Hays: Shares tank after recruiter issues latest profit warning
Hays has downgraded its annual profit guidance and issued a bleak forecast for the UK’s recruitment market.
The London-listed group said it expected pre-exceptional operating profits of around £45m in 2025, well below analyst consensus of £56.4m.
Shares tumbled more than 13 per cent in early deals.
Firms have been grappling with increases to national insurance contributions and the global uncertainty created by US tariffs. An industry survey in February reported the toughest conditions in the jobs market since the pandemic.
Hays warned on Thursday that it expected “challenging market conditions to persist into 2026” as it looks to improve net-fee productivity.
Activity levels during the fourth quarter were impacted by weakness in the permanent hire space, which has been driven by “low levels of cleint and candidate confidence as a result of macroeconomic uncertainty.”
Hays said it expects group like-for-like net fees to decline by nine per cent year-on-year in the fourth quarter.
Net fees in the company’s largest market, Germany, fell five per cent year-on-year with “weaker conditions” in both Temp and Perm, it added.
Shares in Hays are down by more than 30 per cent over the last 12 months.
The FTSE 250 firm had already warned in April about economic uncertainty and a difficult jobs market.
Recruitment market ‘rough,’ says Hays CFO
“It has been a pretty rough recruitment market for the last two years,” Hays chief financial officer, James Hilton, said at the time.
“These are challenging markets and we see that across Europe.”
Hays said on Thursday it remained committed to delivering a “focused strategy” aimed at mitigating the challenging backdrop.
“Our initiatives to improve net fee productivity in real terms and back-office efficiency will be important drivers of medium-term profit recovery when the market recovers.”