Adecco sees slowdown in growth

ZURICH: Adecco has seen a slowdown in growth so far in the third quarter, the world´s largest staffing company said on Wednesday ahead of an investor day in London.

Revenues increased by 2 percent organically and adjusted for trading days in July and August, with volume trends in early September indicating a slight deceleration over these prior two months, the Swiss group said.

"Recent trading has been more challenging than expected, driven by Continental Europe," Chief Executive Alain Dehaze said in a statement.

"We are already taking the appropriate measures to adjust our costs to reflect this lower growth environment.

Our commitment to the group´s transformation and digitisation remains unchanged," he added. Its shares were indicated 1.4 percent lower in pre-market activity.

The slowdown compared with 4 percent revenue growth in the second quarter, related to a slowdown in continental Europe, and 6 percent during the first three months of the year.

Despite the slowdown, the group´s operating margin improved during the second quarter when compared with the start of the year. Earlier this year Adecco said rising global trade tensions and slowing economic growth were not yet reducing companies´ desire to hire temporary staff.

The company has also recently been investing in digital technology to enable it to offer roles in a more flexible labour market. This year it also bought General Assembly, a company which provides training in coding, data science and digital marketing.