ManpowerGroup’s stock
MAN,
was flat in premarket trade Thursday, after the job recruitment company’s third-quarter earnings fell sharply from a year ago amid weak demand in Europe and North America. Milwaukee-based Manpower posted net income of $30.3 million, or 60 cents a share, for the quarter, down sharply from $111.3 million, or $2.13 a share, in the year-earlier period. Excluding one-time items including restructuring costs, a small loss from the sale of its Philippines business and Argentina related non-cash currency translation losses, adjusted EPS came to $1.38, ahead of the $1.35 FactSet consensus. Revenue fell 3% to $4.676 billion from $4.8001 billion a year ago to miss the $4.699 billion FactSet consensus. “Our third quarter results reflect the challenging operating environment for recruitment and resourcing in North America and Europe,” CEO Jonas Prising said in a statement. “We continued to see solid demand across Latin America and Asia Pacific Middle East. While the current operating environment is difficult for our industry, we are confident in our ability to adjust to the existing reality while being ready to pivot quickly when the situation improves.” The company is now expecting fourth-quarter EPS to range from $1.17 to $1.27, including a 1 cent impact from currency movements. The FactSet consensus is for EPS of $1.36. The stock has fallen 14.4% in the year to date, while the S&P 500
SPX,
has gained 12%.
