Randstad (RAND: NV), the world’s largest staffing firm, today reported revenue for the fourth quarter ending 31 December 2024 of €6.08 billion. Organic revenue per working day was down 5.5% compared to the same quarter in the prior year.

Reported revenue was down 1.6% compared to Q4 2023. Reported revenue declined less than organic revenue due to more working days in Q4 2024. The positive impact of currency effects of 2.7% was offset by a negative effect mainly due to the disposal of Monster.

Revenue for the full year stood at €24.12 billion, down 7% on an organic basis when compared to FY 2023.

“We made good strategic progress in the year, implementing our specialisation framework in all markets, expanding our talent and delivery centres and rolling out our Randstad Talent Platform,” CEO Sander van ‘t Noordende said in a press release.

In Q4 2024, reported gross profit amounted to €1.1 billion, down 11% on a reported basis.

“In Q4, trading conditions continued to stabilise in some markets, though business hiring and overall client confidence remained muted,” van ‘t Noordende added. “Despite market conditions, our underlying performance for the full year was robust, demonstrating the resilience of our model. We took decisive action to strengthen the business — maintaining operational discipline, adapting the portfolio and reducing the cost base while carefully balancing field capacity and strategic investments.”

EBITA stood at €121 million. EBITA was adjusted for €79 million of integration costs and one-offs, resulting in an underlying EBITA of €200 million, which resulted an organic decline of 30%.

According to Reuters, this was above the €194 million expected by analysts on average in a company-provided consensus.

As of 1 January 2024, the segmentation by geographical area has changed from the way it was presented in the FY 2023 annual report.

Randstad reports in four main geographical segments: North America, Northern Europe, Southern Europe, UK and Latin America, and Asia Pacific. The reporting segments within each of the four main geographical segments remain unchanged from the prior year.

The former global businesses segment included Enterprise Solutions (Sourceright and RiseSmart) and Monster, Randstad’s online talent recruitment platform. As of 2024, global businesses has been included in each of the main geographical segments.

Comparative figures for prior periods have been adjusted.

Revenue by Geography

Percentage changes below are on an organic basis and compared to Q4 2023 unless otherwise noted.

In North America, revenue was down 7% organically. In Q4 2024, revenue of the combined US businesses was down 7%. US operational was down 4%, while US professional was down 11%. US digital was down 7%, while US enterprise was down 9%. In Canada, revenue was down 14%.

Within Northern Europe, in the Netherlands, revenue was down 10%. Operational was down 11%, while professional was down 3%.

In Germany, revenue was down 8%. Operational was down 8%, while digital was down 5%. In Belgium and Luxembourg, revenue was flat, with operational up 3% and professional down 7%.

Across other Northern European countries, revenue per working day was down 8%. Revenue in Poland was up 6%. In the Nordics, revenue was down 26%, while in Switzerland, revenue was down 2%.

In Southern Europe, UK and Latin America, France revenue was down 8%. Operational was down 5%, while professional was down 15%. Revenue in Italy was up 1% with operational down 2%, while professional was up 15%.

In Iberia, revenue was up 5%. Spain was up 9%, while in Portugal revenue was down 10%. Across other Southern European countries, UK and Latin America, revenue was down 8%. In the UK, revenue was down 12%, while in Latin America revenue was down 4%.

Total revenue in the Asia Pacific region was down 3%. In Japan, revenue was flat, with operational down 3% and digital up 16%.

Revenue in Australia/New Zealand was down 8%, while the company’s business in India was up 13%.

Optimism in US

“Lots of optimism in the US,” Randstad CEO Sander van ‘t Noordende said in a conference call with analysts. “The 333 plan of the new administration — 3% growth, 3% budget deficit, 3 million barrels more oil production — I mean, that’s a positive for the economy. Positive attitudes towards deregulation, innovation, new technology. Quite a bit of excitement there that has not yet translated into a material uptick, I would say. So it’s yet to trickle down in a meaningful way.”

When asked whether Randstad does business with the US government and whether it could be affected by recent actions, van ‘t Noordende noted the company has little exposure to that.

“So we do very limited business with the US government,” he said. “In fact, most of the business we do with the US government is through others, so through systems integrators or other technology partners. It’s primarily in our digital business, but the total of it is very, very small.”

Segmentation

Previously, Randstad’s secondary segmentation was based on the company’ revenue concepts of staffing, inhouse, professionals and enterprise. These were changed to reflect four new specialisations announced at the company’s Capital Markets Day.

Randstad now reports:

• Randstad Operational Talent Solutions (including engineering, light industrial, skilled trades and certain other commercial segments),
• Randstad Professional Talent Solutions (including accounting, management, and office and administrative support),
• Randstad Digital Talent Solutions (including customer experience, cloud computing and infrastructure, data and analytics, and digital product engineering), and
• Randstad Enterprise Talent Solutions (including RPO, MSP, career transition, workforce advisory and total talent solutions).

In July 2024, Randstad formed a joint venture with Careerbuilder to combine their Monster business and take a minority interest in the business. Therefore, Monster does not feature in the company’s revenue numbers for Q4 2024.

Comparative figures for prior periods have been adjusted.

Revenue by Specialisation

Permanent fees decreased by 18% year on year on an organic basis. Total revenue of permanent placements amounted to €106 million in Q4 2024. RPO fees decreased organically by 3%. Revenue of recruitment process outsourcing amounted to €81 million in Q4 2024.

Looking ahead, Randstad said Q1 2025 will have 0.8 fewer working days. Gross margin is expected to be modestly higher sequentially, while operating expenses are expected to be modestly lower sequentially.

Randstad added that the development of volumes in 2025 indicates further stabilisation, while January is in line with Q4 2024 trends.

Randstad shares last traded at €40.02, down 3.45% on the day and 4.65% above its 52-week low of 38.24, set on 13 January 2025. The company has a market cap of €7.50 billion.