mainly in doctor staffing, this had an adverse impact on Dedicare. Net sales in Norway were down by 7.8% in the fourth quarter to SEK 251.5 million (€22.2 million).

For the Denmark segment, revenue in the quarter stood at SEK 57.0 million (€5.0 million), down by 11.3%. Denmark has been subject to contracting limits on nurse staffing introduced in the second quarter of 2023, where it was not possible to extend agreements that are expiring. This had a negative impact on sales right through 2024.

Revenue for the UK segment for the quarter was SEK 12.4 million (€1.1 million), down 13.3% over the prior year. International recruitment and staffing performed well, while the demand for UK doctor staffing was lower in the quarter as the NHS is increasingly identifying internal solutions for healthcare staffing.

Revenue by geography

For the full year, revenue stood at SEK 1.17 billion (€103.6 million), down 12.7% over the prior year.

“Full-year sales were down by 12.7%, and our EBITA margin was 4.0%,” Kristiansen said. “We took a series of actions in the year to adapt to the prevailing market conditions in healthcare staffing, generating annual savings of SEK 16 million. We’re benefiting from our diversity and presence on markets and are investing where we see opportunities, including life science, where demand is rising.”

“To adapt to prevailing market conditions in healthcare staffing, Dedicare took a range of measures in the year including implementing the cost savings programme initiated in May, which has generated an annual cost saving of SEK 16 million (€1.4 million),” Kristiansen said. “In addition, we’re working continuously on a variety of projects to enhance our operational efficiency. Overall, these actions mean that we’re going into 2025 with a lower cost base than we had last year. Our work on adapting our business to prevailing market conditions is continuing.”

Kristiansen added that the company expects challenging market conditions to persist into 2025 and plans to increase its operational efficiency.

Dedicare shares last traded at SEK 56.30 (€4.99), down 10.63% on the day and 5.43% above its 52-week low of SEK 53.40 (€4.73), set on 2 May 2024. The company has a market cap of SEK 475.70 million (€42.1 million).