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(Sharecast News) - Recruiter Hays reported a drop in net fees on Wednesday, citing challenging conditions in the permanent segment and a decline in average hours worked in Germany.
In the three months to the end of December 2025, group net fees fell 10%, with temp & contracting and permanent fees down 8% and 14%, respectively.
The UK & Ireland saw a 9% decline in net fees, while Germany saw a 14% drop. In Australia and New Zealand, net fees dipped 1%, while Rest of World suffered a more significant 11% fall.
Hays said temp & contracting volumes remained solid but the modest decline in average hours worked in Germany through the summer accelerated further in the second half, due to cost control measures mainly in its public sector and Enterprise clients. Hays said the permanent segment remains challenging, with longer time to hire.
Given ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty and reduced average hours worked in Germany, Hays said its New Year 'return to work' will be particularly important in FY26, and it is closely monitoring activity levels.
Chief executive Dirk Hahn said: "Amidst ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, challenging perm conditions, and weaker average hours worked in Germany, we are executing well against our strategy and continue to make significant operational progress.
"We were pleased to deliver resilient net fees with Enterprise clients and good temp & contracting net fee growth in several of our focus countries during the quarter. Strong consultant fee productivity growth and cost discipline has broadly offset our lower net fees and, as a result, we expect pre-exceptional operating profit in our first half to be circa £20m, including YoY improvement in the UK&I and ANZ, and in line with consensus expectations."
