Adecco Group (SIX Swiss: ADEN) Q2 2026 Earnings Call

0:00 Hello, and welcome to the Adecco Group Second Quarter twenty twenty six Results Call. Please note that this call is being recorded. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. Thank you. I'd now like to hand the call over to Diego Troutain, Head of Investor Relations and Portfolio Strategy. Please go ahead.

0:29 Good morning, and thank you for joining the Adecco Group's conference call today. I'm Diego Chantran, the Group's Head of Investor Relations and Portfolio Strategy. With me are the Adecco Group's CEO, Denis Mathieu and CFO, Valentina Ficayo. Before we begin, please take note of the disclaimer on Slide two. Today's presentation will reference both GAAP and non GAAP financial results and operating metrics. This conference call will include forward looking statements, which are based on current assumptions and as always present opportunities as well as risks and uncertainties.

1:02 With that, I will now hand over to Denis. Thank you, Diego. And it's great to have you with us for your first quarterly results in your new call. And of course, a warm welcome to all of you who've joined the call today. Let me begin with slide three, which provides an overview of the quarter.

1:22 Organic revenue growth remained strong. In the second quarter, the group's revenue rose 5.6% year on year on an organic training days adjusted basis. We're also pleased to report that Accords returned to growth this quarter and Valentina will elaborate on the good progress of the transformation program. The Group delivered gross profit of €1,100,000,000 achieving a healthy gross margin of 18.6%. On a year on year basis, organic gross margin was 20 basis points lower. Importantly, this was an improvement compared to 40 basis points lower in Q1. This progress is due to firm pricing, current client and country mix and improving underlying trends.

2:16 The group's EBITA excluding one offs was €165,000,000 and 21% higher year on year on an organic constant currency basis, driven by consistent profitable growth. In turn, the EBITA margin expanded by 30 basis points year on year to 2.8%, reflecting strong operating leverage and disciplined capacity management. The Group delivered an organic dropdown ratio of 64% and adjusted EPS increased by 31% year on year. We remain firmly committed to deleveraging. The net debt to EBITDA ratio, excluding one offs, was 2.7 times, a 0.5 times improvement compared to the prior year period, driven by improved profitability.

3:17 Moving to slide four. The group's disciplined execution continues to drive further market share gains, also supported by improving market conditions. On the left hand side, we show relative revenue growth. We have outperformed our main competitors consistently over the last four years. In the last four quarters, we have gained three twenty basis points. And this quarter, we have delivered an additional 160 basis points of market share gains. Moving to the right hand side. We have started to see the first signs of stabilization in permanent placement, with the gross profit gradually improving since the start of 2023 and more recently stabilizing from minus 7% in Q1 twenty twenty six to minus 1% in Q2 twenty twenty six.

4:15 In terms of operational KPIs, we see activity levels improving as evidenced by placements per FTE. We have seen this progress across several countries, including The U. S, Spain and APAC, where permanent placement gross profit grew positively in Q2. I am encouraged by the signs of stabilization in permanent placements. If this trend continues, we would expect consultant productivity and placement volumes to drive positive operating leverage within the existing cost base. Let's turn to slide five now, which showcases recent client wins reflecting the group's ability to expand our end market penetration and capture new growth opportunities.

5:06 First, ACCODI signed a contract with a major player in the French defense sector, becoming the strategic partner for systems validation and qualification, cloud infrastructure and security services. The client selected Acodis over the incumbent provider, valuing our deep account knowledge and global access to specialized digital and engineering talent. Second, the Group strengthened its position in a large scale data center buildup by becoming the primary supplier and master vendor for major manufacturing and technology clients in The U. S. The client valued Adecco and Akodes' technology enabled workforce solution and rapid talent development capabilities to support the expansion of new facilities, with demand expected to exceed 1,500 engineering and technical roles over the next eighteen months.

6:06 Overall, the Group's revenue in The U. S. Data center end market has grown by 38% year to date. Third, NHH was selected by a global telecommunications client to deliver an AI reskilling program for over 1,000 former employees, supporting career transition at scale.

6:28 The client valued General Assembly's proven delivery model, AI expertise aligned with workforce needs and its scalable online platform. And fourth, Adecco secured a significant win with a global automotive client, expanding its on-site workforce and optimizing operations. The client selected Adecco as its sole workforce management partner, recognizing our embedded on-site solution, local regulatory expertise and digital capabilities. Collectively, these wins demonstrate the Group's ability to help clients accelerate their AI in digital transformation agendas, leveraging our expertise, scale and broad portfolio.

7:21 Turning to slide six. AI is increasingly embedded into our core offering and day to day processes. It is now an integral part of how we serve clients, support candidates and improve productivity across our organization. In Adecco Group Ag Unsp/Adecco Ag Our initial Unsp/Adecco Unsp/Adecco target was to reach 50% of Adecco revenue enabled by agents by year end. We achieved that target already at the end of Q2, with end to end agents live in 10 countries and have now raised our target to 70% of our revenue by the end of twenty twenty six. The impact is visible in our operating metrics.

8:10 To date, our agents have completed 2,200,000 conversations. We are seeing a 10% improvement in overall fill rate, a 40% reduction in time to submit and 25 to 35% productivity benefits through recruiter time save. Right from the start of our AI deployment, we introduced a responsible AI framework built around five principles: human centricity, safety, ethics, lawfulness and transparency. Our own research highlights that trust is a critical differentiator for successful AI implementation. This is why we remain strongly focused on responsible deployment and work closely with policymakers to support robust frameworks in our sector.

9:02 By combining innovative solutions, responsible AI, operational discipline and human expertise, we are accelerating our profitable growth and we are leading the human side of the AI transformation. Let me now hand over to Valentino to share more details on the quarter's performance. Thank you, Denis, and good morning to all. I am very pleased with the group's strong performance in Q2. Let's now discuss the developments within each GBU, beginning with Adecco on Slide seven. Revenues were 6.6% higher year on year, continuing to outperform the main competitors. The Service Line flexible placement revenues were 6% higher.

9:49 Outsourcing was up 15%, MSP grew 11% and permanent placement was flat, stabilizing sequentially. On a sector basis, revenue growth was driven by strength in automotive, logistics, financial services and aerospace and defense. Adecco's gross profit improved. The gross margin was solid, reflecting strong growth from large clients and outsourcing along with more moderate growth from SMEs. EBITDA rose 10% with a margin of 3.3%, mainly reflecting higher volumes and strong productivity, with other contribution per selling FTE rising 10%, while selling FTEs were stable compared to the prior year period.

10:40 Let's now move to Adecco at the segment level on slide eight. In Adecco France, revenues were modestly lower, declining 1% year on year, a resilient performance in a mixed market. In sector terms, Manufacturing and Automotive were strong with headwinds in Logistics and Healthcare. The EBITDA margin of 3% mainly reflects lower volumes and actions to reduce SG and A expenses. Management remains focused on accelerating these improvements to support future profitable growth. In Adecco EMEA, excluding France, revenue growth was strong and broad based, up 8% and sequentially improved, resulting in market share gains in most categories.

11:28 If we look at the larger markets, revenue rose 6% in Italy, driven by strength in logistics, automotive and technology, more than affecting headwinds in the energy and public sectors, and SMEs grew by 3%. Revenues in Iberia were up 22%. Growth was broad based, led by the automotive, financial and retail sectors. Importantly, growth from SMEs was up 12% in the quarter. SaaS revenues were 3% higher, reflecting growth in logistics, aerospace and defense, financial services and automotive, while manufacturing was strong was soft. In The U. K. And Ireland, revenues were up 6%, led by strength in utilities, professional services and the public sector, partly offset by a decline in food and beverage.

12:24 The segment's EBITDA margin improved by 20 basis points year on year to 3.2%, reflecting higher volumes across the region and agile capacity management. Let's now move on to slide nine. Adecco Americas delivered 12% revenue growth. North America revenues grew 9% year on year, a strong result despite a challenging comparison base, with growth across all client segments and SME revenues up 23%. In sector terms, performance was led by the consumer goods, automotive and manufacturing sectors. Latin America revenues remained strong, up 18% with broad based growth across markets led by Brazil, Argentina and Colombia.

13:19 By sector, logistics, consumer goods and retail were very strong. The Americas delivered an EBITDA margin of 2.6%, up 90 basis points year on year, benefiting from strong volume growth and operating leverage. We are pleased to see that North America is now consistently contributing to the margin improving, reflecting success in the turnaround. Turning to APAC. Revenue growth remained strong at 10% year on year, with broad based momentum across the region and ahead of market. Revenues rose 9% in Japan, 11% in Asia, 13% in Australia and New Zealand and 9% in India.

14:06 By sector, growth was led by Aerospace and Defense, Manufacturing and Professional Services. APAC delivered an EBITDA margin of 4.8%, 20 basis points higher year on year, reflecting volume growth and disciplined cost management. Let's now move to Slide 10 and Adecco Group. The GBU is back to growth with revenues up 1% year on year on an organic basis. Consulting and Solutions revenues were 1% higher organically, supported by solid demand for project based solutions and digital engineering expertise. Talent revenues also increased 1% organically. In sector terms, Aerospace and Defense remained strong, increasing 20% year on year.

14:58 Looking at key countries, revenues in France were 4% higher, improving sequentially with strong momentum in Aerospace and Defense. Spain and Italy achieved 8% growth, driven by strength in Automotive.

15:13 Revenues in Germany were 3% lower, stabilizing sequentially from 5% lower in Q1. In sector terms, Aerospace and Defense and Manufacturing were strong, which partially offset ongoing headwinds in Automotive. North America revenues grew 4% year on year. Consulting and Solutions continued its growth trajectory, increasing 3% organically. Sector performance was led by Aerospace and Defense, Energy and Automotive. In APAC, revenues were 5% lower, weighed by challenging market conditions in Australia. Japan remained strong with revenues up 3%. Accordis' EBITDA rose 23% and EBITDA margin improved by 180 basis points year on year to 3.4.

16:10 Accordis' profitability is improving, driven by growth in Consulting and Solutions and higher project margins, as well as the results of our turnaround efforts in Germany and an increasing utilization rate,

16:24 which stood at 91%. Let's now move to slide 11 and review the progress Accordis is making on its transformation program, as Denis outlined in his introduction. The actions taken across the business are delivering results. As outlined in the previous slide, Accordis has returned to revenue growth in both the Consulting and Solutions and Talent Service lines. This reflects the work done to strengthen the portfolio and capabilities, improve execution and focus capacity on end markets with stronger growth.

17:01 Aerospace and Defense is a key growth driver for Accordis, with revenues up 20% in the quarter, driven by strong growth in France and Germany. This is a good example of how Accordis is focusing on attractive end markets where we have differentiated engineering and technology capabilities. In Germany, the Donavan work has been ongoing for several quarters. We are starting to see signs of stabilization, supported by actions to right size the business and reposition capabilities towards higher growth end markets, including aerospace and defense, to offset the automotive softness.

17:43 We're also making progress on commercial execution. Global accounts revenue grew 3% and the global delivery transformation continued to accelerate, reaching more than 3,000 FTEs organically. This gives Adecco Group's critical scale in global delivery, enhancing its competitiveness and strengthening its ability to serve large international clients. We have strengthened our portfolio, acquiring some differentiated capabilities in the fast growing aerospace engineering end market and to further reinforce our global delivery footprint, doubling our presence in India. This positions Accordis for profitable growth, particularly with key clients ahead of anticipated new aircraft programs.

18:31 These acquisitions were partially funded by redeploying capital through divestment of non core assets.

18:39 Finally, Accordis is also building new growth platforms. The physical AI practice launched earlier this year is already gaining strong traction in automotive and high-tech, reinforcing Accordus' position at the intersection of engineering, digital and AI enabled innovation. Overall, the transformation program is progressing well. The focus remains on strengthening the business, accelerating change and better positioning Accordis for profitable growth in attractive end markets.

19:17 Moving now to Slide 12, with LHH delivering another quarter of high profitability. Overall, LHH revenues were flat. Professional Development Solutions, however, was back to growth, up 1% and improving sequentially, with U. S. Revenues growing 7%. Gross profit in both permanent and flexible placement improved sequentially.

19:44 Productivity rose 30% with selling FTEs 15% lower. In Career Transition, revenues were up 2% driven by market share gains. U. S. Revenues were 1% lower, a robust result in a softer restructuring environment. And APAC UGAIN Spain grew strongly. The pipeline remains healthy.

20:08 In Coaching and Skilling, revenues were down 10% as General Assembly continues to pivot from B2C to B2B activities, which grew 19%, driven by a strong take up of AI training offerings. ESBA revenues grew 3%, a solid performance against a demanding comparison base and its pipeline remains strong. LHH delivered an EBITDA margin of 11%, up 150 basis points year on year, reflecting growth in both Professional Development Solutions and Career Transition, higher productivity and disciplined cost management. Net contribution per selling FTE increased 15%.

20:55 Let's now turn to Slide 13 and the group's gross margin bridge. On a year on year basis, the group's 18.6% margin was driven by a 10 basis points impact from FX, a 25 basis point impact from flexible placement. While we have seen SMEs improving in some countries, large clients continue to grow faster and pricing remains firm. A 15 basis point impact from permanent placement, although the impact is still negative, we start to see the first signs of stabilization in permanent placement activities. And a 20 basis point favorable contribution from Outsourcing, Consulting and Other Services, driven by our strong growth in Outsourcing as well as the improvement in performance of Accordis Germany.

21:48 Overall, the result is healthy, 20 basis points lower on an organic basis and sequentially improving from 40 basis points lower in Q1 twenty twenty six. Let's now look at slide 14 and the group's EBITDA bridge. The EBITDA margin excluding one offs was 2.8%, 30 basis points higher year on year and improved sequentially.

22:15 This result was driven by a 10 basis point impact from FX, 20 basis points impact from gross margin as just outlined and a 60 basis point favorable contribution from operating leverage, including the positive effect of the strong growth in large clients and SG and A savings. Importantly, productivity rose 6% year on year, and selling FTEs were 2% lower. G and A costs represented 3.2% of revenues, well below our target of 3.5%.

22:49 In absolute terms, SG and A expenses were stable year on year. And as a percentage of revenues, SG and A expenses were 60 basis points lower. This outlines disciplined cost management. Notably, the organic dropdown ratio was 64% in Q2, evidencing strong operating leverage. These good results give us confidence in continued year on year EBITDA margin improvement into H2.

23:22 Moving to Slide 15 and the group's cash flow and robust financial structure. The last twelve month cash conversion ratio was 83%, a strong result considering the working capital absorption for the growth that we delivered. In Q2, the group's cash flow from operating activities was €23,000,000 down 58,000,000 versus the prior year period. This was driven by working capital absorption due to improved revenue performance and normal seasonality. The group's DSO remained best in class at fifty three days. Including capital expenditures of €37,000,000 the free cash outflow was €14,000,000 As a reminder, the group's cash flow generation is weighted to the second half.

24:16 The group's financial structure is strong. At the end of Q2 twenty twenty six, net debt was €235,000,000 lower versus the prior year period. The net debt to EBITDA ratio reduced by 0.5 times year on year, driven by improved profitability. This result demonstrates continued progress towards the group's commitment to bring the net debt to EBITDA ratio to 1.5 times or below by the end of twenty twenty seven.

24:49 Moving now to slide 16, where we provide our near term outlook. Positive momentum in volumes has continued this quarter to date. For the group expects a modest sequential improvement in gross margin. It expects SG and A expenses excluding one offs to be lower sequentially. Management is rigorously executing the group strategy and run and change priorities, focusing on market share gains, while actively controlling costs and managing capacity to continue driving profitable growth and deleveraging. And with that,

25:28 I hand it back to you, Denis. Thank you, Valentina. And let me conclude with our key takeaways in slide 17. First, the group delivered another quarter of strong growth and sustained market share gains. I call this return to growth, marking a positive inflection in the business. This reflects the rigorous execution of our strategy,

25:52 our focus on fast growing end market penetration and our successful deployment of Adecco Group. Second, the Group's operating leverage and rigorous cost management continued to support profitability with a healthy gross margin and further improvement in EBITA margin year on year. And third, we continued to make solid progress on deleveraging, further strengthening our group's balance sheet.

26:22 Deleveraging remains a clear priority for the group. And with that, we would like to thank you for your attention and open the lines for Q and A. Operator, we are ready for the first question. Thank you. We are now opening the floor for question and answer session.

26:47 Your first question comes from the line of Swazini Varanasi of Goldman Sachs. Your line is now open. Hi, good morning. Thank you for taking my questions. A couple from me, please. Just on the outlook, when you talk about the positive momentum continuing into the third quarter, I appreciate you have two percentage points tougher comps. But given the sequential improvement you're seeing, can you maybe perhaps overcome a little bit of the tougher comps? How are your expectations for

27:17 Q3? Would love to get a bit more color there, please. And secondly, when you're talking about the AI investments and the 70% of revenue is going to be AI enabled, Can you talk about the incremental costs that are going into that as well, please? Because I note that your corporate and other line is up 15% in this particular quarter. So just trying to understand the potential for upside on margins as well as the incremental costs that are going into the business. Thank you.

27:51 So I'm sure, Meredith, I would be happy to talk about the momentum and I'm going to talk about AI investments. Good morning, Swazeen. Thank you for your questions. On momentum, I think what is really encouraging is that we have seen continued momentum up to the beginning of August. The exit rate, when I look at Q2, was very much aligned also with the average of the quarter. So it's really consistent. And it is true, as you outlined, that the comp gets tougher, 300 basis points, but we feel comfortable that we can compensate some of these headwinds because we see the volumes continuing to behave strong.

28:40 Yes. And with regards to AI, we are now deploying our agents. As I said, now it's already deployed in 10 countries representing 50% of Adecco revenue. We have achieved our target that we had set for next for the end of this year. We have achieved it at the end of Q2. Now, have this target of 70% agents deployed. So, progressing well.

29:07 We are and we have to be clear, we have in our history, we've never deployed a product as fast as we now do with our AI agents, which is very promising. In terms of cost, actually we have a very good contract with our AI provider with

29:27 a fixed cost for unlimited volumes. So this is great because it drives adoption and with costs remaining under control. That's very positive for us.

29:45 Thank you very much. Your next question comes from the line of Andre Andy Grabler of BNP Paribas. Your line is now open. Hi, good morning. Just two from me as well, if I may. Firstly, in terms of gross margin, you noted some of the latest cyclical elements of your business getting a bit better, so SMEs, professional perm and so forth. At what point do you think that works through to where we can see gross margins going up year on year? I know that's difficult, but sort of broadly speaking, where you think that can happen. And then secondly, just following up on the earlier question about growth into Q3, you said that momentum continued into August.

30:35 I know comps are difficult, but looking at your peers, the expectation is that sequential growth, so the two year stack, will be about 2% higher in Q3 versus Q2. Do you think that Adecco will keep pace with that? Or are you going to begin to lose some

30:55 of that momentum relative to your peers? Thanks very much. Valentina? Yes. So let me start good morning, Andy. Let me start with the gross margin. I think what you're outlining is exactly what you're seeing, right?

31:12 Behavior of the components of our service lines really point to the signs of recycled recovery, right? And to me, what is really important is that there is clear sequential improvement in our gross margin performance. We were down 40% in Q1, but down 20 in Q2. And if you look at each component,

31:36 Flex was down 30% in Q1. It was down 25% in Q2. Perm was down 20% in Q1. It was down 15% in Q2. And also notably Outsourcing Consulting and Other was up 10% in Q1 and it was up 20% in Q2. So to me each piece is really important and speaks to cycle, but speaks also to underlying performance of the business. If I think about what's going to happen moving forward, to me, the most important point is that we are clearly talking about the sequential improvement again. And we've seen that in our outlook, we talk about a modest sequential improvement.

32:22 And from a year on year perspective, I would expect the components of the of each of the elements of the gross margin to behave similarly to what we've seen in Q2.

32:38 And as far as the momentum is concerned, I cannot bet on what the our competitors are going to do. What I know is we are on a growth path. Yes, we have a we grow from a bigger base. The comp is high, but we'll continue to drive momentum, to drive growth, to gain market share. We have gained market share 14 quarters out of 16 past quarters. And we see the momentum on volume continuing. So, there's no reason for us not continuing to really be and the incentives that we've put in place are based on relative revenue growth. So we want to continue to accelerate the growth. And actually the Adecco AI deployment, the competitiveness that we've put in place,

33:36 because thanks to improved cost to serve, the efficiency, the firm pricing and not to forget that we are in fragmented markets, all that gives us very good perspective to continue momentum in the next quarter.

33:55 Thank you very much. Can I ask one quick follow-up just on one off charges that were up again in Q2? And it's been kind of almost 100 straight quarters of one off charges. Do you think they will start to come down into the second half of the year? And is there a point in which we can expect that number to be zero?

34:20 I'll take this one, Andy. I think we've been quite disciplined in ensuring that our one offs start to come down. You've seen that last year. You've seen it in Q1. There are two important areas that we have decided to address in Q2. On the one hand, we've taken action in the Corus Germany to address the further softness in the automotive

34:45 industry. And so we have further streamlined structural cost to also accelerate the pivot to higher growth end markets. And the second area is that in Adecco France, we've taken actions to support the talent supply chain deployment to ensure that we can accelerate the fact that we are lowering cost to serve in large clients. What is important to me is that we're really disciplined in this approach. We only treat these costs as exceptionals when they relate to structural changes,

35:20 not just managing the cycle. And these are actions that will support the improvement of margins in 2020. And this is something which is a very important point for us. It's to continue this discipline next year to return to much more normal levels. We extremely strict with our teams. It's true that at CODES Germany, it has is seeing signs of stabilization. However, we had the softness in autos forced us to do a further restructuring plan. But the we as I said in the past, we want to bring that levels of formal one off down over time for sure.

36:08 Okay. Thank you very much. Your next question comes from the line of Conrad Sommer of ODDO. Your line is now open. Hi. Good morning to you all. I'd like to press you a little bit more on the restructuring charges you just talked about to Andy, because I remember that your Accordis Germany business was very close to completing the restructuring a few quarters ago. And it doesn't seem to me, except for maybe some OEMs, that the market environment has worsened a lot since then. Can you maybe explain to us again why these charges were up sequentially in Q2, but particularly what are the geographic areas where you might see some more restructuring charges going forward?

37:04 And then my second question is on the 70% of revenue target for Adecco dot ai. Can you just explain to us in a bit more detail what that actually means in terms of how it has changed the way you complete your contracts with your candidates and the corporates? Thank you. Sure. Thanks, Corinne. So just two things with regard to Germany. Germany is an interesting environment. We have growth in Adecco, okay, in autos. And we have a decline and a further decline that more than what we had expected.

37:51 When we sort of went through the second half of twenty twenty five, we were seeing signs of stabilization in particularly in the number of R and D projects that we are running. It turns out that with two main OEMs, we had further projects that have been stopped or slowed down. And then this has created a level of bench that we hadn't anticipated at the end of twenty twenty six. And so the restructuring wave that we are executing now that has this consequence on one offs is linked to this bench that was not expected. Now, let's be clear, the volumes in autos in Accords is definitely reducing. So, the exposure is less.

38:47 Autos is minus 19% in Germany, but in Accords, but it's plus 2% in Adecco. We have in Accordis, also have a very nice growth in Aerospace and Defense plus 9%. We have growth in Energy plus 19%, in Manufacturing double digit as well. So we're moving talent, but some we had to take these actions and to adjust. Just to compensate on what Denis mentioning about bench that is, I believe, particularly relevant. The fact that we have taken these restructuring actions has given us the opportunity to land on utilization ratio at very healthy levels in Accords in a quarter that is the smallest from a working day perspective.

39:46 91% utilization ratio is very healthy. And this is important stepping into Q3 where the working days emphasize, and that is actually quite beneficial and favors the Accord's margin evolution. So it was important to us looking at this trend, taking the right actions to ensure that then we can step into Q3 with a lower cost base and a higher utilization rate. Yes. And again, Adecco is growing 2% in autos, is quite an interesting perspective. And overall, what's interesting in also in Accords is that the auto sector is growing in Spain, is growing in Italy, is growing in North America. So, it's really and mostly linked to one particular OEM.

40:37 You'll probably guess who that is, that is struggling at the moment. And that was our biggest client there. Now if I move to AI, okay? The Adecco AI that we are deploying is linked to the identification of our recruitment process. We have created an environment and we started in The U. K. We're now deploying in several countries as I said to really reinvent the workflow of the recruitment to concentrate the recruiters on where they're best at, which is the sort of the human touch, the human to human connection, but to automatize and do a zero touch on all the search and match and first contacts and first selection, but and also on the onboarding process.

41:37 So, now have a much lighter touch on the human side, but a fundamental one to make sure that our recruiters validate the candidates, but also have the proper understanding of client context. So, from that, we are we have created that capability. And then we are deploying it in we've deployed it over 10 countries and these 10 countries represent 50% of revenue. That means the revenue is enabled by IdentityAI. We now have to scale in these each of these countries all these agents, okay? And then cover new countries. So that's why we said that we are deploying.

42:25 It enables the business and then we progressively scale with more and more candidates and more and more clients. We serve first the large clients and then we are progressively deploying into what we call the branches of the future that are also progressively being Adecco AI enabled. What it means for candidates is better interaction. They can they have much more flexibility when they interact with us in terms of the time of the day, in terms of the question they can ask, the attention that is given to them. And for clients, it means better quality, better selection, better fill rates, faster time to fill and that helps us win market share. So, it's both a productivity gain for us, but also a quality better quality service for our clients and our candidates.

43:25 That's very helpful. Thank you. Thanks, Cora. Your next question comes from the line of Virginia Montorci of Bank of America. Your line is now open. Good morning and thank you for taking my question. I just had a follow-up on Accordis and the comments you made about Aerospace and Defense. So I think we've understood and we've discussed in detail autos, but you've highlighted a couple of times in your presentation the strength you're seeing in aerospace and defense and the pivoting you're doing within AdeccoDis. So can you give us a little bit more color of that? And what exactly within aerospace and defense is driving the good demand? And how you're thinking about the time line of this ramp and this pivoting? Thank you very much. Yes. So this is definitely a sector where we're doubling down. What's interesting, we see very nice growth.

44:17 You mentioned Adecco, it's also growing 2022% actually from a lower base, but it's growing nicely. So, ACODIS is growing 15% in Aerospace and Defense in France 9% in Germany 12% in Spain 9% in Italy high double digits in North America 20% in The U. K. This is very nice. We work with all the major clients, Airbuses, the Safran, Heine Metals, the Anti World, this world, we work with all of them. And we have we are bringing very strong across the board engineering capability.

45:11 And that's we see a great perspective. If you look at the order book that these clients have, they are massive. They require immense support as they have to develop new products, they have to produce more. So, we are doubling down because there is a decade of runway in these sectors and we are extremely placed. We are a strategic supplier in almost all of the names I mentioned. To me, this is also particularly relevant when I think about our margin because among the many end markets we operate in, clearly, Aerospace and Defense is one of those that has higher profile when it comes to gross margin.

46:03 And also when I think and this is both for Adecco and Accordis. And then when I think about Accordis, there's also the material improvement that we will be able to tap into as we scale global delivery. Thank you very much. This is very clear. Maybe just as a follow-up, because I'm trying to reconcile the organic growth of Adecco's and the kind of internal split between A and D autos and the other markets. Is A and D right now already quite meaningful in size in terms of the support it's providing to the division as opposed to the weakness in autos? Or is there any other maybe subsector that we're not thinking of that's quite meaningful in the way when you think about organic growth? Thank you. Yes. Well, yes, ASD represents 17% of of Adecco's revenue. So it's growing nicely.

46:54 We're also strong in logistics. We have some good dynamics there. As I said the pressure point is in autos, but in autos Germany, but we also continue to grow as I said in important geographies like Spain and Italy and North America. So, we are growing across several sectors. The energy sector is promising. The railway sector is promising. We believe that there is a broad cross sector growth perspective for Aquadez. Thank you very much. Thank you for taking my question. Your next question comes from the line of Will Curtness of Bernstein.

47:45 Your line is now open. Thanks. Two questions please. Firstly, on market share gains. You gave a bit of color on what's driving that. I just wondered if you could talk about the spread between bill rates and wage raises. It sounds like it's still positive. And then secondly, on a CODIS, wondered if you could give a bit more color on margins in regions where the growth is better. I'm just trying to think about the probability and timelines towards that 10% medium term target. Thanks. Thanks, Gwyn. I'll take this question. So on the spread, the pricing is very much firm across all segments and we do track the spread.

48:33 It is positive. We've actually seen also slight improvement Q on Q. So we're very pleased to see that as the business mix gets better as you've seen in our gross margin. On the Accordis, I think when you think about growth and where the profitability margins are different, It's very positive for us when growth comes in APAC, in Iberia, in Italy. Those are the areas where we have higher profitability levels. When you look at our full year, they reach also double digit, whereas we have other areas like France, like in The U. S. That are more normalized towards mid- to high single digit. And Germany, of course, is more on a softer ground, although we expect profitability also in Germany from a run rate perspective in H2.

49:40 And as we also move quite significantly the business towards from German material to statement of work and work packages, we know also that this is helping us improve the margins. So, I won't give you a precise timeline towards the 10% target, but we have it in the ahead of us and we're doing everything that we can to continue to improve utilization, win large projects that are accretive to margins and you will continue to see that productivity improvement and profitability improvement coming in. And let's be clear, the second half of the year is always significantly better in profitability than the first half.

50:39 So we have some good perspective there. We've also And just to follow Yes, go ahead. No, sorry to cut off you, Karen. No. No. Go ahead. Go ahead. No. I was just going to say with regard to Germany then that's still loss making within AdeccoDiv. In Q2, we've seen a from a run rate perspective, they were close to breakeven. But we would expect a run rate profitability in H2. Again, were on at the end of twenty twenty five, we were on a healthy margins run rate and then that dip with autos has sort of delayed a little bit. But as I said, we are back to a good perspective there.

51:35 Thanks very much. Your next question comes from the line of James Roland Clark of Barclays. Your line is now open. Hi, thank you. Three questions, please. I think in one of the slides about EMEA, you spoke about SMEs up 12% in Q2. And you sort of referenced that SMEs have picked up in certain places. Can you just provide a little bit of color on SME performance across the group in Q2? And perhaps any key reasons that have picked up and why and what you're seeing there? And secondly, on one offs, obviously, higher in Q2 and it's to do with the Adecco Group's Germany restructuring. But does that charge run into Q3 as well?

52:24 And also, can you just sort of lay out how much of that is cash related? And then finally, maybe it would be helpful just to understand how big is autos now in Adecco Group's Germany and Germany within Adecco Group's overall? Thank you. So with regards to the SME, we have good traction in really several parts of the world. We have overall, it's plus 3%, but we have North America driven at 23%, EMEA driving double digit, etcetera. The reason for that is we have reinforced our focus on our branches.

53:12 And at the same time, we are deploying our digital tools that makes us much more efficient in addressing the local markets. It's still the beginning. We are we have a project which is called Branch of the Future where we inject just like we've done for large clients where we inject the full Adecco suite and this helps us win market share. So this is good. There's more to come. I'm not yet satisfied of the performance that we have in SMEs. We are this is a big, big focus for us and we are pushing hard. As far as the one offs? On the one offs, James, there is a little bit of a spillover in Q3. You've seen our guidance of 15.

54:00 So that's what we see in Q3. And a little bit of a spillover both of the Accords and the Adecco France. From a cash perspective, this is not fully cash. There's also a piece that is related to structural costs that are not people. So that's noncash. And even for the piece that is related to personnel, the cash timing is very different than the P and L one because we do account for the one off when we communicate the restructuring. But typically, the way that we pay is much more of a longer period to the portfolio, the car lease, how people apply for the restructuring, all of that. So cash you have to consider both elements as you think about the impact on cash.

54:56 And as far as the size of autos in Acholis overall, it's around 20% and it's a bit higher than that in Germany. Let's be clear, we started at more than 40%. And because we diversify, we are rebalancing, but it's still relatively high. Think about autos in Germany being sort of midway between 2040%. That's very helpful. Your next question comes from the line of Simon Leipzig of Jefferies. Your line is now open.

55:43 Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. First of all, looking at North America within the Adecco GBUs which is sort of leading the pack in terms of recovery. You mentioned strong growth of SMEs. So can you comment on the implications for gross margin? Does that mean that the gross margin in North America is now going up on a year on year basis with a more favorable mix of growth? Secondly, looking at the EBIT margin at the group level, you are going to face some slightly tougher comps in the second half. So do you still expect the pace of margin improvement at the group level in H2 to be similar to H1, which was sort of plus 25 bps to 30 bps year on year? Or should it moderate?

56:30 And lastly free cash flow is below last year for the first half. Do you expect a catch up in H2, which would drive free cash flow up for the year overall? Thank you. So, yes, we are pleased with North America. We are still not out of the woods, still a lot to do, but the turnaround plan continues to deliver as per the expectations. The overall revenue in Adecco is growing plus 9% year on year. We have good traction in consumer goods, in autos, in manufacturing. And yes, we're pleased with SMEs at plus 23% because in Q1 we were at plus 7%. So, we've gradually improved over the past quarters.

57:18 This is due to the big focus that we put on the branch profitability, the branch efficiency. We've changed quite a lot of people to just reinforce the muscle that we have there. And yes, it comes with better margins, gross margin and definitely this helps sustain the gross margin improvement that we see progressively in The U. S. So this is good, but let's be clear. The size of the SME business within U. S. Is still subscale versus what we should be where we should be, which gives us a lot of space to improve compared to also the dynamic that we have with large accounts.

58:08 But this is trending very nicely. And I'll take maybe the other two questions, Simon. On EBITDA, yes, we are confident that the year on year improvement that you've seen in H1 will continue into H2. And if I think about the levers that we are capturing is continued sequential gross margin improvement, its business mix, and you've seen how Accordis and LHH are contributing positively with growth in service lines that comes with higher gross margin. We see continued operating leverage, continued cost control.

58:53 So we are confident that the year on year improvement that you've seen in H1 will continue in H2. And on free cash flow, the actually the performance of Q2, we are happy about it. It's a good performance. When I look at Q2 this year in comparison with Q2 last year, Q2 last year our revenues were flat. Q2 this year our revenues are up almost 6%. This comes we know that very well. In this industry this comes with working capital absorption. However, having an 83% cash conversion ratio last twelve months in a period of this type of growth is a good outcome. And to me, knowing that I have this cash conversion at this point in time, in a moment where cash is at its lowest because Q2 is the lowest quarter, right, because of dividends payout, bonus payout as a step into H2, where our free cash flow is heavily weighted into H2 and Q4.

59:58 Clearly, the cash performance is going to get much better. And I want to insist on the discipline that we've put on the cash collection, on the payment terms that we have with our clients. This is it's also it's not easy, okay? But we have a DSO, which is best in class. We've really we're pushing hard there. And the whole company is focused on optimizing our cash to continue to deleverage because this is one of our key priorities. Your next question comes from the line of Rory MacKenzie of UBS.

1:00:44 Your line is now open. Good morning. Yes, Rory. Thanks for fitting me on. Just two questions left. Following up on all the comments around the Adecco Group Unsp/Adr, covering half of the group and your slides say there's a 25% to 35% productivity saving. I guess gross profit per FTE was only up about 2% compared to last year. So just how do we connect all this together for business benefits? And I guess it is one of the conclusions that you will need to significantly restructure the group in the future to unlock the benefits, which I guess goes back to some of the earlier questions about one off costs over the medium term? And then secondly, I think you made a small disposal this quarter. Can you just talk more about the business you exited?

1:01:29 How you came to that decision? Given you haven't done any disposals I think for the past five, six years, is there any kind of portfolio evaluation or review underway? Thank you. Let me start by the your last question on the disposal. Yes, we've disposed of a business in The U. S. In Accords, which was non core, which was dilutive to margin, had no particular synergies. So we disposed of that business. And the proceeds of that helped us to partly fund a two bolt on acquisitions that we've made that were great strategic fit to our positioning in the aerospace and defense. One in India, on airframe engineering, where we doubled our presence in India with that. And then the other one on cabin engineering in France with of onshore and nearshore.

1:02:32 All that these bolt ons really help us accelerate our and strengthen our positioning in the aerospace sector. So, this is what we've done. In terms of we are constantly reviewing our portfolio. So and if you remember, we have done some disposals, particularly in Germany, particularly linked to autos, we've done several disposals streamline our portfolio. So, we're constantly looking at the relevancy of our offering and make the decisions when they are necessary. Now on the adecco.ai, we see productivity gain, okay?

1:03:19 What we are quite pleased with the way we are scaling as I said. I think what's going to be very important is we see AI as a growth play. Because our markets are fragmented, we can have we can take market share in a much better way with our clients. We serve them better. We serve them faster. And that's really the power that we can do. So with the same number of FTE, we can really serve more clients and generate more revenue. This is particularly true as we will progressively deploy Adecco also in the branches to serve the SMEs.

1:04:05 And I have maybe one follow-up from me on the productivity point you were making, Laurie, because I understand where you're coming when you look at the gross profit improvement. However, to me, you have to look when it comes to productivity at the level of revenue growth that we have and the level of EBITDA improvement that we have, right, 5.6%, 21%. And the reason because of that is because clearly, the growth that we are bringing is profitable because we have operating leverage, right? Yes, we continue to see some mix because of the large clients growth. However, the dropdown ratio is 64% also because of this growth because our SG and A go down over revenue.

1:04:59 So it is important when we look at productivity. Of course, profit is one ratio. But to me, it's also extremely important to look at drop down and look at EBITDA improvement and at the fact that our productivity is once again this quarter up in all business units. Adecco up 10% LHHRS up 30% and as we discussed previously, very healthy utilization in Accordion 91%. Yes. That's fair. Thank you, Valentina. Thank you. Thanks, Denis. Thanks, Rory. Thank you, Rory. Your next question comes from the line of Jacques Alpourriuti of Morgan Stanley. Your line is now open. Good morning, Denis, Valentina.

1:05:44 I have two quick questions, please. Firstly, on Adecco France, the margin declined a similar rate to Q1 despite the cost actions underway. Do you think volume improvement is still required for the margin to recover? Or can those restructuring actions drive some improvement even if market conditions remain broadly unchanged? And then secondly, just one more quick follow-up to the questions on restructuring costs. Can you quantify the associated annualized cost savings you expect? And when you would expect those to land in the P and L? Thank you. Let me address the France question and then Valentina will talk about restructuring costs. So, well actually so yes, France is a bit of a pressure point.

1:06:31 Our performance is sort of aligned with large players in terms of growth like at minus 1%. But and we have a good traction in manufacturing in autos. We are suffering in logistics and healthcare. We have large clients in the logistics sector that is suffering at the moment that was our largest client. So, are doing a few things. We are pushing hard to grow SMEs. We are grow permanent recruitment because we see a little bit of traction there. Scaling talent supply chain, I'm insistent on that because we've scaled our talent supply chain strategy in several geographies. Geographies. We see improvement in cost to serve. We see better drop down ratio. So we and of course, we are working on optimizing SG and A.

1:07:28 Our G and A is minus 10% year on year. Our S is also an action point. So we are adjusting our workforce to a market, which is not clearly not very dynamic at the moment. And on the restructuring, both for Accordis Germany and Adecco France, you would expect that the benefits will flow through starting from Q4. So that further helps our margin expansion not only from Q2 to Q3, which we have elaborated on also in our near term outlook, but also from Q3 to Q4 and well into 2027 where you will have the full year impact.

1:08:20 Thank you. Thank you so much. I'd now like to hand the call back to Denis Michuel for closing remarks. Yes. Thank you very much for attending this call. Just a few things to keep in mind. Fifth quarter of growth in a row. 14 last quarter out of the last 16 where we gained market share. Perm is stabilizing. Accords is back to growth. Adecco is in a great place to continue to grow. And our profitable growth strategy that has delivered plus 5.6% revenue growth, plus 21% EBITDA growth and plus 31% adjusted EPS is working.

1:09:16 That strategy is delivering results and will continue to do so. We are uniquely placed to serve the current environment, accelerate with AI and continue to be extremely relevant for the 100,000 clients that we serve every day. Thank you so much for having been with us today. Thank you for attending today's call. You may now disconnect. Goodbye.