Staffing company Randstad sees faster than expected recovery

The Dutch company's sales decline smaller than expected in Q4

Randstad is one of the major staffing companies in the world, offering employment services across the globe with its main markets in France, the US and the Netherlands. Reuters

Dutch staffing company Randstad said on Friday its revenues were recovering faster than expected in the fourth quarter, after a deep slump caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Revenues dropped by 4 per cent in October and November on average from the previous year, the Amsterdam-based company said, following a 13 per cent decline in the third quarter.

"Randstad released a very positive trading update which is a profit upgrade to consensus of at least 10 per cent", ING analyst Marc Zwartsenburg said in a note.

Analysts on average were expecting an 11 per cent drop in revenues in the fourth quarter, Mr Zwartsenburg said.

"Despite partially re-installed lockdowns in some of our main markets, we have seen ongoing demand for essential services such as healthcare, logistics, food retail and e-commerce", Randstad chief executive Jacques van den Broek said.

"At the same time, visibility remains limited with ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty due to the Covid-19 pandemic."

Randstad is one of the dominant staffing companies in the world, offering employment services across the globe with its main markets in France, the US and the Netherlands.

It said its higher than expected revenues were also contributing more to its profitability than previously guided.

Its so-called conversion ratio, which tracks the contribution of sales to operating profit, is now expected to come in at the high end of the previously forecast 40 per cent to 50 per cent range in the last three months of 2020, the company said.

Randstad will release its full fourth-quarter results on February 9.