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Annual Report 2026

“This is my second statement since becoming Chair in May 2025 and I am pleased to report a year in which our actions to deliver strong consultant net fee productivity growth and structural cost discipline offset the impact of ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty on net fees.”


MICHAEL FINDLAY

CHAIR





Increase consultant net fee productivity by >50%, return to a 25%+ conversion rate, & deliver superior returns to shareholders

CREATING A SELF-REINFORCING "FLYWHEEL" EFFECT TO DRIVE PRODUCTIVITY

 

The Hays consultant sits at the centre of this flywheel and is key

MOMENTUM'S FIVE FORCES AMPLIFY THE FLYWHEEL

Our performance this year

  • Net Fee Income

    £905.5m

  • Net cash

    £20.1m

  • Operating Profit

    £48.6m

  • Core Dividend per Share

    0.44p

  • Basic Earnings per Share

    1.21p

  • Free cash flow

    £22.0m

Download Full Year Results (623KB)

Our strategic priorities

  • enhanceENHANCE - Drive productivity and efficiency to deliver cash-backed profit growth, fund reinvestment and enable substantial returns to shareholders
  • PROFITABLE GROWTHPROFITABLE GROWTH - Materially increase Group operating profit and drive conversion rate towards our medium-term target of 22-25%
  • partnerDEVELOP NETWORKS - Nurture stronger relationships with candidates and clients, and partner with best-in-class third party technology providers
  • partnerFOCUS - Increase our focus on resilient, growing industries and markets

Our priorities will help to increase our business resilience, our quality of earnings and our cash generation. We will do this by building a more balanced portfolio of business lines in key and focus countries by sector. This will allow us to return to, and then exceed, previous peak Group profits.

OUR THREE POINT INVESTMENT CASE

One: Market position

One: Market position

Two: Strategic focus

Two: Strategic focus

Three: Shareholder returns

Three: Shareholder returns