randstad reconfirms its strategy growth trend continued: 5% organic growth in october.

Analyst & Investor days

Randstad Holding nv hosts its analyst & investor conference at its headquarters in the Netherlands. Yesterday, we started with a presentation by Greg Netland, Executive Board member and responsible for North America, who gave an update on Randstad North America and the integration of SFN Group. Jacques van den Broek, Executive Board member, elaborated on field steering at Randstad. We offered participants at the conference an opportunity to practise our unique field steering model through a business game.



Today, Ben Noteboom (CEO) will start with a presentation on our strategy and our targets. Robert-Jan van de Kraats (CFO) will discuss our financial strategy and elaborate on the cyclical trends in our business, our current position and other financial topics. Linda Galipeau and Dan Foley, both Presidents of our US Staffing & Professionals operations will talk about US market developments, our organization, field steering and our profile in MSP and RPO. Frans Cornelis, MD Group marketing & communications, will give an update on our branding strategy, the progress of rebranding and the role of internet in our business. Finally, Annemarie Muntz, MD Group public affairs, will address the process of the implementation of the European Agency Work Directive and other opportunities in the regulatory environment.

Strategy reconfirmed

We continue to strive for a 5%-6% EBITA margin through the cycle, which we consider achievable in normal market circumstances with continued growth. The structural growth drivers in our industry remained in place. Clients are increasingly focused on becoming more efficient and having access to knowhow and the best candidates. Demographic trends, for example, the growing mismatch between supply and demand for labor, require higher mobility and participation in the labor market. Other opportunities will emerge from the implementation of appropriate regulation in all our markets. As a global HR service provider we are well-positioned to benefit from all these trends and we remain focused on: ? field steering to ensure adaptability and drive productivity ? gaining market share across segments in existing countries ? leveraging our unique inhouse concept ? reinforcing our specialty approach and focusing on the SME segment ? accelerating growth in professionals and focusing on permanent placements



By further improving our business mix, while maintaining flexibility in our cost base and our solid financial position, we are well-positioned to realize our strategic targets.  

Current trading

The trends that were discussed in our Q3 press release have continued into Q4 2011. In October revenue per working day increased by 19%, or 5% on an organic basis. In November we see a similar trend where our growth rate gradually slows.



North America continued to lead the way and grew by 11% per working day. Both US Professionals and Canada maintained their solid performance and grew by 18%. Our US Staffing & Inhouse business grew by 5%, somewhat better than in September. The performance of SFN Group remained strong and the integration remains on track.



In Europe the gradual slowdown, as witnessed in the third quarter, continued. France and Germany did relatively well, while in Southern Europe the slowdown was more pronounced.



We anticipate our underlying costs in Q4, adjusted for the consolidation of SFN, to be in line with the level of Q3 2011. In addition, and in line with our previous outlook, we will further streamline our cost base in those countries where growth and profitability have developed below expectations. We anticipate that, we will incur non-recurring costs up to € 20 million in the coming months. We aim at realizing the related savings within the first year.

Audio webcast

Today, the conference starts at 09.00 CET (08.00 GMT). You can listen to the presentations of Ben Noteboom and Robert-Jan van de Kraats through a real-time audio webcast. A replay of the webcast and all other presentations will be available on our website by the end of the day. You can find all information on our website.