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Hays Plc is one of the leading experts in skilled recruitment and qualified professional. The company has global operations in 33 countries with 250 offices and having an employee base of 10,978 people. Last year the company placed 77,000 people in fixed jobs and 244,000 people on provisional jobs.
On 16th April 2019, the companyâs quarterly net fee growth was below market expectations in the released results. The main reason for the decline was the trade war between Beijing and Washington and also due to slow growth in Germany, Hays biggest market. Germany, Europeâs biggest economy had reported a slower growth rate in the last five years. As a result of which Hayâs contract extension was lower as per the data provided by the company in the month of February.
Hayâs Plc Share Price Performance
Daily Chart as at April-16-19, before the market close (Source: Thomson Reuters)
On 16th April 2019, at the time of writing (before the market close, GMT 02:33 PM), Hays Plc shares were trading at GBX 158.10, down by 3.1 per cent against its previous day closing price. Stock's 52 week High and Low is GBX 208.17/GBX 134.60. The outstanding market capitalisation was around £2.31 billion with a dividend yield of 2.37 per cent.
Hays is more focussed on white collar jobs and had reported a rise of 6 per cent in net fee for the third quarter ending March. The company had reported a 10 per cent rise for the same period of last year and was expecting a consensus of 7 per cent.
Shares of Hays Plc had touched a five-month high of GBX 163.5 on 15th April 2019, Monday. On Tuesday 16th April at 08:07 AM GMT, shares were trading at GBX 156.7 down by 3.9 per cent. Due to which Hays was the second biggest loser on midcap index.
Hays which specialises in placing the workforce in 20 specialized streams such as construction and finance, posted a net fee from its Germany business had increased by 5 per cent in three months ending March.
As per Hays CFO, Paul Venables, the company is more focused and will continue to improve its operations to increase its margins from its biggest market i.e. Germany. The company will shift its focus from automotive and manufacturing markets to other markets as they generate fewer investments from clients. German market being export oriented was impacted by the tariff war between the US and China.
There was an unexpected drop in the production of goods in Germany in the month of November which was driven by low automobiles sales. Due to the impact of low production, the industry regulators cut down 2019 growth forecast. The economy was further impacted by Britainâs pending exit from the EU as it had increased the trade tensions.
Due to low hiring in specialisations like property and construction, Hays had reported a weak performance in Australia and New Zealand as well. There was a decline in the job ads by 3.6 per cent in February on the job portal as compared to 0.6 per cent rise in January indicating the decline of performance in the Australian region.
