In line with their policy, the Board is maintaining the interim core dividend at 1.11p per share (2018: 1.11p). The interim dividend payment date will be 9 April 2020 and the ex-dividend date is 5 March 2020 (record date 6 March 2020).
Other financial highlights include:
First half operating profit declined by 18% to £100.1 million, driven by: 1) c.£15 million reduction in reported Group net fees YoY, including a sharp slowdown in their largest country, Germany, and three specific external events in December (general strikes in France, Australian bushfires and the UK Election); and 2) c.£9 million of net reported cost increases, driven by strategic investment in IT specialism globally, property and IT capability
Australia & New Zealand (ANZ): net fees down 4%, with operating profit down 14%. Resilient Temp performance, down 2%, with Perm down 9% in tough Private sector markets
Germany: net fees down 5%, with operating profit down 20%. Tough market conditions, with reduced business confidence and increased client cost control, particularly in Automotive, Manufacturing and Financial Services. Fees in Temp & Contracting fell 5%, with a 2% reduction in volume and 3% lower average hours worked per assignment
UK & Ireland (UK&I): net fees fell by 4%, with operating profit down 21%, significantly impacted by pre-Election uncertainties leading to Private sector fees decreasing by 8%. Good Public sector fee performance, up 8%
Rest of World (RoW): net fee growth of 2%, with operating profit down 20%, impacted by a marked deceleration in fee growth in China through the half, a sharp slowdown in France in December and strategic investment in their IT specialism and property. Asia fees up 4% overall, and good 7% growth in the Americas. Fees were flat in EMEA ex-Germany. Six countries grew by more than 10% including the USA and Russia
Group initiatives: while consultant headcount fell 2% YoY, average H1 headcount increased 1% as they added c.200 consultants in their structurally-attractive IT specialism. As Q2 trading weakened, they implemented an overhead reduction programme which will deliver c.£5 million of cost savings in H2, with further cost initiatives underway
Net cash of £13.2 million, after paying £121.6 million of special and final dividends in November. Good underlying conversion of operating profit into operating cash flow.
