Press releases
Preliminary results for 12 months ending 30 June 2009
03 Sep 2009
GOOD PERFORMANCE IN A DIFFICULT MARKET ENVIRONMENT
| Year ended 30 June (In £´s million) |
2009 | 2008 | actual growth |
LFL* growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Net fees | 670.8 | 786.8 | (15)% | (18)% |
| Operating profit from continuing operations** | 158.0 | 253.8 | (38)% | (40)% |
| Cash generated by operations | 260.9 | 256.0 | 2% | |
| Profit before tax | 151.0 | 264.4 | (43)% | |
| Basic earnings per share** | 7.72p | 12.59p | (39)% | |
| Dividend per share | 5.80p | 5.80p | - |
Financial highlights
- Difficult market conditions, particularly in the second half, resulted in a reduction in Group fees and profit
- Increase in cash generated by operations to £260.9 million, primarily due to unwind of working capital
- Strong balance sheet with net cash of £0.7 million (2008: net debt of £81.1 million)
- Dividend maintained at 5.80p
Operational highlights
- Temporary placement net fees down 7%* and permanent placement net fees down 29%*
- Advantage taken of opportunities in resilient markets particularly in the public sector and Germany
- 24% reduction in cost base in June 2009 versus June 2008 following early and continued action taken to protect profits
- Selective development of the International business, now representing 51% of Group net fees
- Investing for the long term including key IT efficiency projects and corporate account development
* LFL is like-for-like growth, which represents organic growth of continuing activities at constant currency. There were the same number of trading days in 2009 and 2008.
** continuing activities only. 2008 numbers are presented pre-exceptional items. There were no exceptional items in 2009.
Preliminary results
Commenting on these results, Alistair Cox, Chief Executive of Hays, said:
"The recruitment markets in the past year have been the most challenging on record. However, Hays has performed creditably due to our scale, the strength of our market positions, our early action to address the cost base and our ability to redirect resources to more resilient sectors such as Education, Healthcare, Oil & Gas and Pharmaceutical. We are also continuing to gain market share across the world and are investing in new markets including India and Russia. In addition, we are very pleased to have signed a series of significant recruitment contracts with leading global companies drawing on the full range of our expertise.
Currently we are seeing initial signs of stability in the United Kingdom and Asia Pacific markets although no indications
of recovery. The Continental European markets, which entered the downturn later than the other regions, are still
experiencing deteriorating conditions. Whilst we anticipate that 2010 will be another tough year for our industry, we will
continue to take advantage of the downturn to build market share and pursue our investment plans to strengthen our
operations for the long term. We are managing the short term whilst investing for the long term."
Enquiries
| Hays plc | ||
| Paul Venables | Finance Director | + 44 (0) 20 7383 2266 |
| Martin Abell | Investor Relations | + 44 (0) 20 7383 2266 |
| Maitland | ||
| Neil Bennett Liz Morley |
+ 44 (0) 20 7379 5151 | |
Results presentation webcast
The preliminary results presentation at 9:00am on 3 September 2009 will be available as a live webcast on our website, www.haysplc.com, and a recording will also be available on our website from 1:00pm.
Reporting calendar
| Interim management statement for quarter ending 30 September 2009 | 8 October 2009 |
| Trading statement for quarter ending 31 December 2009 | 7 January 2010 |
| Half Year Report for 6 months ending 31 December 2009 | 8 April 2010 |
| Interim management statement for quarter ending 31 March 2010 | 2 September 2008 |
| Trading statement for quarter ending 30 June 2010 | 8 July 2010 |
Note to editors
Hays plc (the "Group") is the leading global specialist recruitment group. It is market leader in the UK and Australia, and one of the market leaders in Continental Europe. The Group employs 6,933 staff operating from 345 offices in 28 countries across 17 specialisms. For the year ended 30 June 2009:
- - the Group had revenues of £2.4 billion, net fees of £670.8 million and operating profit of £158.0 million;
- - the Group placed around 50,000 candidates into permanent jobs and around 270,000 people into temporary assignments; and
- - the temporary placement business represented 56% of net fees and the permanent placement business represented 44% of net fees.
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