Adecco finally confirms 2003 figures
The world’s largest employment agency, Adecco, says its 2003 accounts are accurate, and that there will be no restatement of last year's figures.
The company has twice delayed its results while auditors scrutinised its books for accounting irregularities. The audit cost €100 million (SFr153 million).
Adecco’s executive chairman John Bowmer said that auditor Ernst & Young had “confirmed to the board that [it] will deliver an unqualified audit opinion with the full consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with the United States’ GAAP [Generally Agreed Accounting Principles]”.
He added that there would be “no restatement of prior year accounts”. Last year, net profit rose 26 per cent to €305 million (SFr466 million).
The market reacted positively to the news with the company share price rising by almost four per cent to reach SFr62.75 at the end of trading on Tuesday, after the previous close of Sfr60.40.
In January, Adecco revealed accounting problems at its North American operations, causing its share price to drop by half.
It postponed the release of its 2003 results twice as auditors combed the books for irregularities.
Analysts said they were not suprised by the publication of the results on Tuesday.
“It was widely expected,” said Roland Wildmann from Bank Leu. “The most positive is there is no restatement.”
“But it makes you wonder what the fuss was about,” he added.
Misappropriations
During the audit the board of directors repeated that there was no evidence demonstrating “major misappropriations or irregularities” that would be financially significant to the company as a whole.
However, the problems led to the departure of the chief financial officer and the head of North American operations.
Adecco’s chief executive, Jerome Caille, said the company’s prospects were good now that the problems were out of the way.
“We are now well positioned for continuing growth: sales trends this year are above those we observed at the end of last year, and key economic indicators are more positive, giving us confidence that demand for staffing should pick up further.”
Adecco said €6 million of the audit costs would be charged to the 2003 results, and that €36 million would be booked in the first quarter.
The 2003 result was slightly below analysts’ estimates.
swissinfo with agencies
Adecco is the world’s largest temporary staffing agency and employs 28,000 people worldwide.
The company said it would release first-quarter results for 2004 on June 4.
The delayed annual general meeting is expected to take place on June 29.
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