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* Hays FY net fees fall 12%
* Sees more headcount reduction in Q1
* Shares down about 0.5%
(Adds CEO comments, share move)
By Indranil Sarkar
Aug 27 (Reuters) - Recruitment agency Hays Plc
reported a 12% fall in full-year net fees on Thursday and said
it expects its headcount to fall this quarter after a hiring
slump driven by COVID-19 knocked fees by more than a third in
the three months to June.
The company, which is among the world's biggest recruiters
with big businesses in both temporary and permanent hiring, said
net fees slumped 34% in the fourth quarter of its 2020 fiscal
year.
"Conditions in all regions were very tough," Chief Executive
Alistair Cox said, adding that there were signs of some
resilience in technical sectors like information technology (IT)
and life sciences.
The agency, which has already shed 9% of its global
workforce, said it expected headcount at the end of the current
quarter would also be down compared to the end of June.
"I think it's fair to say that there will be small number of
people who will choose to leave the organisation... and if they
leave during the next few months we will think twice about
whether we want to replace them," Cox said in a call with
Reuters.
"But that will be relatively low numbers. The vast majority
of what was needed to be done has been done."
The staffing company added that fees earned through May to
July were stable and that it saw modest signs of improvement in
its Permanent hiring, while Temporary markets remain stable.
Most corporate recruitment ground to a halt in March as
companies froze hiring or laid off staff to cut costs as
European and U.S. lockdowns followed those in Asia.
The onset of recession in most major economies is set to add
to that pain.
Hays, which operates in 33 countries, said overall net fees
fell to 996.2 million pounds ($1.3 billion) for the full-year to
end June, from 1.13 billion pounds reported last year.
Shares of the recruiter were down 0.5% at 0926 GMT after
falling as much as 35.7% so far this year.
($1 = 0.7574 pounds)
(Reporting by Indranil Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi
Aich, Patrick Graham and Jan Harvey)
