Adecco Group Ag Unsp/Adr

Thank you for standing by. My name is Kate, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Ad Deco Group Q2 2025 results. All lines have been placed on you to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to review your question, press star 1 again. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Benita Barreto, the ADECA Group Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and thank you for joining the ADECA Group's Q2 Results Conference Call. I'm Benita Barreto, the Group's Head of Investor Relations, and with me are the ADECA Group's CEO, Denis Machuel, and CFO, Coram Williams. Before we begin, we want to draw your attention to the disclaimer on slide 2. Today's presentation will reference GAAP and non-GAAP financial results and operating metrics. This conference call will include forward-looking statements. These statements are based on assumptions as of today and are therefore subject to risks and uncertainties. Let me now hand over to Denny and the results report.

Thank you, Benita, and a warm welcome to all of you who have joined the call today. Let's turn to slide 3. which provides an overview of the quarter. With increased market share, with a group and a DECO ahead of key competitors by 205 and 130 basis points, respectively, this Q2. Revenue trends improve sequentially across all GDUs. A DECO return to growth, with revenues up 2% year-on-year on a trading day-adjusted basis. led by ADECO Americas, up 14% year-on-year, and ADECO APAC, up 9% year-on-year. Gross profit was 1.1 billion euros, with a gross margin of 18.9%, a healthy result, reflecting current business mix and firm pricing. ABA excluding one-offs was 141 million euros, with a 2.5% margin reflecting effective cost discipline, agile capacity management, and the timing of income from the FESCO JV. Adjusted EPS was $0.46, with lower one-off charges relative to the prior year period. Operating cash flow was 81 million euros, driven by disciplined working capital management and a best-in-class DSO. Cash conversion remains strong at 98%. Moving to slide 4. The group's strategic execution continues to drive market share gains. On the left, we show relative revenue growth into 1%, the group gained 30 basis points share and ADECO 130 basis points. In Q2, share gains increased to 205 basis points for the group, with ADECO gaining a further 130 basis points. On the right, we show the improvement in year-on-year flexible volume trends across the ADECO GBUN in its 12 largest markets year-to-date. the group's sharpened execution positions us well in this improving market environment. Let's turn to slide 5 now, which highlights recent client wins. First, ADECO secured a significant win with a global OEM that needed support with its expansion into EV battery production. The client increased ADECO's share of wallets, thanks to our AI-driven recruiting tools, such as AI Bots and Career Assistant, our ability to deliver high-quality labor at scale, and our real-time workforce analytics. Second, LHS and ADECO won a large-scale permanent recruitment mandate from a global consulting firm. The client chose us for our preparatory cross-EBU candidate platform, speed in delivering top-quality candidates, and proven industry expertise. And third, Accotis signed a multi-year contract with a leading French defense company. The plan sold to streamlined suppliers while expanding its workforce. Our technical expertise and AI-enhanced processes to accelerate innovation stood out. In addition, Our ability to scale capacity and implement a well-structured outsourcing model helped cement our position as a preferred supplier. These wins demonstrate the group's commercial excellence and competitive edge as we more effectively lever our digital expertise, scale, and breadth of offering, creating higher value add across DBU client solutions. Let me now hand over to Coran, who will provide details on the Q2 results.

Thank you, Denis, and good morning to everyone. Let's discuss the developments within each GBU, beginning with ADECO on slide 6. ADECO delivered €4.6 billion in revenues, up 1.7% year-on-year on an organic, trading-days-adjusted basis, and sequentially improved by 3%. Flexible placement grew 1%. Year-on-year growth in volumes improved through the period, most notably in North America, France, and Spain. Outsourcing revenues were up 7%, permanent placement was 9% lower, and MSP grew 7%. SME revenues grew 4% year-on-year, and revenues from large and global customers also improved sequentially. Gross margin was healthy, reflecting lower permanent placement volumes, country mix in flexible placement, and firm pricing. Productivity was broadly stable. Gross profit per selling FTE rose 0.5%, while selling FTEs reduced 3%. The EBITDA margin at 3.2% was 20 basis points lower, driven by G&A savings, agile capacity management, and the timing of income from FESCO, which was received in Q1 this year and Q2 last year. Let's move to ADECO at the segment level, starting with slide 7. In ADECO France, revenues improved from minus 9% in Q1 to minus 4% in Q2, outperforming the market. Food and beverage, retail and construction were robust. However, logistics, healthcare and autos continued to weigh. The EBITDA margin of 3.5% reflects lower volumes and effective cost mitigation. Looking forward, a solid pipeline and further G&A savings will support profitable growth. In ADECO EMEA, excluding France, revenues were flat, improving from minus 2% in Q1, with the segment gaining market share. Looking at the larger markets, Iberia grew 10%, driven by strength in food and beverage, retail and manufacturing. Revenues in Iemina and Benelux were both up 8%. Revenues in Italy were 2% lower, weighed by softness in autos and manufacturing, partly mitigated by strong logistics activity. In Germany and Austria, revenues were 5% lower. IT tech, manufacturing and logistics were challenged, and autos were strong. In the UK and Ireland, Revenues were 6% lower. Muted demand in logistics and the public sector was partly mitigated by strong growth in consulting and food and beverage. The segment's EBITDA margin of 3% reflects the current client and solutions mix and strong SG&A discipline. management continues to manage capacity in an agile way, with modest headcount increases in Iberia and the Iemina, while right-sizing in slower markets such as Germany and the UK. Let's turn to slide eight. ADECO America's revenues grew 14%, outperforming peers. North America rose 10%, evidencing continued traction with its turnaround plan. Recent client wins supported excellent growth in consumer goods and food and beverage, while manufacturing was strong. In Latin America, revenues grew 21%, led by Colombia, Peru and Brazil, although Mexico remained soft. The region continued to grow strongly in consumer goods, food and beverage, and manufacturing. America's EBITDA margin of 1.7% reflects higher volumes, current business mix, and strong SG&A discipline. Last but not least, ADECO APAC revenues were 9% higher and ahead of the market. Revenues rose 7% in Japan, 17% in Asia, and 13% in India. In Australia and New Zealand, revenues were 5% lower. The region's growth was led by IT tech, retail, consulting, and the public sector. The EBITDA margin of 4.6% predominantly reflects the timing of FESCO income. Excluding FESCO, the EBITDA margin was 10 basis points lower, with G&A savings offset by mix and investment incapacity to capture future growth opportunities. Let's move to ACODIS and slide 9. The CODIS revenues were 6% lower year-on-year on an organic, constant currency basis. Consulting and solutions revenues were 5% lower, with the business operating in relatively soft markets. By segment, EMEA revenues were 8% lower. Germany declined 14% due to auto headwinds. France was resilient, 3% lower but sequentially improved and ahead of the markets. with positive momentum in aerospace and defense, autos, and energy. North America revenues were 4% lower, impacted by the ongoing downturn in tech staffing. However, consulting and solutions grew strongly, with revenues up 30%. APAC revenues rose 1%, with Japan and China up 4%, supported by strong growth in IT tech and autos. Australia was 3% lower, including contribution from the recently acquired Barhead Solutions. The EBITDA margin of 1.6% was 330 basis points lower year-on-year. Sustained pressure in Germany impacted the margin by 140 basis points year-on-year, and the ongoing downturn in tech staffing weighed by 70 basis points. The remaining movement was driven by lower volumes and trading days in consulting. Management is optimizing North American staffing operations and swiftly executing a turnaround in Germany to improve ACODIS's profitability. Excluding Germany, ACODIS's EBITDA margin was 4.3%, and ACODIS's utilization rate was strong, despite Germany, at 91%. Let's turn now to slide 10, which provides a deep dive into ACODIS Germany. ACODIS Germany's H1 performance has been significantly impacted by ongoing headwinds in autos. OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers have reduced or delayed projects as they transform. ACODIS's associated revenues have dropped by approximately 20% compared to pre-crisis levels. A good dynamic in other sectors, including rail, aerospace and defence, is not yet able to outweigh the challenges in autos. With market demands curtailed, utilisation rates have moved to around 85%. Since consulting as a bench model, this has meaningfully impacted the profitability of the unit. In addition, SG&A levels are too high for current market dynamics. In response, the group has launched a 40 million euro plus savings plan. Following constructive discussions with the Works Councils, headcount has been adjusted, affecting approximately 450 consultants and employees. G&A savings actions have been taken and further savings are in the pipeline, centred on real estate optimisation. The plan is well underway. To date, a savings run rate of over €30 million has been locked in. We estimate the turnaround plan will generate one-off restructuring charges of approximately €40 million, mostly in Q3 2025, and including an initial charge of €6 million booked in Q2. Looking forward, These actions will enable the CODIS Germany to show improvement in the third quarter and return to healthy run rate profitability by the end of 2025, also supporting improvement in the group's H2 margins. Let's move on to LHH and slide 11. Revenues in LHH were 1% lower year on year on an organic constant currency basis and 4% higher sequentially. Professional recruitment solutions revenues were 7% lower, outperforming the market and improving sequentially, particularly in Japan. However, key markets, the US, France and UK, remained soft. Recruitment solutions gross profit was 8% lower, with permanent placement 6% lower. Productivity was flat, with billing FTEs down 5%. Career transition and mobility was very strong, given a demanding comparison period. Revenues grew 5%, with 10% growth outside the US. Its pipeline is strong. Coaching and skilling revenues were 12% higher. ESRA's revenues increased 39%, reaching a new record level, with more scale generating healthy gross margin expansions. Its pipeline is strong and the average contract win size is increasing. Revenues in General Assembly reflect the exit of the B2C business. However, B2B was up 31% with the business seeing strong take-up of its AI offerings. LHH's EBIT A margin of 9.5%, 20 basis points lower year-on-year, mainly reflects lower volumes in professional recruitment solutions, largely offset by SG&A discipline. Let's turn now to slide 12, which shows the group's gross margin drivers on a year-on-year basis. Gross margin was healthy at 18.9%, 50 basis points lower on a reported basis. Currency translation had a negative impact of five basis points. Flexible and permanent placement each reduced margin by 15 basis points. Outsourcing, consulting, and other had a 20 basis point negative impact, mainly driven by challenges in ACODIS Germany. And training, up, and reskilling had a positive impact at five basis points, mainly driven by ESRA. Let's look at slide 13. and the group's EBIT-A bridge. At 2.5%, the EBIT-A margin excluding one-offs was 60 basis points lower year-on-year, driven by a five basis point impact from currency translation, a 45 basis point impact from organic gross margin developments, a 10 basis point positive impact from operating leverage, including positive contribution from G&A savings, and a 20 basis point negative impact from the timing of FESCO JV income. But the group continues to manage selling and delivery IT and G&A costs tightly. In Q2, SG&A expenses were 1% lower, with G&A down 5%. Selling FTEs were 5% lower, driving a 2% productivity uplift. Total FTEs were 4% lower year-on-year. Let's turn to slide 14 and the group's cash flow and financing structure. Cash conversion was strong at 98%. The SO was flat year-on-year at 52.5 days, a best-in-class result. Cash flow from operating activities was 81 million euros compared to 162 million euros in the prior year period and in line with normal seasonality. The year-on-year difference in cash generation was driven by working capital absorption for growth. CapEx was 29 million euros and free cash flow was 52 million euros. As a reminder, the group's cash flow generation is weighted to the second half. The quarter-end net debt to EBITDA ratio was 3.6 times, weighed by lower EBITDA. Net debt was slightly below €2.9 billion and €90 million lower year-on-year, with a lower dividend distribution partially offset by working capital absorption. The group remains firmly committed to bringing the net debt to EBITDA ratio to 1.5 times or below by the end of 2027, absent any major macroeconomic or geopolitical disruption. We benefit from a robust financial structure, with fixed interest rates on 80% of its outstanding gross debts, no financial covenants on any of our outstanding debts, and strong liquidity resources, including an undrawn €750 million revolving credit facility that was successfully renewed in the Q2 period. Given the year-to-date run rate of gross interest expenses, the Group has today lowered FY25 guidance to €75 million from €80 million. the group will also repay the 225 million Swiss franc senior bond as it matures this Q4, bringing down gross debt levels. Let's turn to slide 15 and the group's outlook. Volumes improved through Q2, and in Q3 to date, positive momentum continues. For Q3, the group expects growth margin to rise sequentially, in line with seasonality. It expects SG&A expenses, excluding one-offs, to be modestly lower sequentially. The group, therefore, expects profitability to improve from H1 levels as we progress through H2. And with that, I'll hand back to Denis.

Thank you, Coram. Let me conclude with slide 16 and key takeaways. In Q2, the group increased market share gains with solid margins, and revenues improved sequentially across all the GBUs. Performance of ADECO US improved significantly, and ADECO Germany's turnaround is well on the way. We expect this business to achieve healthy runway profitability by year-end. Management remains laser-focused on managing capacity with agility to drive share gain and productivity in mixed markets, in addition to securing G&A savings. We look forward to meeting with you to discuss the group's priorities and progress at our Capital Markets Day on 26th of November in London after the Q3 results. With that said, thank you for your attention and let's open the lines for Q&A.

At this time, I would like to remind everyone in order to ask a question, press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. We will pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Michael with the Uvanta Bell. Your line is open.

Yes, hi. Thank you. Good morning, gentlemen. Two questions from my side. The first one is if you could provide an update on your AI venture with Salesforce, see where that stands and how you expect that to benefit your business going forward. And the second question would be if you could share your thoughts on the general trends that you see in European automotive markets. going into the second half of this year and into next year when talking to your clients. That will be it from my side. Thank you.

Thank you. So I'll take both. The first thing around the joint venture that we have with Salesforce is we are really trailblazing The way we use identity AI to create an absolute innovation in the way we help our clients strategize their workforce management when the workforce is becoming hybrid with humans and agents. And so what we are creating is a platform that's going to sit on the desk of the C-suite to really help, you know, with all the data, external data, and internal client data to help, you know, the C-suite really look at where they can identify their business and put AI in. where teams can, you know, have to be upskilled and reskilled with AI, you know, the efficiency that they can get, et cetera. So it's really a buddy to the C-suite to help them strategize their workforce. The product is under development, and we will have a live, you know, demo on Dreamforce in August. in October in San Francisco, and general availability from January 26 onwards. It's progressing super well. We are pushing the limits of technology there, but it's extremely promising, and that puts us really at the forefront of agentic AI. On the second question regarding the automotive market, it's true that it has no better days. definitely we see the biggest pressure is with our German, you know, the German OEMs. If we look at, you know, the impact on our results, you know, in ADECO, OTO is only minus 1%, and ACODIS is minus 5% overall. Of course, in Germany, we're minus 14% because of the particular pressure on the German OEMs. I must say, Some other OEMs are in a bit of a better shape because they have done the restructuring several years in a row. What we hear, however, particularly from the German car makers, is that as they need to be more agile, as they need to be more flexible, they will outsource more to the future. So even though, yes, we are suffering currently particularly in Germany, in our quarters, we know that we have excellent relationship with the big names, and they are asking us to stay by their side because they will need us in the future to outsource more because they need more flexibility.

Perfect. Thank you.

Your next question comes from the line of Andy Grafberger with BNB Paribas. Your line is open.

Hi, good morning. A couple from me, if I may. Firstly, just on margin progression. You had really good growth in APAC and EMEA ex France, but then the ADECO GBU was flat. The margins were down in both. Why do you think you didn't, and stripping out the PESCO stuff within APAC, why do you think you didn't get more operational leverage in those regions? And then secondly, just going back to slide four, you talked about improved momentum. Can you just talk through the exit rates from Q2 and into early Q3, please?

Okay. Warren, we'll take both. Sure. Good morning, Andy. Absolutely understand the point on APAC and EMEA ex-France, but you do have to dig into each of them. I think on APAC, as you rightly mentioned, almost all of the year-on-year reduction in margin is about the timing of FESCO. And the underlying reduction was only 10 bits. And what we're doing in APAC is investing in capacity. And I have to say, APAC has been something of a virtuous circle for us because it has consistently demonstrated growth. consistently demonstrated market share and when we make those investments we get returns on them. So the operating leverage is there but we've chosen to use it in Q2 to fuel further growth. In terms of EMEA ex-grants, you can see there are lots of ups and downs in terms of where those territories are. They have all consistently delivered market share gains, which I think is important. There's a little bit of client mix. on a temporary basis in there. But actually, the pressure on margins in the short term comes from perm, which, as you know, has been a pressure point, particularly in Europe. There's an ongoing downturn, and that does, in the short term, impact gross margin. There is good SG&A discipline across EMEA, but it's not, at the moment, enough to affect that perm pressure. There's nothing structural going on there. It's a timing and cycle effect. And then in terms of exit rates, I mean, we have seen, as you know, very consistent improvements in the business from the start of the year. It's broad-based in a decade. It's modest every month, but it continues. In Q2, we saw several weeks where the volumes were positive, particularly in the back end, and July has been positive for us. So we do see continued momentum in the business, and we would expect that to continue.

Thank you. Can I just ask one follow-up, just on the APAC point? As the group returns to growth, hopefully through the back end of this year and into next year, Do you expect to see kind of the normal drop through rates or are you going to have to reinvest the funds that growth to the extent that we don't get the operational leverage that we may hope for?

Look, it's a good point. In APAC, I think the growth prospects are so strong that we've decided to reinvest. It's one of the areas where we consistently put headcount in and we consistently get growth and very good margins. It is, as you know, a high-margin business for us. In terms of the wider drop-through, we've been running on a recovery ratio recently of about 43%. As the business returns to growth in a deco, we would definitely expect to see the normal drop down of 50% and maybe even a little bit higher. And that is what underpins our confidence in H2 margins because that operating leverage will come through as the momentum continues and it will drive profitability.

Great. Thank you very much.

Your next question comes from the line of Remy Grenouille with Morgan Stanley here on Vinus Open.

Good morning, gentlemen. Thanks for taking my questions. Three, if I may. So the first one is on adecoufrans, so that seems to be a nice improvement. see in terms of volumes how this has evolved by market and type of client. And also, I think you previously mentioned that you had some headwinds with the top three clients in that country. So can you maybe make an update on that and what role it has played in the sequential recovery within that country? So first question on France. And the second one is on Acrodis. So I think from the comments you were making on the margin ex-Germany in both Q1 and Q2, it seems to me, and correct me if I'm wrong, that it So would you expect you to be the peak loss at Aquadis? So that's the second question. And then the third one, to elaborate a little bit on what Andy was asking on margin, are we speaking to the comment that you think you can make it to 3% over the full year? And if so, I think that back at the end of the cancellation, it would probably imply that you're getting close or slightly below 4% Do you think it's a reasonable assumption for us to work on, and do you think that actually we're just trying to understand the organic growth and SGM trajectory you're seeing for the rest of the year?

Thank you, Rémi. I'll take the question of France, and Coram will take the other two questions. So, yeah, we're pleased with the way our improvement plan is delivering in France. In Q1, we were at minus 9%. Q2, we are minus 4%. So still negative, but the market is even more negative. So for the first time since quite a long time, we've outperformed the market overall. 13 basis points, not massive, but it's a good trend. The pressure point in France is the permanent recruitment, which is down 11%. And you were talking about these large clients. Yes, I mean, there's still a pressure point on these large clients, particularly in logistics, in health care. And the last two ones that we were – the last three ones that we are mentioning are not, you know, fundamentally supporting at the moment. But the food and beverage sector, the retail sector, construction, that were the key focus for us, I mean, these are getting good traction. So we've seen a sequential improvement of the weekly volumes. Even July was a bit better than Q2. And we have, moving forward, we have some tailwinds that are linked to some of the very nice client wins. The pipeline is improving. So even though our top three clients are not really supporting, the rest of the business is having momentum. that shows that the action plan that we put in place, you know, we deploy our hybrid delivery platform with discipline, with our central delivery channel, we boost our SME business, we are accelerating on nuclear and construction, our DNA settings are flowing nicely, and we start to deploy also AI agents. All that together puts us, I think, in a much better place for the second half of the year in France. So, wow. I'm seeing Ring of Friends positively now.

And let me pick up on ACODIS margins and the group margin for the full year. On ACODIS, as I mentioned in our opening remarks, It's a 330 basis point drop year on year. The main components of that are 140 basis points as a result of Germany, where the restructuring is already underway. 70 basis points from talent, which is primarily the U.S., We saw good competitive performance in talent, particularly in the US, but we do continue to right-size because of the ongoing pressures in that business. And the remainder is really trading days in Q2 and lower volumes in a couple of our other consulting markets. To your point about the trajectory for the rest of the year, I mean, the biggest driver, obviously, of where we are in Q2 is Germany. And as we've mentioned, that savings plan is already being executed. It's 40 million plus euros of savings run rate by the year end. 30 million of that is already locked in. And we would expect a modest benefit in Q3. So Germany margins will improve in Q3, and that will help ACODIS. And we would expect to see the full run rate come through in the Q4 margins, which would imply Germany being back to a mid-single-digit EBITDA margin on a run rate basis by year-end. And we're assuming that on the basis of current revenues. So we are not expecting a pickup in terms of the top line in that business in the second half. So I think Q2 is the trough for a CODIS margins, and you will see a pickup in Q3 and strength in Q4. On the group as a whole, to be clear, we are firmly committed to achieving the 3% EBITDA margin floor on an annual basis, so in 2025. And there are a couple of ways that we get there, and these are the reasons why we are confident that H2 margins and profitability will improve. As we discussed a couple of minutes ago, we've seen a consistent modest improvement in flex volumes. That will drive operating leverage for us in the second half. We are tightly controlling G&A, so the savings that we delivered last year continue to flow through the P&L, and as you can see from our numbers, we are pushing for more and identifying more. And we'll continue to manage selling capacity in an agile way, balancing share gains and productivity. And stepping back, if you put together the components of our guidance for Q3, it implies an improvement in margins from where we are. You can do the math. You'll get to north of 3%. And in Q4, we'd expect further operating leverage and obviously the full run rate benefit from of the ACODIS Germany restructuring. You won't get to 4% in Q4, but there will be progress from Q3 to Q4, and that's why we are committed to achieving that 3% EBITDA margin floor.

Your next question comes from the line of Suhasini Varanasi with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

Hi, good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. Just a couple for me, please. If you think about the gross margin that you reported in Q2, it was a touch lower than the expectations you gave at the time of 1Q results. Can you discuss what changed with your expectations, and how would you think about Q3's evolution? Secondly, on the SG&A, when you think about the modest improvement in SG&A sequentially in Q3, can you break out how much benefit we can expect from, of course, I think it's a modest benefit from the restructuring program in Q3, and therefore, how much should be the underlying change sequentially for Q3 that we should expect? Thank you.

I think Coram will take both. Thank you, Swazil.

Thank you. So on gross margin in Q2, and we've given you the moving parts year on year. And just to remind you, obviously, there's flex mix, particularly the country mix. So the growth coming from slightly lower gross margin countries. There's the ongoing pressure in Perm, and then obviously there is the short-term pressures in ECODIS Germany, which are flowing through on outsourcing, consulting, and solutions. Now, when we guided in Q2 on GM, we guided to reflect normal seasonality, so we were pointing to 30 bits lower from Q1 to Q2. To your point, we came in 50 bits lower. There's really two reasons for that. One, at FX, there was volatility in Q2, which we hadn't anticipated at the beginning of the quarter. That was about five basis points. And then the rest is really that we got faster growth than we were expecting in flex, skewed towards the lower gross margin countries. And flex, as a result, was 15 basis points lower versus an expectation at the beginning of the quarter that we would be flat. So that's the movements in Q2. On Q3... Q3 is typically the strongest gross margin quarter for the industry. You get the benefit of the additional working hours, and we would expect to see that helping us on a seasonal basis from Q2 to Q3 sequentially. And we're pointing to 20 to 30 basis points of uplift. To be clear, that is still down year on year. It's down 20 to 30 basis points. And the moving parts are FX, where we'd expect ongoing volatility, so let's say 10 basis points negative. We expect there to be a little bit of further pressure on PERM, about 10 basis points. Career transition we think will be flat. Outsourcing consulting and solutions, a small negative, 10 to 20 basis points, driven by ACOBIS Germany. Training, we think, will be up, reflecting the benefits that we're seeing in that service line. And we'd expect flex to be flat to 10 basis points up. And you may say, well, why would flex be different? And the key point is that the mix is starting to evolve in our favor on flex. you can see the sequential momentum that we've got, for example, in the US, which is a higher gross margin territory, and a couple of our other territories where we're really starting to see that sequential momentum. And that's what's going to be different in Q3. On SG&A, in terms of what we'd expect to happen in Q3, We're guiding for it to be lower modestly on a sequential basis. So we came in in Q2 on 954 million. There is always a little bit of seasonality between Q2 and Q3. It's usually about 10 million. And then we'd expect a further modest sequential benefit, which will really come from sustained G&A discipline and continuing to manage our capacity in an agile way. As you know, on G&A, we've got a couple of territories where we continue to find savings. We've discussed these in previous calls, the U.S. and France, for example. Germany in a KDIS does help, but it's largely a Q4 benefit on SG&A rather than a Q3 benefit.

Thank you very much. That's super clear.

Your next question comes from the line of Simon Le Chouperie with the Jefferies. Your line is open.

Yes. Good morning. Three questions, please. First of all, SG&A and, I mean, ST came down by 4% year-on-year in the quarter, but SG&A was down, like, 1%. So could you just explain the delta, please? Similarly, as a follow-up to on the 3% EBIT margin target, I mean, it seems like I mean, you will need close profit margin to be up to over a year in Q4 to achieve close to 4% profit margin in the quarter. So, I mean, would you confirm this? And, I mean, how do you expect to be able to manage to get such results? And lastly, on cash, I mean, any view on free cash flow for H2 and where do you think net S&P could be by the end of this year? Thank you.

Sure. So, let me pick up on those points. I mean, on the SG&A, you're right, the decrease in FTEs was 4% year-on-year, and there was a 1% reduction in SG&A. Remember, there is always a differential of wage and merit increases, and we saw this in Q1 as well. So you do not get all of the benefit of the FTE reduction on a year-on-year basis. In terms of the 3% EBIT A margin floor, I want to be clear, we're not expecting a significant uptick in gross margin in Q4. That's not the way that we get to the 3%. Just to repeat... We expect operating leverage on the back of the momentum that we're seeing in flex volumes. We are tightly controlling G&A, and we are managing capacity in an agile way. Plus, in Q4, you get the benefits of the swing on a CODIS Germany because of the run rate coming through on the savings plan. That's what gets you there. We are not banking on a structural change in gross margin in Q3 and Q4. And then in terms of cash flow, I mean, our cash flow is heavily H2 weighted, so we would expect a good cash flow in H2. We are tightly managing working capital. You see that in our DSO figures, which are flat year on year. which is a best-in-class result. But we also need to recognize that the business does absorb working capital when it grows. You've seen that in the Q2 numbers. The differential between operating cash flow in Q2 this year and last year is all about that working capital absorption and the sequential momentum that we see, for example, in ADECO, which is 3% between Q1 and Q2. And if revenue developments continue, then we expect to see a bit of working capital absorption in H2 as well. So we'll see good cash conversion. It probably won't be quite as strong an operating cash flow outcome as we saw in H2 of last year. On leverage, I think it's really important to recognize that absolute net debt has come down, and it's come down by just under $100 million year on year. We see the benefits of the reduced dividend flowing through, but it's partially offset in the short term by that working capital absorption as we grow. So the main impact on the leverage ratio, and it's always at its peak in Q2, is actually driven by the rolling 12-month EBITDA, which has been lower than you might have expected as we've protected capacity to gain share. That strategy is working. You can see the share gains in the business. You can see the momentum on the top line, but it has had an impact on the leverage ratio in the short term. Now, we will see a significant improvement in the leverage ratio in H2, and it will come from that H2 weighted cash flow bringing down absolute net debt, and it will come from the margin improvement in H2 flowing through to the 12-month rolling EBITDA, and so both parts of the ratio will see a benefit. And remember, we'll also, we mentioned this in the script, bring down gross debt levels when we repay the 225 million Swiss francs senior bond in Q4.

Thank you.

Your next question comes from the line with Steve Wolfe with Deutsche Bank. Your line is open.

Hi, thanks all. Just on, it's coded. Can I just clarify whether the cost savings you're putting through now, are they incremental to the overall plan you had previously? Secondly, if I go back to slide four and look at the volume improvements in Flex, if I was to add on to that wages and then the pricing, does that line stay about the same or presumably just improves that a little bit more? And then finally, in ECOGIS and generally in the US tech recruitment, What do you think you need to see out there to remove that blockage that seems to be? What's, you know, with your feedback from companies as to why they're not hiring in this space, what generally is the, you know, is the feedback? Obviously, they're letting people go. So, thanks.

Thanks. I'll take the first and the third one. I think Corm will take the second one. So, with regards to the Accurate Germany plan, yes, I mean, we are doubling down on the the restructuring plan. You know, we had, we were already pivoting the business before the German auto crisis. We were moving away from legacy into moving into digital engineering. We are moving delivery to offshore. But then the, you know, Germany auto, you know, had this significant downturn. And the way we have articulated the acceleration of our restructuring plan is on several things. First of all, we do a portfolio adjustment. We have a few small disposals. You know, we talked about this very significant restructuring, you know, to manage the bench. So we are resizing the teams. It's about 12% of the team that is existing. And we are also really accelerating the move to offshore to keep on our competitiveness. There's also a real estate point where we go, again, one step further than we had anticipated. And at the same time, we're also pushing, and I insist on that, we're also pushing into the diversification to, you know, capitalize on other sectors. Of course, we want to keep our great relationship with the carmakers because, as I said earlier, They're going to be ready in some time for more outsourcing, but we believe that now we have a big potential. On the defense sector, we see some beginning of a momentum. We have, you know, all the big names there are our clients, but we also see traction in energy, in railway, in life sciences. So overall, yes, we are really extending the initial plan. go much deeper to, as Coram said, to have a very nice exit rate for this year and, you know, both reduce the dependency on autos and then position Accolades Germany for growth and definitely group accretive margins.

On your second question around wage inflation, pricing and volumes, And wage inflation continues. It's modest. It's not at the same significant levels that we saw a couple of years ago, but it is there and it is positive. And most importantly, we continue to see a positive spread between pay rates and bill rates in the ADECO business. So both of those are additive. As we've touched on in previous quarters, there is a country mix effect which works a little bit against that. But it is good to see, and you can see it on that slide 4, that the G12 actually has got more momentum right now than some of the smaller territories. So that's positive. I think if I step back on Q3, what we'd expect to see is modest volume momentum, a little bit of help from wage inflation. And remember also, there is a benefit on the comps in Q3 of around 200 basis points. So you should see decent growth in Q3.

And as far as the CodexUS piece, yeah, well, actually, we've seen the overall tech staffing market is still soft. We see some signs of sequential improvements. We have a little bit of a pickup in job orders. and we are more or less performing in line with the market. To your point, what needs to be true for the market to recover? There are still a lot of questions around the impact on AI, and we believe there is probably some impact on AI, particularly on entry-level software developers. It's hard to quantify at the moment, but definitely when we see, you know, the large companies, large tech companies laying off some of their developers, we believe that that has an impact on that market. However, there's still, I mean, this market has a variety of profiles. It's still a massive market, so... once companies will have figured out what they really need in terms of technology and support and engineers, you know, when the market will probably regain some dynamic. At the same time, as Coram said earlier, we're also right-sizing the business. I mean, we also have a DNA settings plan there to make sure that we are lean and efficient. but we don't call it a recovery yet, even though we see a little bit of a job order pickup.

That's right, thanks.

And I must say, sorry, I must say that at the same time, we have two indicators that tell us that it's still, I mean, there are still opportunities. Our code is consulting business is growing super well. We grow at 30%. So that means higher value higher value added to clients is relevant. We also see, and it's a sign that the market will not probably pick up soon, is the career transition continues to be really quite strong, particularly with tech profiles, particularly coming from the tech industry.

Your next question comes from the line of Rory McKenzie with UBS. Your line is open.

Well, Rory here. Just two questions left, please. Firstly, on Addeco in North America, obviously up 10% is great in the market, which is still in small declines. Can you talk about the type of contract wins you've had to support that? Are they just big wins within the last 12 months that are still ramping up, or is it growth within existing clients? and what's the pipeline ahead. Basically, we expect this to stay at that level of growth into Q3 and Q4. And secondly, Ezra sounds like it's performing extremely well. What's the long-term thoughts about whether that business can go, and do you think it will always work best as part of LHH, for example?

So, thanks, Rory. So, on ADECO UI here, we're really pleased with the way the turnaround plan is delivering. Let me be clear. We are not done yet. We still have a lot to go. Profitability is not at the place we want it to be. But 10% growth in Q2, Q1 was at minus 2%. So there is momentum, and we believe that we can sustain, at least for the next couple of quarters, this kind of growth. despite PERM being significantly declining. PERM is at minus 26%, and it's probably in line with what we hear on the market. To your question, large accounts are growing 24%. SMEs are growing 4%. So there's still growth in the small and medium business, but it's true that we've won some large businesses in retail, in consumer goods, in food and beverage, which is pretty nice. So, we will continue that momentum because that's delivering. We're still very focused on branch profitability. We are cautious in branch openings, so we post some of them just to make sure that we optimize our resources. The pipeline of a large account is quite active. It's quite good. So, of course, we need to transform, but that's pretty good. And we see a good momentum on our MSP business. We've been lagging behind for a long time. I think we're improving there. So that's pretty good. In terms of – and we, of course, continue to focus on reaching our cost to serve. We are accelerating our nearshoring, you know, because that delivers competitiveness. As far as Ezra, yeah, we're super pleased. We're very encouraged by what Ezra is doing. This quarter, they delivered, again, record revenues. The spike line is very strong. The deal size is also growing, which is good. The NPS is absolutely amazing at its very best, both from clients and for people that are being coached. So there's a lot There's a lot to do. Our gross margin is very healthy. We continue to fuel the development of that business because the market is expanding. Clients are asking more and more for those types of services. Ezra is reinventing coaching. He's democratizing coaching. At the same time, he helps support cultural transformation. And that speaks very well to the C-suite. it goes much beyond the one-to-one coaching. It's one-to-one coaching, but in the direction that the C-suite sets. And that's super powerful. So I'm convinced it will continue to be super successful and a very important pillar of LHH. And that really supports LHH's strategy in terms of upping its game, if I may say so.

Thank you.

Your next question comes from the line of Conrad Zumer with OdoBHF. Your line is open.

Hi, good morning. I've got two questions, please, one on leverage and one on Germany. The one on leverage, we all understand that Q2 is the high point of the year and that it's going to come down in the second half. but the most important factor that is going to reduce it is improving profitability. You've got two and a half years to go to get to that level of one and a half times, and it's not the current dividend, it's not the SG&A focus, but it's the underlying market improvement that you need in order to get there. So what's the underlying staffing market improvement that you've built in to your forecast of reducing leverage to less than one and a half times. And my second question on Germany, the restructuring that you're going through in Germany in a code is the 40 million and the 450 fewer consultants. Does that include your ADECO staffing business in Germany? Are you reducing the number of people that you place in Germany as well? Or is that like a completely separate entity? Thank you.

I'll reply on Germany, and then Coram will take your first question. The restructuring in Germany only concerns Accordis engineers, so it has no impact on ADECO. It's very clear that it's the bench model that we are adjusting in Accordis.

And on the leverage point, Conrad, I agree with your point that margin is important, but cash flow is also important. And I think one of the key points to note about where we are at Q2, as you say, it's always the signal peak, but right now the calculation works against us both in terms of H1 cash flow always being seasonally light and 12 months worth of rolling EBITDA where we've been protecting capacity to gain share. And so we will see a significant improvement this year in the leverage ratio. which comes through the seasonally weighted H2 cash flow. We're being super disciplined on working capital. You can see that in our DSO number and the margin improvement that we expect in the second half, which comes from operating leverage and real cost discipline on G&A and agile management of capacity. On the 1.5 times margin, target, which is where we expect to be at or below that target by the end of 2027, we are very confident we can reach it. And as we've discussed in previous calls, there are two paths to how we get there. The first is modest momentum continues on the top line. It gives us operating leverage and it really moves the margin each We've talked about the drop through on this business. It's 50%. In the shorter term, it should be better than that, given the way that we've been running the recovery ratio. But we know the business is geared nicely to drop through at least half of the improvement in gross profit through to EBITDA. So that is obviously one way that we get to 1.5 times by the end of 2027. The second point is that if that momentum stalls or slows, then we will reduce capacity. We will reduce sales and delivery capacity. It's a $2.5 billion cost base on an annual basis. In order to get to the leverage ratio on the back of the current revenues, you'd need about a 15% reduction. in that sales and delivery capacity. And remember, there's quite a lot of flexibility built into that cost base. So we have our own FTEs in sales and delivery that are on temp contracts. It's about 10%. We also have a natural attrition rate. And so we can adjust that capacity very quickly if we need to. So, two very clear paths. Our preference, obviously, would be for momentum on the top line, but we can get there in the event that that stalls, and we do that by adjusting sales and delivery capacity.

That's clear. Thank you very much.

Your next question comes from the line of Simon Van Otten with Pepper Shugger. Your line is open.

Good morning, gentlemen, and thank you for taking my question. I want to dive a little bit deeper on Germany. So you mentioned in your ADECO GBU that autos were strong in Germany in the second quarter, whereas in ACOTA, as you mentioned, there were strong headwinds. Can you please help me understand the dynamics that are currently at play in Germany, not only in autos, but the broader market as a whole? And what do you expect, let's say, in the coming quarters, given the confirmed U.S.-EU trade deal and the federal budget set to be voted upon in the second half. Thank you.

So, with regards to, yeah, it's quite interesting to see the pressure points in Germany, in Akotas, and not so much in Adeko. Well, actually, it says something about the fact that they're still producing cars today. And they need support for that, and it's a sign that they are starting to flex more on the production side, and hence that's a good runway for ADECO. But on the way they think about, they design their new cars, on the way they design their new automatic driving systems, on their engineering parts, you know, moving parts, you know, and we know they are hesitating, the car makers are hesitating between should we go full electric vehicles, should we have hybrid models, etc. There's a lot of thinking and they definitely have to done the restructuring that many other car makers have done in the world. And that explains why they are reducing, you know, volumes for our coders at the moment because they are even shrinking their own, you know, R&D teams. So that's that explains this paradox of ADECO having good traction and ACADIS being under pressure. But as I said, we believe that once they've done their own , if I may say so, and that's what they're telling us, they're going to outsource more. As far as the EU-US trade deal, we will actually, We've seen an interesting trend from the beginning of the year. We talked about that earlier. You know, permanent recruitment being really, really dropping from, you know, like February, March, because of the uncertainty created by the U.S. government. And as much as we've seen PERM dropping, particularly in the Western world, that means North America and Europe. I mean, we still see some good fraction in Latin America, but these two regions have been really impacted. We've seen flex volumes, you know, improving, which says something about the confidence. And that's what we hear from our clients. When our clients are not confident, they don't recruit permanently. But because there is some activity there, they take temporary workers. So that has supported that. Now, you know, we believe that the trade deal has given a landing zone now. And, you know, definitely we could, we can, clients will now reassess where to operate. where would they have to move their supply chain or adjust, et cetera. So we believe that this is going to bring more visibility. And I think that it's good. It's good. So this is, you know, uncertainty is never good for the business. More visibility will help. Too early to know exactly, clients are really figuring out in this new playground, what options that they're going to take.

Okay. Thank you very much.

Your next question comes from the line of James Earl of Cargill Barclays. Your line is open.

Hi there. Just one for me, please. On Germany, you've mentioned in the presentation about the momentum in aerospace and defense. Obviously, there are some drags elsewhere in Germany. Could you help us with a sort of scale of the opportunity that you think is coming down the pipe, either discussions, you know, the sort of scale of those, or maybe even any wins you can indicate at this point? I'm just trying to get a sense of the size of the opportunity in defence versus your current group revenue exposure of about 5% to defence more broadly. Thank you.

Yeah, let me give you at Cody's table some numbers. You know, autos is minus 5% year-on-year, but aerospace and defense overall was plus 15% year-on-year. And so that's pretty good. Energy is plus 21%. Life science is plus 15% year-on-year. So all that, of course, on lower volumes than autos, but we have good traction. We have very strong, you know, relationship with the likes of Thales, Naval Group, High Metal, KNDS, MTU, Thyssen Group. So we start to see traction. We believe that the sector growth could be maybe around, you know, mid-single digit by the end of this year, on lower volumes, of course, than autos, but it's going to get traction. The stimulus package, in Germany has not yet given its full impact, of course. It's going to take several quarters. But that puts us, I think, in a really positive mindset with regards to, you know, what's going to come up. And, again, our clients expect us to be by their side as they have this order book going nicely. Thank you.

I will now turn the call back to Danny Michaud, CEO, for closing remarks.

Thank you, and thanks to all of you for having attended the call. Just in a nutshell, you know, for the past quarters, we have seen a positive momentum, and we will focus on really sustaining it. As Colin said earlier, of course, we are managing our capacity in a very agile way. We will turn around Accodes Germany in the same way as we are currently improving our performance in ADECO US and ADECO in France. Fundamentally, I am very confident in the trajectory of the group. And during the CMD in November, we will tell you in more details what we do to execute our strategy, how our transformative actions that we are layering on top of running our business are delivering, and particularly how technology and AI are supporting our performance. So looking forward to interacting with you, of course. doing our Q3 results, but more fundamentally during the CMD. Thanks a lot for having been with us today.

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. You may now disconnect.