Adecco figures suggest acquisition was a job well done

Adecco, the world's largest employment services company, has announced massive profit growth Keystone Archive

The employment agency, Adecco, has announced net profit growth of 42 per cent to SFr746 million (449.4 million) in 2000.

The company, based at Chéserex near Lausanne, said the profit figure excluded charges tied to goodwill and restructuring.

The 2000 results include the acquisition last year of the United States employment group, Olsten. Goodwill charges include those from the 1996 merger which formed Adecco from the fusion of Adia and France’s Ecco.

Adecco is now the world’s largest employment services company in terms of revenues, followed by the US-based firm, Manpower.

A statement said that under the US’s Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), Adecco had reported a net loss in 2000 of SFr428 million after goodwill amortisation of SFr1.1 billion and restructuring charges of SFr65 million.

Revenues in 2000 rose by 44 per cent, including acquisitions, to SFr26.6 billion – up from SFr18.5 billion in 1999.

Adecco’s chief executive officer, John Bowmer, said that he was “delighted” with the results.

“In this challenging year, we managed to grow our business organically while completing the largest merger ever in our industry within 12 months. This major and complex merger with Olsten is scheduled for completion by the end of the first quarter 2001,” he said.

However, Bowmer said the information technology business had failed to match expectations because of a personnel shortage in IT.

At the annual meeting of shareholders on May 2, the board of directors is to propose a dividend of SFr10 per share, a 19 per cent increase over the SFr8.40 paid for 1999.

The board is also going to propose a 1:10 stock split, subject to the condition that the minimum par nominal value of SFr10 required under the Swiss Code of Obligations be abolished.

swissinfo with agencies