The Swiss company, which supplies temporary workers to factories and offices, said the rate of revenue decline in October and November continued to show gradual improvement.

"The impact of recent lockdown measures in most European countries has had a lesser-than-expected impact on demand for the Group's services," it said in a trading update ahead of its capital markets day.

Last month Adecco said its revenue declined 14% in September, an improvement on the 15% decline for the third quarter as a whole, when the COVID-19 pandemic meant lower activity at factories and offices.

The company also presented new financial goals, including gaining market share against rivals in the staffing sector and investing in faster growing segments such as its engineering, IT and life science recruitment business Modis.

Adecco said it was aiming to increase profitability, hiking its target for earnings before interest, tax and amortisation (EBITA) to a range of 3.0% to 6.0% over the economic cycle, from 2.5% to 5.0% previously.

(Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Kim Coghill and Shounak Dasgupta)