Randstad CFO: Europe to remain weak in 2019, taking measures accordingly
July 23, 2019 at 02:03 am EDT
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AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The chief financial officer of Netherlands-based staffing group Randstad on Tuesday said the company expects weakness in Europe, which dragged down its second quarter performance, to continue throughout 2019.
"We planned for a weaker Europe for the remainder of the year and take measures accordingly," CFO Henry Schirmer said in an interview. "We are re-aligning the cost-base with the top line."
The comments came as Randstad released second quarter results, which were hurt by falling sales in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, where it has major automotive clients.
(Reporting by Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Richard Borsuk)
Randstad N.V. is the world's No. 1 of human resources services. Net sales break down by activity as follows:
- generalist staff placement outside the classic sectors (45.4%): primarily administrative, light industry, logistics staff, etc.;
- generalist staff placement from onsite agencies (25.3%): primarily for clients in the consumer goods, automotive, life sciences and other industries;
- specialized staff placement (23.8%): primarily high-level and experienced professionals in the fields of IT, engineering, business, health, etc. In addition, the group offers services for the permanent staff of its clients (outplacement services, reintegration and salary management);
- other (5.5%).
At the end of 2023, the group had 2,761 branches worldwide.
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: the Netherlands (12.7%), the United States (18.8%), France (15.1%), Italy (8.5%), Germany (7.4%), Belgium (6%), Spain (5%), Australia (4.6%), the United Kingdom (4.3%), Japan (3.2%), Canada (2.3%), Switzerland (1.9%), India (1.5%), Portugal (1.3%), Poland (1.2%), Sweden (1.2%) and other (5%).