Global staffing firm Randstad nv reported first-quarter revenue rose 15% year over year on an organic basis, citing particular strength in perm placement and RPO.
“We saw record-high perm and RPO activity levels, while staffing revenue continued its strong momentum, increasing by 14% against the same period last year,” CEO Sander van ‘t Noordende said.
The company reported perm revenue rose 63% year over year on an organic basis.
Meanwhile, RPO revenue rose 125% year over year organically.
| (€millions) | Q1 2022 | Q1 2021 | % change | % organic change | Q1 2022 (US$millions) |
| Revenue | 6,621 | 5,528 | 20% | 15% | 7,373 |
| Gross profit | 1,360 | 1,060 | 28% | 22% | 1,514 |
| Gross margin | 20.5% | 19.2% | – | – | – |
| Net income | 209 | 153 | 37% | – | 233 |
North American revenue rose 13% year over year on an organic basis, with perm fees up 87%.
Looking at just the US, revenue rose 11% with increases of 9% in Randstad’s US staffing/inhouse services business and 16% in the company’s US professionals business.
In Canada, revenue rose 28%.
First-quarter revenue rose across its operations in Europe and other parts of the world.
Revenue by geography
| (€millions) | Q1 2022 | Q1 2021 | % change | % organic change | Q1 2022 (US$millions) |
| North America | 1,302 | 1,033 | 26% | 13% | 1,450 |
| France | 941 | 833 | 13% | 12% | 1,048 |
| Netherlands | 886 | 776 | 14% | 13% | 987 |
| Germany | 488 | 428 | 14% | 12% | 543 |
| Italy | 543 | 423 | 28% | 26% | 605 |
| Belgium & Luxembourg | 415 | 352 | 18% | 12% | 462 |
| Iberia | 392 | 328 | 20% | 17% | 437 |
| Other European countries | 615 | 527 | 17% | 14% | 685 |
| Rest of the world | 682 | 571 | 19% | 15% | 759 |
| Global businesses | 357 | 257 | 39% | 30% | 398 |
The company’s global business division reported revenue rose 30%. Within global business, Randstad Sourceright revenue — which provides RPO, MSP and outplacement, among other services — rose 40%. Monster revenue rose 9%.
Revenue by category
| (€millions) | Q1 2022 | Q1 2021 | % change | % organic change | Q1 2022 (US$millions) |
| Staffing | 3,167 | 2,733 | 16% | 14% | 3,527 |
| In-house Services | 1,612 | 1,344 | 20% | 16% | 1,795 |
| Professionals | 1,485 | 1,194 | 24% | 17% | 1,654 |
| Global businesses | 357 | 257 | 39% | 30% | 398 |
Randstad’s measure of organic growth excludes the impact of currencies, acquisitions, disposals and reclassifications. Revenue growth has been adjusted for working days as well.
The company also reported on March 28 that it acquired Avanzo, an online learning firm based in Spain. In addition, Randstad recently announced the acquisition of Side, a temporary staffing platform in France.
Guidance
“The performance in the quarter gives us a strong platform for the remainder of the year, with volumes in early April indicating a positive continuation of the trends we have seen in the first quarter,” van ‘t Noordende said. “While there remains a high degree of macroeconomic uncertainty, our operational flexibility gives us the ability to respond quickly and effectively to changes in market conditions.”
Randstad said it also continues to monitor the situation in Ukraine, and there are signs the war is increasingly affecting the global economy. It noted the effect of the war on its business during the first quarter was fairly limited.
Share price and market cap
Shares in Randstad closed down 2.09% to €51.42 (US$55.22) today in Amsterdam; they were 5.30% above their 52-week low, according to FT.com. The company had a market cap of €9.66 billion (US$10.37 billion).