Yesterday, Adecco Group results for Q3 were released. It was also the occasion for Alain Dehaze to deliver its first feedback to all the managers after 12 weeks as our Global CEO.
Overall, Adecco Group delivered a strong performance with a steady revenue growth of 4%. We are now more than 32,000 colleagues and 700,000 associates around the world. We reached our profitability target with a very good 5.8% EBITA margin. Though, you will notice that an operating loss was reported this quarter. This is the consequence of an impairment of goodwill (do not hesitate to ask Rafa for explanations ), a non-cash charge which has no repercussions on our actual financial position.
Alain emphasized that globally 2/3 of our businesses are stable. Growth is not accelerating enough and we underperform compared to our main competitors. Emerging markets are among the fastest growing with +16%, followed by Benelux and Southern Europe. In Asia, Alain cited Hong Kong, South Korea and Thailand (he forgot to mention Malaysia!) as examples for their great profitable growth. Thank you for your efforts! Japan grew 2% (+25% in perm), and we had mixed results in Australia despite 4% sales growth.
To address the underperforming areas, Alain would like you to focus on 4 Ps: People (strengthen ownership and accountability for the results), Purpose (put strategic priorities into action), Performance (“break the averages” to see where we can improve). Our global CFO also stressed that performances are systematically overestimated. Forecasts need to be more accurate to reflect the “brutal reality”. With these in place, Profit and sustainable growth will follow.
We now enter in the 4th Quarter, which is often a very challenging period. Put a special effort in the following months, and keep up the great work!