Adecco Group AG — Call Transcript 2026

Thank you for standing by. My name is Kate, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Adecco Group Q4 and full-year 2025 results. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one again. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Benita Barretto, Head of Investor Relations. Please, go ahead. Good morning. Thank you for joining our conference call today. I'm Benita Barretto, the Group's Head of Investor Relations, and with me are the Adecco Group CEO, Denis Machuel, and CFO, Valentina Faccaro. 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. With that, I will now hand over to Denis. Thank you, Benita, a warm welcome to all of you who've joined the call today. Let me open with a full year highlight on slide four. The group has consistently delivered on its ambitions and targets in 2025. In terms of market share, the group gained 245 basis points relative to key competitors, with ongoing positive momentum. On a full year basis, the group's revenues were up 1.3% year-on-year, gross profit was stable, and the group delivered an industry-leading 19.2% gross margin, evidence of the benefits of its diversification strategy. The group has managed costs and capacity with discipline. G&A overheads were further reduced by EUR 23 million, bringing our total net savings to nearly EUR 200 million when compared to 2022's baseline. Productivity increased 3% year-on-year. The group generated EUR 693 million of EBITDA and stayed within the EBITDA margin corridor on a full-year basis at 3%. Cash generation was strong, with a 102% cash conversion ratio, operating cash flow of EUR 613 million, and free cash flow of EUR 483 million. Importantly, the group improved its leverage ratio, ending the year at 2.4x net debt to EBITDA, down 0.2x year-on-year and down 0.6x sequentially. Let's turn now to slide five. On the left side, we highlight our consistent outperformance thus relative to key competitors across the past three years. The chart on the right side shows volume steadily improved throughout the year, with flexible placement and outsourcing volumes in the Adecco GBU rebounding from decline to growth. Management's focus on customer satisfaction, digital innovation, and recruiter productivity, integral to our strategy, is driving strong top line and volume momentum ahead of market trends. Let's move to slide six, where we set out the progress we're making with a run and change agenda, strengthening execution muscle across operations day by day, while investing in digital solutions and new services to drive future growth. There are many points on this slide. Let me highlight only a few. Beginning with the strengthen run priorities. The group has made significant progress in 2025. The Adecco North American turnaround gained traction. Full year revenues were up 12%, and the EBITDA margin expanded to 130 basis points year-on-year. In line with the group's digital strategy, Adecco further expanded its talent supply chain approach to 144 large clients, adding 42 in Q4 alone. By centralizing, automating, and digitizing processes effectively, the talent supply chain delivered a meaningful 550 basis points year-on-year improvement in fill rates. In Akkodis, restructuring in Germany has locked in EUR 58 million run rate savings, and LHH's career transition business continued to successfully expand in the SME segment, increasing the number of companies served by 17%. The group's change agenda also progressed. Adecco now has six recruiter agents live within the talent supply chain structure in the U.K. and in France. The U.K. agents have achieved approximately 15% time savings in recruiting processes, and this is an encouraging start. We will roll out agents across key markets in 2026 to scale these benefits. While there is further work to be done in Akkodis Consulting, France's value creation plan improved performance, with the unit growing ahead of market and achieved a 7% margin run rate, up 160 basis points year-on-year. In LHH, targeted investment in EZRA digital coaching platform drove 42% revenue growth and a record pipeline at year-end. Moving to slide seven. On this slide, we detail the firm progress made in the turnaround of Akkodis Germany. Management took decisive restructuring action in 2025, achieving EUR 58 million in annual cost savings on a run rate basis by year-end. This included reducing the cost of sales by EUR 43 million and SG&A expenses by EUR 15 million, with EUR 8 million saved through real estate consolidation across 26 locations. Last wave of a right-sizing effort is in flight, lowering headcount by approximately 600 in total. In addition, select non-core assets were exited, eliminating approximately EUR 3 million of negative EBITA. The program incurred one-time charges of EUR 46 million in 2025, but has already delivered around EUR 15 million of in-year P&L benefit. As a result, Akkodis Germany achieved a healthy 5.4% EBITA margin run rate at year-end. The group expects incremental savings to crystallize in the P&L during 2026, in particular during H1. With the organization being right-sized, management's focus in 2026 will shift to rebuilding the top line, supported by encouraging new client wins across sectors such as aerospace, defense, and life sciences. In short, the group has made strong progress in stabilizing Akkodis Germany, positioning it for sustainable, profitable growth going forward. Slide eight sets out the board of directors' dividend proposal. We are retaining our attractive shareholder remuneration with a dividend of CHF 1 per share for fiscal year 2025. This represents a 46% payout ratio, in line with our established dividend policy of paying out 40%-50% of adjusted earnings per share. Shareholders will have the option to receive the dividend either in cash or in newly issued shares. With this proposal, the group provides attractive returns to shareholders, including the option for qualifying shareholders to participate in the group's future growth in a tax-efficient way. The optional scrip dividend aligns with and supports the group's capital allocation priorities, which remain unchanged. It allows shareholders to increase their investment in the Adecco Group while enabling the company to retain cash for growth and prioritize de-leveraging. Now, let me hand over to Valentina for the Q4 results. Thank you, Denis. A warm welcome from my side. Let's begin with slide 10 and an overview of the group's strong Q4 results. The group delivered further significant market share gains, leading key competitors by 395 basis points. Revenues reached EUR 6 billion, rising 3.9%, our best quarterly performance this year. Gross profit grew 4% to EUR 1.1 billion, with a healthy 19.1% margin, stable on an organic basis. Our disciplined execution drove good operating leverage. We were pleased to see a strong productivity improvement of 11% and to deliver a strong drop-down ratio of over 80%. In turn, the group's EBITDA was EUR 225 million, up 20%, with a 3.8% margin, up 60 basis points. Let's now discuss the GBU developments, beginning with Adecco on slide 11. Adecco delivered a strong performance, with revenues at EUR 4.8 billion, up 4.9% and improved sequentially. Flexible placement revenues increased by 4%. Outsourcing was very strong, up 14%. MSP was up 6%. Permanent placement, however, was 6% lower. Adecco's healthy growth margin was driven by firm pricing, client mix, and lower permanent placement volumes. Productivity improved 6%. The EBITDA margin improved 40 basis points to 4%, mainly reflecting higher volumes and strong operating leverage, supported by G&A savings and agile capacity management. Adecco's drop-down ratio this quarter was robust at over 50%. Let's now move to Adecco at the segment level on slide 12. In Adecco France, revenues were 2% lower, stable sequentially and ahead of the market. Logistics continued to weigh, while autos and manufacturing were strong. The EBITDA margin of 4.4%, up 10 basis points, mainly reflects client mix and benefit from SG&A savings plans. Revenues in Adecco EMEA, excluding France, were up 4% and sequentially improved. Most territories achieved good growth and outperformed competitors. Looking at the larger markets, revenues were up 3% in Italy, with solid activity in logistics, financial services, and consumer goods. Revenues in Iberia were up 7%. Food and beverage, autos, and financial services were strong. In the U.K. and Ireland, revenues declined 1%, a good result in a challenging market. The result was weighed by lower logistics and public sector demand, despite strength in IT tech and financial services. Revenues in Germany and Austria were up 2%, well ahead of competitors, with strength in autos, consumer goods, and defense. The segment's EBITDA margin of 3.9% was 50 basis points higher, mainly reflecting strong operating leverage and good cost mitigation. Turning now to slide 13. Adecco Americas delivered 21% revenue growth. North America revenues increased 23%, well ahead of the market, mainly due to strong activity from large clients. In sector terms, consumer goods, food and beverage, and autos were notably strong. Latin America revenues were up 19%, led by Colombia, Peru, and Brazil. By sector, logistics, financial and professional services, and retail were strong. The Americas EBITDA margin of 3.3% expanded 150 basis points, reflecting client mix and strong operating leverage from higher volumes. Adecco APAC remained strong, with revenues up 7%. Revenues rose 6% in Japan, 14% in Asia, and 7% in India. Australia and New Zealand returned to growth, with revenues up 2%. APAC's EBITDA margin of 4.3% mainly reflects the timing of income from FESCO. Let's now focus on slide 14, and Akkodis' strengthened performance. Akkodis' revenue were 1% lower and sequentially improved. Consulting and solutions revenue were up 2%, marking a return to growth for this service line. In EMEA, revenues were flat. Germany was 7% lower, driven by autos headwinds. Revenues in France were up 3% and ahead of the market in aerospace and defense and autos, and the U.K. and Italy performed notably well. North American revenues were up 3%, ahead of market, supported by further modest improvement in tech staffing demand, and consulting and solutions grew 46%. Revenues in APAC were 4% lower. Japan's result was heavily influenced by trading day differences. On an adjusted basis, revenues were up 5%. Revenues in Australia were 10% lower in a tough market. Akkodis' EBITDA margin of 7% was 90 basis points higher, mainly reflecting benefit from the turnaround in Germany. Let's move to slide 15. LHH has executed well and delivered highly profitable growth. LHH's revenues were up 2%. In professional Recruitment Solutions, revenues were 3% lower, taking share in a subdued market. Recruitment Solutions gross profit was flat, with the U.S. 3% lower and rest of world up 4%. Permanent placement was up 4%, productivity was 8% higher. Career transition was robust, with revenues up 1%. U.S. revenues were 2% lower on a high comparison, while the U.K. and Switzerland were strong, the pipeline remains healthy. Revenues in coaching and skilling rose 27%. EZRA's revenues were very strong, rising 68%, while General Assembly's B2B business grew 31%. LHH's EBITDA margin was 9.7%, up 510 basis points. The year-on-year development is flattered by the absence of charges recorded in Q4 2024, related to the wind down of General Assembly's B2C activities. On an underlying basis, the margin expanded 230 basis points, reflecting positive mix and volumes and strong operating leverage, with productivity up 12%. Let's now turn to slide 16. Gross margin was healthy at 19.1%, stable year-on-year on an organic basis. The group's gross margin was driven by a negative effects impact of 20 basis points negative impact coming from flexible placement, mainly reflecting client and country mix. 10 basis points negative impact from permanent placement, reflecting lower activity in Adecco, and a 30 basis points positive impact in outsourcing, consulting, and other services, mainly driven by Akkodis Germany. Let's now look at slide 17 and the group's EBITDA bridge. At 3.8%, the EBITDA margin, excluding one-offs, was strong, rising 60 basis points year-on-year. The result was driven by a 10 basis points negative impact from a mix, a 30 basis points favorable impact from Akkodis Germany, and furthermore, excluding Akkodis Germany, a stable gross profit contribution at healthy levels, an encouraging 50 basis points positive impact from operating leverage, including G&A savings, as well as strong productivity improvement, and a 10 basis points negative impact from the timing of FESCO income. Among key metrics, SG&A expenses, excluding one-offs, as a percentage of revenues, was 15.4%, down 70 basis points, while G&A costs were just 3% of revenues. Productivity, measured as Gross Profit per selling FTE, rose 11%. Moving to slide 18 and the group's cash flow and financing structure. The last 12-month cash conversion ratio was strong at 102%. Full year operating free cash flow was EUR 613 million, and free cash flow was EUR 483 million. Both outcomes are strong, given the group's continuous improvement in revenues. In Q4, operating cash flow was EUR 476 million, a modest EUR 15 million decrease from the prior year period. This outcome reflects strong collections and favorable timing of payables, partly mitigated by working capital absorption for growth. We have maintained discipline regarding payment terms and are very pleased to report that the group's DSO improved 0.4 days to 51.8 days, remaining best in class. Capital expenditure was EUR 50 million, and free cash flow was EUR 426 million, a modest EUR 20 million decrease from the prior year period. The group also strengthened its balance sheet. Gross debts were reduced by EUR 280 million in 2025, supported by the repayment of a CHF 225 million senior bond in Q4. At the end of Q4, net debt was EUR 2.29 billion, EUR 186 million lower. Leverage ratio improved to 2.4x, down 0.2x year-on-year and down 0.6x sequentially. The group is firmly committed to bringing the net debt to EBITDA ratio to 1.5x or below by the end of 2027, absent any major macroeconomic or geopolitical disruption. On slide 19, we provide our near-term outlook. The group has seen continued positive momentum in volumes this quarter to date. For Q1, the group expects gross margin and SG&A expenses, excluding one-off, to be broadly stable sequentially. As a reminder, the prior year period benefited from the timing of FESCO income. We are rigorously executing the group's strategy and run and change priorities, focusing on market share gains while managing costs and capacity with discipline to drive profitable growth. With that, I hand back to Denis. Thank you, Valentina. Let me conclude with slide 20 and key takeaways. We launched the Agility Advantage value creation path and run and change agenda at our November Capital Markets Day. We are successfully executing against group strategy and driving momentum. During 2025, the group delivered on its full-year margin commitment, captured market share, and returned to revenue growth, and we are encouraged to see continued positive momentum in volumes to date this quarter. Moreover, as we successfully advance our strategic priorities, the group's financials are improving, underpinning an improvement in the year, and net debt to EBITDA ratio, which was down 0.2x year-on-year and 0.6x sequentially. We remain firmly committed to achieving a net debt to EBITDA ratio at or below 1.5x by year-end 2027. With this said, thank you for your attention. Let's open the lines for Q&A. At this time, I would like to remind everyone in order to ask a question, press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. We will pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from the line of Andrew Grobler with BNP Paribas. Your line is open. Hi, good morning. Just a couple from me, if I may. Firstly, just on free cash, it was very strong in Q4, led by payables. Could you talk through, you know, what you did to drive that, and whether any of that is gonna reverse into early 2026. Secondly, just a slightly broader one around client behavior. Are you seeing any change in client behavior in terms of their desire for flexibility, in terms of the interactions they're having with you? Or do they remain broadly pretty cautious in those end markets? Thanks very much. Thank you, Andy. Valentina is gonna answer the first part, and I'm gonna answer your second question. Good morning, Andy. On free cash flow, it was a very strong performance. You've seen that we landed on EUR 483 million. The commercial ratio was very strong, above 100%. It's particularly strong, this performance, if we can see that we've done it on the back of a year, and most importantly, Q4, where we were growing. You know that our business absorbs working capital when we grow at this level. If I try to unpick a bit what are the most important components, fundamentally, it all goes down to very strong working capital management. We've been very diligent on collections, and you've seen how our DSO continues to be very strong. We are down year-on-year. It's not easy to keep the, to keep going down on year and year in this, in this market, so we're very pleased with that. In terms of AP, yes, we did have some favorable timing on payments, but we've also done quite a lot of job in terms of scrubbing all of our balancing, negotiating payment terms, and you really start to see how the impact on that comes through also on our AP management. Overall, we're very pleased, and we continue to be laser focused on working capital. When you think about 2026, I would, I really think about free cash flow generation this year to the behavior to be similar. Just as a reminder, seasonally, our H1 is an outflow versus an H2 that is an inflow. That's the way that I would model it. Again, laser focus on working capital because that's the key of our strong free cash flow performance this quarter. As far as the, what our clients are telling us, we see pretty good momentum on, particularly on Flex. I must say, Adecco is firing on almost all cylinders. We have a soft results in France and the U.K., but apart from that, even though in France, we are ahead of the market, apart from that, we're really, really strong. We see momentum, we see a demand for flexible workers across the board, across geographies. It says something also a little bit about, of course, the uncertainty that we live in, but the economy is pretty good. There's demand, there's work to be done, and we're surfing on that. You know, we're surfing on that through, of course, our sales dynamism. We surf because we are a very strong delivery engine, and that makes me very confident. There's one sign which is interesting, it's we see a little bit of a pickup in permanent recruitment in LHH. It's 4%. It's not, you know, it's not big yet, and we start from low volumes, but it's, you know, it's a little bit positive. Overall, I'm very, very optimistic on the momentum that we have. We have a great momentum as well in outsourcing. You've seen, you know, double-digit growth. I think the market is there to support our development. Thanks. Can I just ask one quick follow-up, just on LHH and NRS in particular? You noted that perm was growing, but gross profit was down in that segment. That suggests that your kind of gross margin and your contract temp businesses is lower. Could you just talk through what's going on in that segment, please? Well, actually, you've got to look at LHH as in two dimensions. There's perm and flex on one side, there's the U.S. and outside of the U.S. In the U.S., we are -3%. In the rest of the world, we are +4 overall. That says something about the geographic differences. But overall, I mean, let's be clear, the whole industry is operating at pretty low historical level, what we do is we are outperforming the market, which matters to me. I would also add that if you look, if you look overall at the performance, you see also how LHH has really worked on productivity to offset also some of these elements. LHH productivity was up 12% in Q4, and their sales FT was down 4%. You see how they are acting also on what Denis just mentioned. Okay. Thank you very much. Your next question comes from the line of James Rowland Clark with Barclays. Your line is open. Hi there. Thanks for taking my questions. My first is just on the answer you just gave about good momentum. Just to be clear, I understand you've taken a lot of market share in the last few quarters. Is that momentum comment about you specifically taking share, or do you think that's more market-based? Just if you could help of those two elements, that'd be great. Secondly, on EBIT margins in 2026, I think consensus has got 30-40 bits of margin growth. Are you comfortable with that? Could you help us bridge that improvement across organic gross margin, which looks to be under pressure going into this year, but also then offset by SG&A? I'd love just to get your sense on the, on the moving parts, to achieve that margin, if you're comfortable with it. Finally, on leverage, you're guiding to down to 1.5x by the end of 2027, so you've got to lose half a term a year, between now and then. Do you see that as a linear progression or faster in 2026 and 2027 or vice versa? If so, why? Thank you. Thank you, James. I'm sure Valentina would be super happy to take the EBITDA and leverage questions. I'm gonna talk about the momentum. Two things here: As much as I believe that the way we operate, the way we've put in place a very strong sales dynamic, which we adjust as per market conditions, as per the industry we are facing, et cetera, as per the geographies. You know, we have also put a very strong delivery engine that helps us gain share from our own merits, and that makes me very confident for the future. I also believe that it's overall the market conditions that are also improving. You know, we have been through some difficult quarters, I would say, in the end of 2024 and beginning of 2025, and we see an overall better traction on the markets. On that, we are well-positioned because we've done all the hard work to strengthen the muscle in sales, strengthen the muscle in delivery. I would say it's a, it's a bit of both that help us grow our as we do. Valentina. I'll build on the comments that Denis just mentioned about momentum, just to give you some more flavor on guidance for Q1 EBIT. I think that what you mentioned, James, is reasonable. The way that I think about our Q1 EBITDA is the continued positive volumes behavior gives us confidence in terms of revenue outlook, and gross margin is broadly stable sequentially. If you think also about the comparison year-on-year is we have a 20 basis points headwind coming from FX. You may remember that last year in Q1 2025, this represented a tailwind, that gives you a flavor why also a year-on-year Q1 gross margin is actually broadly stable. In terms of SG&A, our normal seasonality from Q4 to Q1 usually sees SG&A going up by EUR 10-15 million. The fact that we're guiding for broadly stable tells you about the cost discipline that we continue to enforce. You saw that we've mentioned the FESCO income because we assume FESCO to continue to contribute positively on a full year basis, but the timing last year, it can vary, and last year it happened in Q1. On a full year EBITDA, we don't guide overall, but I think this gives you a bit the moving pieces that you need to model in terms of getting there, and your assumption that you mentioned are quite reasonable. Moving to leverage, I think it's, you know, the free cash flow generation, the performance that we had, the trajectory of the performance that we had throughout 2025 delivered a good levering, 0.2 year-on-year and sequentially 0.6. The path to 1.5 is clear. We don't guide specifically on 2026 and 2027, but clearly the levers that we have in our hands and we are already pulling are modest growth. You've seen how growth has dropped through in operating leverage over the past quarters. We expect that to continue throughout the next quarters. We have additional benefits coming from Akkodis Germany, but also other elements like the turnaround in North America, like the improvement in France, that will continue to help us get there, as we've shown you in the last in recent quarters. That's very, very helpful. Thank you very much. Your next question comes from the line of Suhasini Varanasi with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open. Hi, good morning. Just one question for me, please. Just want to clarify the exit rate and momentum that you saw year to date, because I think your slide on slide five seems to suggest, at least on the GBU, Adecco GBU front, the momentum is continuing to improve in year to date. Just at that GBU level and at the group level, can you please clarify how the exit rate has looked, compared to the 3.94% growth that you reported last quarter? Thank you. Good morning, Suhasini. I'll take this one. Just to give you a sense, the exit rate was very much aligned with the quarter average, so a group level. I hope that's helpful to give you a sense. Thank you. You're welcome. Your next question comes from the line of Simon Lechipre with Jefferies. Your line is open. Morning. First question, looking at your Q4 results, if we exclude Akkodis, gross margin was down 30 basis points on an organic basis, and SG&A was probably flat organically. In prior quarters, it seems you were able to offset the gross margin pressure through cost savings. Does that mean it is no longer the case? I mean, how should we think about the future quarters in terms of the relation, gross margin performance and SG&A? Secondly, in terms of your Q1 gross margin guidance, stable sequentially, I would assume the seasonal effect is from Q4 to Q1 is negative. It seems you're also talking about, like, FX negative impact being a bit stronger. How would you offset these two factors to get to the stable gross margin sequentially? Last thing on AI, we see more and more evidences of how AI can make the business more efficient, so I would assume this suggests some deflationary effect on top line. How do you think about the net bottom line impact in the future? Like, do you think your SG&A would continue to reduce, and would that be enough to offset this initial deflationary trend on the top line? Thank you. I'll take the AI piece, and Valentina will be very happy to take the gross margin question and the FX. Starting with your two questions on gross margin, Simon. I think when you think about the performance that we had in Q4, at 19.1%, it's a very healthy level. It's industry-leading, it reflects a number of components. It's not just Akkodis, right? There's firm pricing and client mix, and there's GBUs mix that contribute positively to the gross margin build-up. Yes, Akkodis Germany is a component of it, but it's not the only one. There's clear added value in the gross margin that comes from the service lines that have higher gross margin profile, like outsourcing, like EZRA. You've heard us mentioning a number of service lines that have grown double-digit in Q4 and will continue to do that. There are a number of levers that we can continue to work on, Akkodis Germany is one of them, to work on our gross margin and keep it at these stable levels. When you look at, by the way, permanent placement continues to be subdued, clearly. When permanent placement picks up, it is a further lever that we can capture, because we will capture permanent placement growth when it comes, and that's another further lever that we can pull. When you think about Q1, let me just take a moment to walk you through the elements. You've called out the facts. It's correct. As I was mentioning before, actually, it was a tailwind in Q1 last year, so you do have a 20 basis points gap, or when you look at it from a Q1Q perspective. Then we again have several pieces, because there's modest impact coming from perm and flex, but there's also modest positive impact coming from the other service lines. That is why we continue to say it's really broad, broadly stable, even on a year-on-year basis. If you take out the FX, we are continuing to see how the benefits of the other service lines of Akkodis that we are implementing is affecting the modest client mix that we had in flex and perm. Yeah, fine. may I have just a quick follow-up on GM and also on SG&A? It was -1% organically year-on-year in Q4, so it's mainly driven by Akkodis. Does that mean, like, the other GBU, SG&A is now trending kind of flattish year-on-year? No, we continue to see the same performance. We call out Akkodis when we mention that because we want to call out the nice progress that we've done in the restructuring and the fact that most of it is coming through SG&A, but it's broad-based. You've seen it also in our productivity numbers. They're up in all of the GBUS, not just in Akkodis, in our G&A over sales, that is just 3%, that is not just Akkodis, it's broad-based. Let me take now the AI impact. I think there is a top-line impact, positive impact, and also an impact in productivity that's gonna help our profitability overall. On the top line, I believe that AI is really an opportunity for us. Remind you, we are on fragmented markets, so the more, you know, optimized we are in how we deliver our service through AI, the better we can gain share. I'll give you 2 examples. You know, we've embedded generative AI into our Career Studio in at LHH. When people use Career Studio with AI powered, they find a job 32 days earlier than the ones who don't. This is creating value for our clients. This is help us penetrate bigger, faster our clients. This has a positive impact on the top line. If I look at the way we deliver, you know, with our AI agents in the UK on our recruitment, we have fill rates that have improved 550 basis points. Okay. This is an impact. We have improved our time to submit by 24% quarter-on-quarter. This helps us be more efficient, that even more. A positive impact on the top line. In doing so, we have operating leverage, as Valentina was saying, and in terms of how we optimize our cost, of course, we will progressively embed AI into our processes. We, you know, embed AI in our middle and back office, this is gonna create also efficiencies. I believe that AI will have a positive impact both on the way we capture market share and the way we improve our profitability. Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Rémi Grenu with Morgan Stanley. Your line is open. Morning, Denis. Morning, Valentina. Just one question remaining on my side. Focusing a little bit on North America and the very high growth there. I mean, the acceleration came in Q1 and Q2 last year, if I remember correctly. Can you help us unpack a little bit the performance there, if it's been driven by a few contracts? And if we then should expect some kind of annualization of these benefits in Q1 and Q2 this year? Just trying to understand a little bit from the 20% organic growth you're currently growing out in that country, what we should expect in term of potential normalization over the next few quarters. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Rémi. If I go back to history, you know, Q1, we were at -1% year-on-year. Q2, we were at +10%. Q3, we are +21%. Q4, we are +23%. Of course, we're very pleased. This shows that all the effort that we've put in the turnaround plan in the U.S. is delivering. We have productivity improved by 10%. We have a very strong dynamic on the large accounts. We also are positive in the SMEs, but that's the point where we need to focus our efforts, because the growth on our large accounts is a bit higher than the growth on small and medium companies. To your point, yes, let's be clear, we started from a low base, okay? These double-digit growth trend rates are encouraging, but as we anniversary some of the wins of the large clients, we will go more towards more market trends, a bit of a normalization. Still, our focus and, you know, our efforts will be to gain share, to be ahead of the market, and I'm quite positive that we can achieve that, but probably not to the extent that we've had this year. We have good traction in customer goods, in retail, in autos, in food and beverages. I mean, there's traction on the market. The economy in the U.S. is still pretty good. We will surf on that. We are much stronger than we were two years ago, and yes. You know, you can expect growth, probably not with a such a differential with the market. Understood. Just maybe building up a little bit on the question from Simon, the operating costs guidance for Q1. I mean, I'm a little bit surprised by the comment on stability. Can you help us a little bit quantify the building blocks to get there? I mean, discussing with some of your competitors feels like that they're forecasting some wage inflation around 2% or a little bit more than that. The higher volume of activity, the 4% organic growth and positive momentum probably would mean, under a normal cycle, that you need to invest a little bit more in resources. Yes, can you help us a little bit on that stability of operating costs? I'm just trying to understand as well if, to what extent you think that stability comments and these cost efficiencies are already driven by AI initiatives, or if it's just about Adecco removing some of the inefficiencies in the cost base that you had there and had to address? Thanks. Let me start by a little bit of how we strategize that growth. You heard me say in the past that what we try is to be very, very granular in the way we inject the resources that are linked to the dynamic of the markets. If I talk markets, it's by country, it's even by region in a country, it's by industry in a particular region, a particular country. Really adjust through this empowerment that we've put in place years ago, that's what we let people adjust very precisely to the market conditions. Yes, we will need to invest in some places, but we're also cautious in some others. That's how we operate. Definitely, we will, we have improved our cost inefficiencies. We've really readjusted our SPs, we have adjusted our G&A. I think we continuously optimizing the resources, and I think AI will nicely help us on that. On the building blocks for Q1? Just to give additional color, and hello, Remi, from my side. On the operating cost, sequentially stable, and it's all about cost discipline, right? The continuous focus on productivity and G&A gets us there. If you look for a seg on the Q4, I think it's also very helpful to see how we have performed. Productivity was up, broad-based, +11 in at group level. If you look at each GBU, Adecco was +6, LHH was +12, and Akkodis is, even with Germany, softer, kept a 90% utilization rate, approximately. If you look at our employee, you know, group employees, they're actually slightly down. That tells you how we are combining very well growth with good cost discipline and good productivity. That gives you a sense of, you know, why we guide for this to continue to be stable as we continue building on these two clear levers that has been key to the operating leverage, that you've seen our results. Just to complement on AI, yeah, we see 30 basis points improvement when we serve the clients by three AI initiatives, but it's not at the scale that I want to see. We said that we would cover, you know, 60% of our revenues by agentic AI, over time, by the end of 2026. I mean, it's progressing. We yet have to fully scale. More to come. We'll keep you updated on the progress. I remain prudent in the impact of AI because, you know, there's no magic in AI. It's hard work. You need to scale it. I think we have all the levers and the foundations, but let's see how it goes. The trend is positive. Okay, thank you. The last question is on the SME, which you referred to, Denis, I think in one of your previous answers, saying that you need to address this segment better. Is the issue market-related? Is just the momentum between the two markets, if you separate them between SME and large enterprise, still very, I mean, diverging a lot in term of volume of activity? Is there any initiative at Adecco's level, which you need to implement to be better at serving this cohort of client? Because it has implication, obviously, for gross margin and profitability, I guess. Well, actually, we've really doubled down in the past couple of years, in how we serve the large clients, and enhance talent supply chain and enhance all that. We still have a pretty good dynamic in SMEs, but this is a place where we accelerate our efforts because we know, to your point, that is very accretive to our margin. I think we are in a good place in how we roll out all our technology into our talent supply chain, and we are also rolling out progressively the technology through our branches. I believe that the strength of branch network is that proximity, that, you know, that deep understanding of the local ecosystems. That's one of the top priorities for 2026, is to inject as much energy and technology into the SME segments as we have done in the large accounts. Understood. Thank you very much. Your next question comes from the line of Simon Van Oppen with Kepler Cheuvreux. Your line is open. Hi, good morning. I have a question on margins. We see margins in all divisions strengthening in Q4, most significantly in Akkodis and LHH, especially on an underlying basis. Can you unpack a little bit the main drivers for the strengthening of your margins by division? What do you expect in terms of margin for each division in 2026? In extension to that, should we expect more one-offs in 2026? If so, roughly by how much by division? Thank you. Valentina? Thank you, Simon. Good morning. Let me explain a bit around the, you know, each GBU and how they evolved in terms of margin, and then we can also quickly touch on formal one-off guidance. The, I think what is the common denominator among the three GBUs improvement is volumes up, operating leverage drop through. That is clearly, and it's, if I take it for a moment, Akkodis is out, it's a clear denominator, right? If I take one GBU apart, you have Adecco that grew materially, right? You've seen how in Q4, it's up almost 5%, with the pockets that are even double digits. Clearly, the Adecco story is a story around strong operating leverage, but also diversification with the service lines like outsourcing that grew double digits, to give you a sense. It always comes on the back of good cost discipline, hence the operating leverage and the improvement in margins. In LHH, you've seen us mention that there's an element of the improvement year-on-year that is because we had headwinds last year. It is a 500 basis points improvement, but in fact, underlining is half of it to 250, which is still a very significant improvement. It's mainly coming from Citi continuing to performing very well, but also the contribution of other lines like EZRA and like the B2B business in GA that have grown double digits and they come with very healthy, high growth margins. Finally, in Akkodis is clearly the main driver of the improvement in performance is Akkodis Germany, and the fact that we are progressing well in the turnaround. In terms of FO's, sorry, of one-off costs, the guidance that we're giving you is down from EUR 60 million this year to EUR 40 next year. The EUR 60 million clearly this year is mainly coming from the Akkodis Germany turnaround. We're basically guiding next year to be lower in one-off, mainly because Akkodis Germany is basically completed. Okay. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Your next question comes from the line of Gian Marco Werro with ZKB. Your line is open. Thank you, everyone. Two questions from my side. The first one is on the gross profit margin in flexible placement. I would appreciate if you can dive there a little bit deeper into this development of 20 basis points decline year-over-year. Can you maybe elaborate please on the gross profit margin dynamics in temporary staffing, especially in your key markets like France, Germany, and also the US, please, just to grab a little bit better the dynamics, how is it evolving, still increasing, stable, declining? Then on the second question is on AI also. Denis, I appreciate your optimistic tone about the opportunities lying here, very frankly speaking, don't you also see also, of course, some headwinds here of jobs that become redundant, like many operations of warehouses, IT, white collar, back office work, that in my view, is certainly also affecting your top line negatively? I would appreciate if we can just talk here briefly about the dynamics that you observe in the industry. Thank you. I'm gonna start by answering your questions on AI, Gian-Marco, and then Valentina will talk about the gross margin. Fundamentally, we don't see any impact of AI at this stage. We know that as all technology evolutions that are happening, some jobs are gonna be impacted, some destroyed, but so many are going to be created. That's what history tells us, okay? For the moment, if you look at the numbers coming from career transition, okay, which is the world leader in our placement, 1.4% of the people are telling us that they've been laid off for, or due to AI. That's it, okay? 12% say, "Yes, there was a bit of AI coming in." To date, there's no, you know, massive impact, no impact of AI. Let's be clear, and I'm not the only one to say that, a lot of companies are doing layoff plans, pretending that it's coming from AI because it makes them look good, okay. Fundamentally, this is not the case, okay. Now, nobody knows within three or five years, what the relationship is between the jobs destroyed and the jobs created, okay. If you look back, 10 years ago, nobody was talking about cloud architects. Nobody was talking about, you know, content moderation, you know. These jobs have been created because of the, you know, digital world, et cetera. This is gonna come as well with AI, okay. I believe that because of this massive reshuffling of the labor market, this is a massive opportunity for us to upskill, reskill, move people around, accompanying people in their agility. That's what we are here for. You know, AI is not new. It has been now around for more than a couple of years, and look at our numbers, okay? We are trending nicely in this world of AI. We are reshaping the future of work in this AI era, and we are well-placed to accompany our clients on the agility that is necessary with AI. That makes me very confident. Now, on the gross margin. The year-on-year development you were asking about, Gian-Marco, on flex. First of all, it's a modest impact. Overall, the flex gross margin remains quite healthy. We are happy with pricing. It stays firm. We have a positive spread, bill to pay rate, the modest impact that you see is fundamentally a client and country mix. Just to build on the question that you were asking about, what about countries, France, U.S.? It is really all about how do we grow, right? Sometimes in some countries, but also in some industries, we may see, you know, one client segment growing faster than the other. It's the case right now, as Denis Machuel was mentioning in France and North America. What is really important is that as that happens, we also operate on cost base, right? Because these are also clients that come with a lower cost to serve. The most important thing when we think about margin, yes, it's the gross margin, but it's also the mix that we have between SMEs and large, and the drop-through, on the overall margin. Okay, thank you. No specific comments you want to make here on the three countries I mentioned? About the development of the gross margin, is it stable or any mention, most probably, yeah? I think the trends in these three countries are aligned with the overall trend of the GBUs. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thanks for the elaboration. Your next question comes from the line of Irene Austin with Barclays. Your line is open. Hi, thanks for taking my question, and thanks for the presentation. I just had a quick one on the hybrid. I believe on your third quarter conference call, you mentioned your attention to refinance at the time, the hybrid. Just wondering whether that's still the case. Thank you. Thank you, Irene. Good morning. Yes, you're correct. We are refinancing the hybrid. We are in progress of doing that. We are constantly the market to understand when the right moment is to execute, but you should expect that to be happening. That's very helpful. Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Andrew Grobler with BNP Paribas. Your line is open. Hi. Just one follow-up, if I may. Just on the dividend, you moved to the option of a scrip. What drove that decision, and to what extent is that part of the plan for getting to 1.5x leverage by the end of next year? Thanks very much. Thanks, Andrew Grobler. Let me put the overall perspective. The group has a very clear framework on capital allocation and a clear dividend policy. Every year, of course, depending upon the results, the annual performance, the board evaluates all options within that framework and within given policy to provide what the board believes is the best outcome for shareholders. This year, the decision has been made to propose the choice between a payment in shares or payment in cash, which we believe is the right balance between our de-leveraging priority on one side and also retaining cash for growth. We also felt that this is an optionality that is financially attractive for shareholders, for qualifying shareholders on, you know, tax, on the tax side. I think it's a pretty good decision for shareholders. Now on the leverage, yeah. As Denis mentioned, the scrip is an option, completely independent from the path that we've discussed to reach our EUR 1.5 billion. That path is based on performance, growth, operating leverage, the turnaround that we're doing. The scrip is an option, and it's independent from that. Okay, thank you. I will now turn the call back over to Denis Machuel, CEO, for closing remarks. Thank you very much, everyone. We really appreciate your presence today. Just to wrap up, I think our 2025 results make me very confident for the future. I must tell you that our teams are energized, and they are focused on delivering performance. Yes, we still have a lot to do, but the momentum that we've created and which continues at the beginning of 2026, as we said, puts us in a very good place. In a very good place to deliver profitable growth moving forward and to delever. With that, thanks a lot for having been with us today, and speak to you next time. Have a great day. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect.

Speaker 7: Thank you for standing by. My name is Kate, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Adecco Group Q4 and full-year 2025 results. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one again. Thank you. I would now like to turn the call over to Benita Barretto, Head of Investor Relations. Please, go ahead. Thank you for standing by. thank you for standing by My name is Kate, and I will be your conference operator today. my name is kate and i will be your conference operator today At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Adecco Group Q4 and full- year 2025 results. at this time i would like to welcome everyone to the adecco group q4 and full- year 2025 results All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. all lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise After the speaker's remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session. after the speaker's remarks there will be a question-and-answer session If you would like to ask a question during this time, simply press star followed by one on your telephone keypad. if you would like to ask a question during this time simply press star followed by one on your telephone keypad If you would like to withdraw your question, press star one again. if you would like to withdraw your question press star one again Thank you. thank you I would now like to turn the call over to Benita Barretto, Head of Investor Relations. i would now like to turn the call over to benita barretto head of investor relations Please, go ahead. please go ahead

Speaker 2: Good morning. Thank you for joining our conference call today. I'm Benita Barretto, the Group's Head of Investor Relations, and with me are the Adecco Group CEO, Denis Machuel, and CFO, Valentina Faccaro. 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. With that, I will now hand over to Denis. Good morning. good morning Thank you for joining our conference call today. thank you for joining our conference call today I'm Benita Barretto, the Group's Head of Investor Relations, and with me are the Adecco Group CEO, Denis Machuel, and CFO, Valentina Faccaro. i'm benita barretto the group's head of investor relations and with me are the adecco group ceo denis machuel and cfo valentina faccaro Before we begin, please take note of the disclaimer on slide two. 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. 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. 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 With that, I will now hand over to Denis. with that i will now hand over to denis

Speaker 3: Thank you, Benita, a warm welcome to all of you who've joined the call today. Let me open with a full year highlight on slide four. The group has consistently delivered on its ambitions and targets in 2025. In terms of market share, the group gained 245 basis points relative to key competitors, with ongoing positive momentum. On a full year basis, the group's revenues were up 1.3% year-on-year, gross profit was stable, and the group delivered an industry-leading 19.2% gross margin, evidence of the benefits of its diversification strategy. The group has managed costs and capacity with discipline. G&A overheads were further reduced by EUR 23 million, bringing our total net savings to nearly EUR 200 million when compared to 2022's baseline. Productivity increased 3% year-on-year. Thank you, Benita, a warm welcome to all of you who've joined the call today. thank you benita a warm welcome to all of you who've joined the call today Let me open with a full year highlight on slide four. let me open with a full year highlight on slide four The group has consistently delivered on its ambitions and targets in 2025. the group has consistently delivered on its ambitions and targets in 2025 In terms of market share, the group gained 245 basis points relative to key competitors, with ongoing positive momentum. in terms of market share the group gained 245 basis points relative to key competitors with ongoing positive momentum On a full year basis, the group's revenues were up 1.3% year-on-year, gross profit was stable, and the group delivered an industry-leading 19.2% gross margin, evidence of the benefits of its diversification strategy. on a full year basis the group's revenues were up 1.3% year-on-year gross profit was stable and the group delivered an industry-leading 19.2% gross margin evidence of the benefits of its diversification strategy The group has managed costs and capacity with discipline. the group has managed costs and capacity with discipline G&A overheads were further reduced by EUR 23 million, bringing our total net savings to nearly EUR 200 million when compared to 2022's baseline. g&a overheads were further reduced by eur 23 million bringing our total net savings to nearly eur 200 million when compared to 2022's baseline Productivity increased 3% year-on-year. productivity increased 3% year-on-year The group generated EUR 693 million of EBITDA and stayed within the EBITDA margin corridor on a full-year basis at 3%. Cash generation was strong, with a 102% cash conversion ratio, operating cash flow of EUR 613 million, and free cash flow of EUR 483 million. Importantly, the group improved its leverage ratio, ending the year at 2.4x net debt to EBITDA, down 0.2x year-on-year and down 0.6x sequentially. Let's turn now to slide five. On the left side, we highlight our consistent outperformance thus relative to key competitors across the past three years. The chart on the right side shows volume steadily improved throughout the year, with flexible placement and outsourcing volumes in the Adecco GBU rebounding from decline to growth. The group generated EUR 693 million of EBITDA and stayed within the EBITDA margin corridor on a full-year basis at 3%. the group generated eur 693 million of ebitda and stayed within the ebitda margin corridor on a full-year basis at 3% Cash generation was strong, with a 102% cash conversion ratio, operating cash flow of EUR 613 million, and free cash flow of EUR 483 million. cash generation was strong with a 102% cash conversion ratio operating cash flow of eur 613 million and free cash flow of eur 483 million Importantly, the group improved its leverage ratio, ending the year at 2.4x net debt to EBITDA, down 0.2x year-on-year and down 0.6x sequentially. importantly the group improved its leverage ratio ending the year at 2.4x net debt to ebitda down 0.2x year-on-year and down 0.6x sequentially Let's turn now to slide five. let's turn now to slide five On the left side, we highlight our consistent outperformance thus relative to key competitors across the past three years. on the left side we highlight our consistent outperformance thus relative to key competitors across the past three years The chart on the right side shows volume steadily improved throughout the year, with flexible placement and outsourcing volumes in the Adecco GBU rebounding from decline to growth. the chart on the right side shows volume steadily improved throughout the year with flexible placement and outsourcing volumes in the adecco gbu rebounding from decline to growth Management's focus on customer satisfaction, digital innovation, and recruiter productivity, integral to our strategy, is driving strong top line and volume momentum ahead of market trends. Let's move to slide six, where we set out the progress we're making with a run and change agenda, strengthening execution muscle across operations day by day, while investing in digital solutions and new services to drive future growth. There are many points on this slide. Let me highlight only a few. Beginning with the strengthen run priorities. The group has made significant progress in 2025. The Adecco North American turnaround gained traction. Full year revenues were up 12%, and the EBITDA margin expanded to 130 basis points year-on-year. In line with the group's digital strategy, Adecco further expanded its talent supply chain approach to 144 large clients, adding 42 in Q4 alone. Management's focus on customer satisfaction, digital innovation, and recruiter productivity, integral to our strategy, is driving strong top line and volume momentum ahead of market trends. management's focus on customer satisfaction digital innovation and recruiter productivity integral to our strategy is driving strong top line and volume momentum ahead of market trends Let's move to slide six, where we set out the progress we're making with a run and change agenda, strengthening execution muscle across operations day by day, while investing in digital solutions and new services to drive future growth. let's move to slide six where we set out the progress we're making with a run and change agenda strengthening execution muscle across operations day by day while investing in digital solutions and new services to drive future growth There are many points on this slide. there are many points on this slide Let me highlight only a few. let me highlight only a few Beginning with the strengthen run priorities. beginning with the strengthen run priorities The group has made significant progress in 2025. the group has made significant progress in 2025 The Adecco North American turnaround gained traction. the adecco north american turnaround gained traction Full year revenues were up 12%, and the EBITDA margin expanded to 130 basis points year-on-year. full year revenues were up 12% and the ebitda margin expanded to 130 basis points year-on-year In line with the group's digital strategy, Adecco further expanded its talent supply chain approach to 144 large clients, adding 42 in Q4 alone. in line with the group's digital strategy adecco further expanded its talent supply chain approach to 144 large clients adding 42 in q4 alone By centralizing, automating, and digitizing processes effectively, the talent supply chain delivered a meaningful 550 basis points year-on-year improvement in fill rates. In Akkodis, restructuring in Germany has locked in EUR 58 million run rate savings, and LHH's career transition business continued to successfully expand in the SME segment, increasing the number of companies served by 17%. The group's change agenda also progressed. Adecco now has six recruiter agents live within the talent supply chain structure in the U.K. and in France. The U.K. agents have achieved approximately 15% time savings in recruiting processes, and this is an encouraging start. We will roll out agents across key markets in 2026 to scale these benefits. By centralizing, automating, and digitizing processes effectively, the talent supply chain delivered a meaningful 550 basis points year-on-year improvement in fill rates. by centralizing automating and digitizing processes effectively the talent supply chain delivered a meaningful 550 basis points year-on-year improvement in fill rates In Akkodis, restructuring in Germany has locked in EUR 58 million run rate savings, and LHH's career transition business continued to successfully expand in the SME segment, increasing the number of companies served by 17%. in akkodis restructuring in germany has locked in eur 58 million run rate savings and lhh's career transition business continued to successfully expand in the sme segment increasing the number of companies served by 17% The group's change agenda also progressed. the group's change agenda also progressed Adecco now has six recruiter agents live within the talent supply chain structure in the U.K. and in France. adecco now has six recruiter agents live within the talent supply chain structure in the u.k and in france The U.K. agents have achieved approximately 15% time savings in recruiting processes, and this is an encouraging start. the u.k agents have achieved approximately 15% time savings in recruiting processes and this is an encouraging start We will roll out agents across key markets in 2026 to scale these benefits. we will roll out agents across key markets in 2026 to scale these benefits While there is further work to be done in Akkodis Consulting, France's value creation plan improved performance, with the unit growing ahead of market and achieved a 7% margin run rate, up 160 basis points year-on-year. In LHH, targeted investment in EZRA digital coaching platform drove 42% revenue growth and a record pipeline at year-end. Moving to slide seven. On this slide, we detail the firm progress made in the turnaround of Akkodis Germany. Management took decisive restructuring action in 2025, achieving EUR 58 million in annual cost savings on a run rate basis by year-end. This included reducing the cost of sales by EUR 43 million and SG&A expenses by EUR 15 million, with EUR 8 million saved through real estate consolidation across 26 locations. While there is further work to be done in Akkodis Consulting, France's value creation plan improved performance, with the unit growing ahead of market and achieved a 7% margin run rate, up 160 basis points year-on-year. while there is further work to be done in akkodis consulting france's value creation plan improved performance with the unit growing ahead of market and achieved a 7% margin run rate up 160 basis points year-on-year In LHH, targeted investment in EZRA digital coaching platform drove 42% revenue growth and a record pipeline at year-end. in lhh targeted investment in ezra digital coaching platform drove 42% revenue growth and a record pipeline at year-end Moving to slide seven. moving to slide seven On this slide, we detail the firm progress made in the turnaround of Akkodis Germany. on this slide we detail the firm progress made in the turnaround of akkodis germany Management took decisive restructuring action in 2025, achieving EUR 58 million in annual cost savings on a run rate basis by year-end. management took decisive restructuring action in 2025 achieving eur 58 million in annual cost savings on a run rate basis by year-end This included reducing the cost of sales by EUR 43 million and SG&A expenses by EUR 15 million, with EUR 8 million saved through real estate consolidation across 26 locations. this included reducing the cost of sales by eur 43 million and sg&a expenses by eur 15 million, with eur 8 million saved through real estate consolidation across 26 locations Last wave of a right-sizing effort is in flight, lowering headcount by approximately 600 in total. In addition, select non-core assets were exited, eliminating approximately EUR 3 million of negative EBITA. The program incurred one-time charges of EUR 46 million in 2025, but has already delivered around EUR 15 million of in-year P&L benefit. As a result, Akkodis Germany achieved a healthy 5.4% EBITA margin run rate at year-end. The group expects incremental savings to crystallize in the P&L during 2026, in particular during H1. With the organization being right-sized, management's focus in 2026 will shift to rebuilding the top line, supported by encouraging new client wins across sectors such as aerospace, defense, and life sciences. In short, the group has made strong progress in stabilizing Akkodis Germany, positioning it for sustainable, profitable growth going forward. Last wave of a right-sizing effort is in flight, lowering headcount by approximately 600 in total. last wave of a right-sizing effort is in flight lowering headcount by approximately 600 in total In addition, select non-core assets were exited, eliminating approximately EUR 3 million of negative EBITA. in addition select non-core assets were exited eliminating approximately eur 3 million of negative ebita The program incurred one-time charges of EUR 46 million in 2025, but has already delivered around EUR 15 million of in-year P&L benefit. the program incurred one-time charges of eur 46 million in 2025 but has already delivered around eur 15 million of in-year p&l benefit As a result, Akkodis Germany achieved a healthy 5.4% EBITA margin run rate at year-end. as a result akkodis germany achieved a healthy 5.4% ebita margin run rate at year-end The group expects incremental savings to crystallize in the P&L during 2026, in particular during H1. the group expects incremental savings to crystallize in the p&l during 2026 in particular during h1 With the organization being right-sized, management's focus in 2026 will shift to rebuilding the top line, supported by encouraging new client wins across sectors such as aerospace, defense, and life sciences. with the organization being right-sized management's focus in 2026 will shift to rebuilding the top line supported by encouraging new client wins across sectors such as aerospace defense and life sciences In short, the group has made strong progress in stabilizing Akkodis Germany, positioning it for sustainable, profitable growth going forward. in short the group has made strong progress in stabilizing akkodis germany positioning it for sustainable profitable growth going forward Slide eight sets out the board of directors' dividend proposal. We are retaining our attractive shareholder remuneration with a dividend of CHF 1 per share for fiscal year 2025. This represents a 46% payout ratio, in line with our established dividend policy of paying out 40%-50% of adjusted earnings per share. Shareholders will have the option to receive the dividend either in cash or in newly issued shares. With this proposal, the group provides attractive returns to shareholders, including the option for qualifying shareholders to participate in the group's future growth in a tax-efficient way. The optional scrip dividend aligns with and supports the group's capital allocation priorities, which remain unchanged. It allows shareholders to increase their investment in the Adecco Group while enabling the company to retain cash for growth and prioritize de-leveraging. Slide eight sets out the board of directors' dividend proposal. slide eight sets out the board of directors' dividend proposal We are retaining our attractive shareholder remuneration with a dividend of CHF 1 per share for fiscal year 2025. we are retaining our attractive shareholder remuneration with a dividend of chf 1 per share for fiscal year 2025 This represents a 46% payout ratio, in line with our established dividend policy of paying out 40%-50% of adjusted earnings per share. this represents a 46% payout ratio in line with our established dividend policy of paying out 40%-50% of adjusted earnings per share Shareholders will have the option to receive the dividend either in cash or in newly issued shares. shareholders will have the option to receive the dividend either in cash or in newly issued shares With this proposal, the group provides attractive returns to shareholders, including the option for qualifying shareholders to participate in the group's future growth in a tax-efficient way. with this proposal the group provides attractive returns to shareholders including the option for qualifying shareholders to participate in the group's future growth in a tax-efficient way The optional scrip dividend aligns with and supports the group's capital allocation priorities, which remain unchanged. the optional scrip dividend aligns with and supports the group's capital allocation priorities which remain unchanged It allows shareholders to increase their investment in the Adecco Group while enabling the company to retain cash for growth and prioritize de-leveraging. it allows shareholders to increase their investment in the adecco group while enabling the company to retain cash for growth and prioritize de-leveraging Now, let me hand over to Valentina for the Q4 results. Now, let me hand over to Valentina for the Q4 results. now let me hand over to valentina for the q4 results

Speaker 12: Thank you, Denis. A warm welcome from my side. Let's begin with slide 10 and an overview of the group's strong Q4 results. The group delivered further significant market share gains, leading key competitors by 395 basis points. Revenues reached EUR 6 billion, rising 3.9%, our best quarterly performance this year. Gross profit grew 4% to EUR 1.1 billion, with a healthy 19.1% margin, stable on an organic basis. Our disciplined execution drove good operating leverage. We were pleased to see a strong productivity improvement of 11% and to deliver a strong drop-down ratio of over 80%. In turn, the group's EBITDA was EUR 225 million, up 20%, with a 3.8% margin, up 60 basis points. Let's now discuss the GBU developments, beginning with Adecco on slide 11. Thank you, Denis. thank you denis A warm welcome from my side. a warm welcome from my side Let's begin with slide 10 and an overview of the group's strong Q4 results. let's begin with slide 10 and an overview of the group's strong q4 results The group delivered further significant market share gains, leading key competitors by 395 basis points. the group delivered further significant market share gains leading key competitors by 395 basis points Revenues reached EUR 6 billion, rising 3.9%, our best quarterly performance this year. revenues reached eur 6 billion rising 3.9% our best quarterly performance this year Gross profit grew 4% to EUR 1.1 billion, with a healthy 19.1% margin, stable on an organic basis. gross profit grew 4% to eur 1.1 billion with a healthy 19.1% margin stable on an organic basis Our disciplined execution drove good operating leverage. our disciplined execution drove good operating leverage We were pleased to see a strong productivity improvement of 11% and to deliver a strong drop-down ratio of over 80%. we were pleased to see a strong productivity improvement of 11% and to deliver a strong drop-down ratio of over 80% In turn, the group's EBITDA was EUR 225 million, up 20%, with a 3.8% margin, up 60 basis points. in turn the group's ebitda was eur 225 million up 20% with a 3.8% margin up 60 basis points Let's now discuss the GBU developments, beginning with Adecco on slide 11. let's now discuss the gbu developments beginning with adecco on slide 11 Adecco delivered a strong performance, with revenues at EUR 4.8 billion, up 4.9% and improved sequentially. Flexible placement revenues increased by 4%. Outsourcing was very strong, up 14%. MSP was up 6%. Permanent placement, however, was 6% lower. Adecco's healthy growth margin was driven by firm pricing, client mix, and lower permanent placement volumes. Productivity improved 6%. The EBITDA margin improved 40 basis points to 4%, mainly reflecting higher volumes and strong operating leverage, supported by G&A savings and agile capacity management. Adecco's drop-down ratio this quarter was robust at over 50%. Let's now move to Adecco at the segment level on slide 12. In Adecco France, revenues were 2% lower, stable sequentially and ahead of the market. Logistics continued to weigh, while autos and manufacturing were strong. Adecco delivered a strong performance, with revenues at EUR 4.8 billion, up 4.9% and improved sequentially. adecco delivered a strong performance with revenues at eur 4.8 billion up 4.9% and improved sequentially Flexible placement revenues increased by 4%. flexible placement revenues increased by 4% Outsourcing was very strong, up 14%. outsourcing was very strong up 14% MSP was up 6%. msp was up 6% Permanent placement, however, was 6% lower. permanent placement however was 6% lower Adecco's healthy growth margin was driven by firm pricing, client mix, and lower permanent placement volumes. adecco's healthy growth margin was driven by firm pricing client mix and lower permanent placement volumes Productivity improved 6%. productivity improved 6% The EBITDA margin improved 40 basis points to 4%, mainly reflecting higher volumes and strong operating leverage, supported by G&A savings and agile capacity management. the ebitda margin improved 40 basis points to 4% mainly reflecting higher volumes and strong operating leverage supported by g&a savings and agile capacity management Adecco's drop-down ratio this quarter was robust at over 50%. adecco's drop-down ratio this quarter was robust at over 50% Let's now move to Adecco at the segment level on slide 12. let's now move to adecco at the segment level on slide 12 In Adecco France, revenues were 2% lower, stable sequentially and ahead of the market. in adecco france revenues were 2% lower stable sequentially and ahead of the market Logistics continued to weigh, while autos and manufacturing were strong. logistics continued to weigh while autos and manufacturing were strong The EBITDA margin of 4.4%, up 10 basis points, mainly reflects client mix and benefit from SG&A savings plans. Revenues in Adecco EMEA, excluding France, were up 4% and sequentially improved. Most territories achieved good growth and outperformed competitors. Looking at the larger markets, revenues were up 3% in Italy, with solid activity in logistics, financial services, and consumer goods. Revenues in Iberia were up 7%. Food and beverage, autos, and financial services were strong. In the U.K. and Ireland, revenues declined 1%, a good result in a challenging market. The result was weighed by lower logistics and public sector demand, despite strength in IT tech and financial services. Revenues in Germany and Austria were up 2%, well ahead of competitors, with strength in autos, consumer goods, and defense. The EBITDA margin of 4.4%, up 10 basis points, mainly reflects client mix and benefit from SG&A savings plans. the ebitda margin of 4.4% up 10 basis points mainly reflects client mix and benefit from sg&a savings plans Revenues in Adecco EMEA, excluding France, were up 4% and sequentially improved. revenues in adecco emea excluding france were up 4% and sequentially improved Most territories achieved good growth and outperformed competitors. most territories achieved good growth and outperformed competitors Looking at the larger markets, revenues were up 3% in Italy, with solid activity in logistics, financial services, and consumer goods. looking at the larger markets revenues were up 3% in italy with solid activity in logistics financial services and consumer goods Revenues in Iberia were up 7%. revenues in iberia were up 7% Food and beverage, autos, and financial services were strong. food and beverage autos and financial services were strong In the U.K. and Ireland, revenues declined 1%, a good result in a challenging market. in the u.k and ireland revenues declined 1% a good result in a challenging market The result was weighed by lower logistics and public sector demand, despite strength in IT tech and financial services. the result was weighed by lower logistics and public sector demand despite strength in it tech and financial services Revenues in Germany and Austria were up 2%, well ahead of competitors, with strength in autos, consumer goods, and defense. revenues in germany and austria were up 2% well ahead of competitors with strength in autos consumer goods and defense The segment's EBITDA margin of 3.9% was 50 basis points higher, mainly reflecting strong operating leverage and good cost mitigation. Turning now to slide 13. Adecco Americas delivered 21% revenue growth. North America revenues increased 23%, well ahead of the market, mainly due to strong activity from large clients. In sector terms, consumer goods, food and beverage, and autos were notably strong. Latin America revenues were up 19%, led by Colombia, Peru, and Brazil. By sector, logistics, financial and professional services, and retail were strong. The Americas EBITDA margin of 3.3% expanded 150 basis points, reflecting client mix and strong operating leverage from higher volumes. Adecco APAC remained strong, with revenues up 7%. Revenues rose 6% in Japan, 14% in Asia, and 7% in India. The segment's EBITDA margin of 3.9% was 50 basis points higher, mainly reflecting strong operating leverage and good cost mitigation. the segment's ebitda margin of 3.9% was 50 basis points higher mainly reflecting strong operating leverage and good cost mitigation Turning now to slide 13. turning now to slide 13 Adecco Americas delivered 21% revenue growth. adecco americas delivered 21% revenue growth North America revenues increased 23%, well ahead of the market, mainly due to strong activity from large clients. north america revenues increased 23% well ahead of the market mainly due to strong activity from large clients In sector terms, consumer goods, food and beverage, and autos were notably strong. in sector terms consumer goods food and beverage and autos were notably strong Latin America revenues were up 19%, led by Colombia, Peru, and Brazil. latin america revenues were up 19% led by colombia peru and brazil By sector, logistics, financial and professional services, and retail were strong. by sector logistics financial and professional services and retail were strong The Americas EBITDA margin of 3.3% expanded 150 basis points, reflecting client mix and strong operating leverage from higher volumes. the americas ebitda margin of 3.3% expanded 150 basis points reflecting client mix and strong operating leverage from higher volumes Adecco APAC remained strong, with revenues up 7%. adecco apac remained strong with revenues up 7% Revenues rose 6% in Japan, 14% in Asia, and 7% in India. revenues rose 6% in japan 14% in asia and 7% in india Australia and New Zealand returned to growth, with revenues up 2%. APAC's EBITDA margin of 4.3% mainly reflects the timing of income from FESCO. Let's now focus on slide 14, and Akkodis' strengthened performance. Akkodis' revenue were 1% lower and sequentially improved. Consulting and solutions revenue were up 2%, marking a return to growth for this service line. In EMEA, revenues were flat. Germany was 7% lower, driven by autos headwinds. Revenues in France were up 3% and ahead of the market in aerospace and defense and autos, and the U.K. and Italy performed notably well. North American revenues were up 3%, ahead of market, supported by further modest improvement in tech staffing demand, and consulting and solutions grew 46%. Revenues in APAC were 4% lower. Japan's result was heavily influenced by trading day differences. Australia and New Zealand returned to growth, with revenues up 2%. australia and new zealand returned to growth with revenues up 2% APAC's EBITDA margin of 4.3% mainly reflects the timing of income from FESCO. apac's ebitda margin of 4.3% mainly reflects the timing of income from fesco Let's now focus on slide 14, and Akkodis' strengthened performance. let's now focus on slide 14 and akkodis' strengthened performance Akkodis' revenue were 1% lower and sequentially improved. akkodis' revenue were 1% lower and sequentially improved Consulting and solutions revenue were up 2%, marking a return to growth for this service line. consulting and solutions revenue were up 2% marking a return to growth for this service line In EMEA, revenues were flat. in emea revenues were flat Germany was 7% lower, driven by autos headwinds. germany was 7% lower driven by autos headwinds Revenues in France were up 3% and ahead of the market in aerospace and defense and autos, and the U.K. and Italy performed notably well. revenues in france were up 3% and ahead of the market in aerospace and defense and autos and the u.k and italy performed notably well North American revenues were up 3%, ahead of market, supported by further modest improvement in tech staffing demand, and consulting and solutions grew 46%. north american revenues were up 3% ahead of market supported by further modest improvement in tech staffing demand and consulting and solutions grew 46% Revenues in APAC were 4% lower. revenues in apac were 4% lower Japan's result was heavily influenced by trading day differences. japan's result was heavily influenced by trading day differences On an adjusted basis, revenues were up 5%. Revenues in Australia were 10% lower in a tough market. Akkodis' EBITDA margin of 7% was 90 basis points higher, mainly reflecting benefit from the turnaround in Germany. Let's move to slide 15. LHH has executed well and delivered highly profitable growth. LHH's revenues were up 2%. In professional Recruitment Solutions, revenues were 3% lower, taking share in a subdued market. Recruitment Solutions gross profit was flat, with the U.S. 3% lower and rest of world up 4%. Permanent placement was up 4%, productivity was 8% higher. Career transition was robust, with revenues up 1%. U.S. revenues were 2% lower on a high comparison, while the U.K. and Switzerland were strong, the pipeline remains healthy. Revenues in coaching and skilling rose 27%. On an adjusted basis, revenues were up 5%. on an adjusted basis revenues were up 5% Revenues in Australia were 10% lower in a tough market. revenues in australia were 10% lower in a tough market Akkodis' EBITDA margin of 7% was 90 basis points higher, mainly reflecting benefit from the turnaround in Germany. akkodis' ebitda margin of 7% was 90 basis points higher mainly reflecting benefit from the turnaround in germany Let's move to slide 15. let's move to slide 15 LHH has executed well and delivered highly profitable growth. lhh has executed well and delivered highly profitable growth LHH's revenues were up 2%. lhh's revenues were up 2% In professional Recruitment Solutions, revenues were 3% lower, taking share in a subdued market. in professional recruitment solutions revenues were 3% lower taking share in a subdued market Recruitment Solutions gross profit was flat, with the U.S. 3% lower and rest of world up 4%. recruitment solutions gross profit was flat with the u.s 3% lower and rest of world up 4% Permanent placement was up 4%, productivity was 8% higher. permanent placement was up 4% productivity was 8% higher Career transition was robust, with revenues up 1%. career transition was robust with revenues up 1% U.S. revenues were 2% lower on a high comparison, while the U.K. and Switzerland were strong, the pipeline remains healthy. u.s revenues were 2% lower on a high comparison while the u.k and switzerland were strong the pipeline remains healthy Revenues in coaching and skilling rose 27%. revenues in coaching and skilling rose 27% EZRA's revenues were very strong, rising 68%, while General Assembly's B2B business grew 31%. LHH's EBITDA margin was 9.7%, up 510 basis points. The year-on-year development is flattered by the absence of charges recorded in Q4 2024, related to the wind down of General Assembly's B2C activities. On an underlying basis, the margin expanded 230 basis points, reflecting positive mix and volumes and strong operating leverage, with productivity up 12%. Let's now turn to slide 16. Gross margin was healthy at 19.1%, stable year-on-year on an organic basis. The group's gross margin was driven by a negative effects impact of 20 basis points negative impact coming from flexible placement, mainly reflecting client and country mix. EZRA's revenues were very strong, rising 68%, while General Assembly's B2B business grew 31%. ezra's revenues were very strong rising 68% while general assembly's b2b business grew 31% LHH's EBITDA margin was 9.7%, up 510 basis points. lhh's ebitda margin was 9.7% up 510 basis points The year-on-year development is flattered by the absence of charges recorded in Q4 2024, related to the wind down of General Assembly's B2C activities. the year-on-year development is flattered by the absence of charges recorded in q4 2024 related to the wind down of general assembly's b2c activities On an underlying basis, the margin expanded 230 basis points, reflecting positive mix and volumes and strong operating leverage, with productivity up 12%. on an underlying basis the margin expanded 230 basis points reflecting positive mix and volumes and strong operating leverage with productivity up 12% Let's now turn to slide 16. let's now turn to slide 16 Gross margin was healthy at 19.1%, stable year-on-year on an organic basis. gross margin was healthy at 19.1% stable year-on-year on an organic basis The group's gross margin was driven by a negative effects impact of 20 basis points negative impact coming from flexible placement, mainly reflecting client and country mix. the group's gross margin was driven by a negative effects impact of 20 basis points negative impact coming from flexible placement mainly reflecting client and country mix 10 basis points negative impact from permanent placement, reflecting lower activity in Adecco, and a 30 basis points positive impact in outsourcing, consulting, and other services, mainly driven by Akkodis Germany. Let's now look at slide 17 and the group's EBITDA bridge. At 3.8%, the EBITDA margin, excluding one-offs, was strong, rising 60 basis points year-on-year. The result was driven by a 10 basis points negative impact from a mix, a 30 basis points favorable impact from Akkodis Germany, and furthermore, excluding Akkodis Germany, a stable gross profit contribution at healthy levels, an encouraging 50 basis points positive impact from operating leverage, including G&A savings, as well as strong productivity improvement, and a 10 basis points negative impact from the timing of FESCO income. 10 basis points negative impact from permanent placement, reflecting lower activity in Adecco, and a 30 basis points positive impact in outsourcing, consulting, and other services, mainly driven by Akkodis Germany. 10 basis points negative impact from permanent placement reflecting lower activity in adecco and a 30 basis points positive impact in outsourcing consulting and other services mainly driven by akkodis germany Let's now look at slide 17 and the group's EBITDA bridge. let's now look at slide 17 and the group's ebitda bridge At 3.8%, the EBITDA margin, excluding one-offs, was strong, rising 60 basis points year-on-year. at 3.8% the ebitda margin excluding one-offs was strong rising 60 basis points year-on-year The result was driven by a 10 basis points negative impact from a mix, a 30 basis points favorable impact from Akkodis Germany, and furthermore, excluding Akkodis Germany, a stable gross profit contribution at healthy levels, an encouraging 50 basis points positive impact from operating leverage, including G&A savings, as well as strong productivity improvement, and a 10 basis points negative impact from the timing of FESCO income. the result was driven by a 10 basis points negative impact from a mix a 30 basis points favorable impact from akkodis germany and furthermore excluding akkodis germany a stable gross profit contribution at healthy levels an encouraging 50 basis points positive impact from operating leverage including g&a savings as well as strong productivity improvement and a 10 basis points negative impact from the timing of fesco income Among key metrics, SG&A expenses, excluding one-offs, as a percentage of revenues, was 15.4%, down 70 basis points, while G&A costs were just 3% of revenues. Productivity, measured as Gross Profit per selling FTE, rose 11%. Moving to slide 18 and the group's cash flow and financing structure. The last 12-month cash conversion ratio was strong at 102%. Full year operating free cash flow was EUR 613 million, and free cash flow was EUR 483 million. Both outcomes are strong, given the group's continuous improvement in revenues. In Q4, operating cash flow was EUR 476 million, a modest EUR 15 million decrease from the prior year period. This outcome reflects strong collections and favorable timing of payables, partly mitigated by working capital absorption for growth. Among key metrics, SG&A expenses, excluding one-offs, as a percentage of revenues, was 15.4%, down 70 basis points, while G&A costs were just 3% of revenues. among key metrics sg&a expenses excluding one-offs as a percentage of revenues was 15.4% down 70 basis points while g&a costs were just 3% of revenues Productivity, measured as Gross Profit per selling FTE, rose 11%. productivity measured as gross profit per selling fte rose 11% Moving to slide 18 and the group's cash flow and financing structure. moving to slide 18 and the group's cash flow and financing structure The last 12-month cash conversion ratio was strong at 102%. the last 12-month cash conversion ratio was strong at 102% Full year operating free cash flow was EUR 613 million, and free cash flow was EUR 483 million. full year operating free cash flow was eur 613 million and free cash flow was eur 483 million Both outcomes are strong, given the group's continuous improvement in revenues. both outcomes are strong given the group's continuous improvement in revenues In Q4, operating cash flow was EUR 476 million, a modest EUR 15 million decrease from the prior year period. in q4 operating cash flow was eur 476 million a modest eur 15 million decrease from the prior year period This outcome reflects strong collections and favorable timing of payables, partly mitigated by working capital absorption for growth. this outcome reflects strong collections and favorable timing of payables partly mitigated by working capital absorption for growth We have maintained discipline regarding payment terms and are very pleased to report that the group's DSO improved 0.4 days to 51.8 days, remaining best in class. Capital expenditure was EUR 50 million, and free cash flow was EUR 426 million, a modest EUR 20 million decrease from the prior year period. The group also strengthened its balance sheet. Gross debts were reduced by EUR 280 million in 2025, supported by the repayment of a CHF 225 million senior bond in Q4. At the end of Q4, net debt was EUR 2.29 billion, EUR 186 million lower. Leverage ratio improved to 2.4x, down 0.2x year-on-year and down 0.6x sequentially. We have maintained discipline regarding payment terms and are very pleased to report that the group's DSO improved 0.4 days to 51.8 days, remaining best in class. we have maintained discipline regarding payment terms and are very pleased to report that the group's dso improved 0.4 days to 51.8 days remaining best in class Capital expenditure was EUR 50 million, and free cash flow was EUR 426 million, a modest EUR 20 million decrease from the prior year period. capital expenditure was eur 50 million and free cash flow was eur 426 million a modest eur 20 million decrease from the prior year period The group also strengthened its balance sheet. the group also strengthened its balance sheet Gross debts were reduced by EUR 280 million in 2025, supported by the repayment of a CHF 225 million senior bond in Q4. gross debts were reduced by eur 280 million in 2025 supported by the repayment of a chf 225 million senior bond in q4 At the end of Q4, net debt was EUR 2.29 billion, EUR 186 million lower. at the end of q4 net debt was eur 2.29 billion eur 186 million lower Leverage ratio improved to 2.4x, down 0.2x year-on-year and down 0.6x sequentially. leverage ratio improved to 2.4x down 0.2x year-on-year and down 0.6x sequentially The group is firmly committed to bringing the net debt to EBITDA ratio to 1.5x or below by the end of 2027, absent any major macroeconomic or geopolitical disruption. On slide 19, we provide our near-term outlook. The group has seen continued positive momentum in volumes this quarter to date. For Q1, the group expects gross margin and SG&A expenses, excluding one-off, to be broadly stable sequentially. As a reminder, the prior year period benefited from the timing of FESCO income. We are rigorously executing the group's strategy and run and change priorities, focusing on market share gains while managing costs and capacity with discipline to drive profitable growth. With that, I hand back to Denis. The group is firmly committed to bringing the net debt to EBITDA ratio to 1.5x or below by the end of 2027, absent any major macroeconomic or geopolitical disruption. the group is firmly committed to bringing the net debt to ebitda ratio to 1.5x or below by the end of 2027 absent any major macroeconomic or geopolitical disruption On slide 19, we provide our near-term outlook. on slide 19 we provide our near-term outlook The group has seen continued positive momentum in volumes this quarter to date. the group has seen continued positive momentum in volumes this quarter to date For Q1, the group expects gross margin and SG&A expenses, excluding one-off, to be broadly stable sequentially. for q1 the group expects gross margin and sg&a expenses excluding one-off to be broadly stable sequentially As a reminder, the prior year period benefited from the timing of FESCO income. as a reminder the prior year period benefited from the timing of fesco income We are rigorously executing the group's strategy and run and change priorities, focusing on market share gains while managing costs and capacity with discipline to drive profitable growth. we are rigorously executing the group's strategy and run and change priorities focusing on market share gains while managing costs and capacity with discipline to drive profitable growth With that, I hand back to Denis. with that i hand back to denis

Speaker 3: Thank you, Valentina. Let me conclude with slide 20 and key takeaways. We launched the Agility Advantage value creation path and run and change agenda at our November Capital Markets Day. We are successfully executing against group strategy and driving momentum. During 2025, the group delivered on its full-year margin commitment, captured market share, and returned to revenue growth, and we are encouraged to see continued positive momentum in volumes to date this quarter. Moreover, as we successfully advance our strategic priorities, the group's financials are improving, underpinning an improvement in the year, and net debt to EBITDA ratio, which was down 0.2x year-on-year and 0.6x sequentially. We remain firmly committed to achieving a net debt to EBITDA ratio at or below 1.5x by year-end 2027. Thank you, Valentina. thank you valentina Let me conclude with slide 20 and key takeaways. let me conclude with slide 20 and key takeaways We launched the Agility Advantage value creation path and run and change agenda at our November Capital Markets Day. we launched the agility advantage value creation path and run and change agenda at our november capital markets day We are successfully executing against group strategy and driving momentum. we are successfully executing against group strategy and driving momentum During 2025, the group delivered on its full-year margin commitment, captured market share, and returned to revenue growth, and we are encouraged to see continued positive momentum in volumes to date this quarter. during 2025 the group delivered on its full-year margin commitment captured market share and returned to revenue growth and we are encouraged to see continued positive momentum in volumes to date this quarter Moreover, as we successfully advance our strategic priorities, the group's financials are improving, underpinning an improvement in the year, and net debt to EBITDA ratio, which was down 0.2x year-on-year and 0.6x sequentially. moreover as we successfully advance our strategic priorities the group's financials are improving underpinning an improvement in the year and net debt to ebitda ratio which was down 0.2x year-on-year and 0.6x sequentially We remain firmly committed to achieving a net debt to EBITDA ratio at or below 1.5x by year-end 2027. we remain firmly committed to achieving a net debt to ebitda ratio at or below 1.5x by year-end 2027 With this said, thank you for your attention. Let's open the lines for Q&A. With this said, thank you for your attention. with this said thank you for your attention Let's open the lines for Q&A. let's open the lines for q&a

Speaker 7: At this time, I would like to remind everyone in order to ask a question, press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. We will pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from the line of Andrew Grobler with BNP Paribas. Your line is open. At this time, I would like to remind everyone in order to ask a question, press star then the number one on your telephone keypad. at this time i would like to remind everyone in order to ask a question press star then the number one on your telephone keypad We will pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster. we will pause for just a moment to compile the q&a roster Our first question comes from the line of Andrew Grobler with BNP Paribas. our first question comes from the line of andrew grobler with bnp paribas Your line is open. your line is open

Speaker 1: Hi, good morning. Just a couple from me, if I may. Firstly, just on free cash, it was very strong in Q4, led by payables. Could you talk through, you know, what you did to drive that, and whether any of that is gonna reverse into early 2026. Secondly, just a slightly broader one around client behavior. Are you seeing any change in client behavior in terms of their desire for flexibility, in terms of the interactions they're having with you? Or do they remain broadly pretty cautious in those end markets? Thanks very much. Hi, good morning. hi good morning Just a couple from me, if I may. just a couple from me if i may Firstly, just on free cash, it was very strong in Q4, led by payables. firstly just on free cash it was very strong in q4 led by payables Could you talk through, you know, what you did to drive that, and whether any of that is gonna reverse into early 2026. could you talk through you know what you did to drive that and whether any of that is gonna reverse into early 2026 Secondly, just a slightly broader one around client behavior. secondly just a slightly broader one around client behavior Are you seeing any change in client behavior in terms of their desire for flexibility, in terms of the interactions they're having with you? are you seeing any change in client behavior in terms of their desire for flexibility in terms of the interactions they're having with you Or do they remain broadly pretty cautious in those end markets? or do they remain broadly pretty cautious in those end markets Thanks very much. thanks very much

Speaker 3: Thank you, Andy. Valentina is gonna answer the first part, and I'm gonna answer your second question. Thank you, Andy. thank you andy Valentina is gonna answer the first part, and I'm gonna answer your second question. valentina is gonna answer the first part and i'm gonna answer your second question

Speaker 12: Good morning, Andy. On free cash flow, it was a very strong performance. You've seen that we landed on EUR 483 million. The commercial ratio was very strong, above 100%. It's particularly strong, this performance, if we can see that we've done it on the back of a year, and most importantly, Q4, where we were growing. You know that our business absorbs working capital when we grow at this level. If I try to unpick a bit what are the most important components, fundamentally, it all goes down to very strong working capital management. We've been very diligent on collections, and you've seen how our DSO continues to be very strong. We are down year-on-year. Good morning, Andy. good morning andy On free cash flow, it was a very strong performance. on free cash flow it was a very strong performance You've seen that we landed on EUR 483 million. you've seen that we landed on eur 483 million The commercial ratio was very strong, above 100%. the commercial ratio was very strong above 100% It's particularly strong, this performance, if we can see that we've done it on the back of a year, and most importantly, Q4, where we were growing. it's particularly strong this performance if we can see that we've done it on the back of a year and most importantly q4 where we were growing You know that our business absorbs working capital when we grow at this level. you know that our business absorbs working capital when we grow at this level If I try to unpick a bit what are the most important components, fundamentally, it all goes down to very strong working capital management. if i try to unpick a bit what are the most important components fundamentally it all goes down to very strong working capital management We've been very diligent on collections, and you've seen how our DSO continues to be very strong. we've been very diligent on collections and you've seen how our dso continues to be very strong We are down year-on-year. we are down year-on-year It's not easy to keep the, to keep going down on year and year in this, in this market, so we're very pleased with that. In terms of AP, yes, we did have some favorable timing on payments, but we've also done quite a lot of job in terms of scrubbing all of our balancing, negotiating payment terms, and you really start to see how the impact on that comes through also on our AP management. Overall, we're very pleased, and we continue to be laser focused on working capital. When you think about 2026, I would, I really think about free cash flow generation this year to the behavior to be similar. It's not easy to keep the, to keep going down on year and year in this, in this market, so we're very pleased with that. it's not easy to keep the to keep going down on year and year in this in this market so we're very pleased with that In terms of AP, yes, we did have some favorable timing on payments, but we've also done quite a lot of job in terms of scrubbing all of our balancing, negotiating payment terms, and you really start to see how the impact on that comes through also on our AP management. in terms of ap yes we did have some favorable timing on payments but we've also done quite a lot of job in terms of scrubbing all of our balancing negotiating payment terms and you really start to see how the impact on that comes through also on our ap management Overall, we're very pleased, and we continue to be laser focused on working capital. overall we're very pleased and we continue to be laser focused on working capital When you think about 2026, I would, I really think about free cash flow generation this year to the behavior to be similar. when you think about 2026 i would i really think about free cash flow generation this year to the behavior to be similar Just as a reminder, seasonally, our H1 is an outflow versus an H2 that is an inflow. That's the way that I would model it. Again, laser focus on working capital because that's the key of our strong free cash flow performance this quarter. Just as a reminder, seasonally, our H1 is an outflow versus an H2 that is an inflow. just as a reminder seasonally our h1 is an outflow versus an h2 that is an inflow That's the way that I would model it. that's the way that i would model it Again, laser focus on working capital because that's the key of our strong free cash flow performance this quarter. again laser focus on working capital because that's the key of our strong free cash flow performance this quarter

Speaker 3: As far as the, what our clients are telling us, we see pretty good momentum on, particularly on Flex. I must say, Adecco is firing on almost all cylinders. We have a soft results in France and the U.K., but apart from that, even though in France, we are ahead of the market, apart from that, we're really, really strong. We see momentum, we see a demand for flexible workers across the board, across geographies. It says something also a little bit about, of course, the uncertainty that we live in, but the economy is pretty good. There's demand, there's work to be done, and we're surfing on that. As far as the, what our clients are telling us, we see pretty good momentum on, particularly on Flex. as far as the what our clients are telling us we see pretty good momentum on particularly on flex I must say, Adecco is firing on almost all cylinders. i must say adecco is firing on almost all cylinders We have a soft results in France and the U.K., but apart from that, even though in France, we are ahead of the market, apart from that, we're really, really strong. we have a soft results in france and the u.k but apart from that even though in france we are ahead of the market apart from that we're really really strong We see momentum, we see a demand for flexible workers across the board, across geographies. we see momentum we see a demand for flexible workers across the board across geographies It says something also a little bit about, of course, the uncertainty that we live in, but the economy is pretty good. it says something also a little bit about of course the uncertainty that we live in but the economy is pretty good There's demand, there's work to be done, and we're surfing on that. there's demand there's work to be done and we're surfing on that You know, we're surfing on that through, of course, our sales dynamism. We surf because we are a very strong delivery engine, and that makes me very confident. There's one sign which is interesting, it's we see a little bit of a pickup in permanent recruitment in LHH. It's 4%. It's not, you know, it's not big yet, and we start from low volumes, but it's, you know, it's a little bit positive. Overall, I'm very, very optimistic on the momentum that we have. We have a great momentum as well in outsourcing. You've seen, you know, double-digit growth. I think the market is there to support our development. You know, we're surfing on that through, of course, our sales dynamism. you know we're surfing on that through of course our sales dynamism We surf because we are a very strong delivery engine, and that makes me very confident. we surf because we are a very strong delivery engine and that makes me very confident There's one sign which is interesting, it's we see a little bit of a pickup in permanent recruitment in LHH. there's one sign which is interesting it's we see a little bit of a pickup in permanent recruitment in lhh It's 4%. it's 4% It's not, you know, it's not big yet, and we start from low volumes, but it's, you know, it's a little bit positive. it's not you know it's not big yet and we start from low volumes but it's you know it's a little bit positive Overall, I'm very, very optimistic on the momentum that we have. overall i'm very very optimistic on the momentum that we have We have a great momentum as well in outsourcing. we have a great momentum as well in outsourcing You've seen, you know, double-digit growth. you've seen you know double-digit growth I think the market is there to support our development. i think the market is there to support our development

Speaker 1: Thanks. Can I just ask one quick follow-up, just on LHH and NRS in particular? You noted that perm was growing, but gross profit was down in that segment. That suggests that your kind of gross margin and your contract temp businesses is lower. Could you just talk through what's going on in that segment, please? Thanks. thanks Can I just ask one quick follow-up, just on LHH and NRS in particular? can i just ask one quick follow-up just on lhh and nrs in particular You noted that perm was growing, but gross profit was down in that segment. you noted that perm was growing but gross profit was down in that segment That suggests that your kind of gross margin and your contract temp businesses is lower. that suggests that your kind of gross margin and your contract temp businesses is lower Could you just talk through what's going on in that segment, please? could you just talk through what's going on in that segment please

Speaker 3: Well, actually, you've got to look at LHH as in two dimensions. There's perm and flex on one side, there's the U.S. and outside of the U.S. In the U.S., we are -3%. In the rest of the world, we are +4 overall. That says something about the geographic differences. But overall, I mean, let's be clear, the whole industry is operating at pretty low historical level, what we do is we are outperforming the market, which matters to me. Well, actually, you've got to look at LHH as in two dimensions. well actually you've got to look at lhh as in two dimensions There's perm and flex on one side, there's the U.S. and outside of the U.S. there's perm and flex on one side there's the u.s and outside of the u.s In the U.S., we are - 3%. in the u.s we are - 3% In the rest of the world, we are + 4 overall. in the rest of the world we are + 4 overall That says something about the geographic differences. that says something about the geographic differences But overall, I mean, let's be clear, the whole industry is operating at pretty low historical level, what we do is we are outperforming the market, which matters to me. but overall i mean let's be clear the whole industry is operating at pretty low historical level what we do is we are outperforming the market which matters to me

Speaker 12: I would also add that if you look, if you look overall at the performance, you see also how LHH has really worked on productivity to offset also some of these elements. LHH productivity was up 12% in Q4, and their sales FT was down 4%. You see how they are acting also on what Denis just mentioned. I would also add that if you look, if you look overall at the performance, you see also how LHH has really worked on productivity to offset also some of these elements. i would also add that if you look if you look overall at the performance you see also how lhh has really worked on productivity to offset also some of these elements LHH productivity was up 12% in Q4, and their sales FT was down 4%. lhh productivity was up 12% in q4 and their sales ft was down 4% You see how they are acting also on what Denis just mentioned. you see how they are acting also on what denis just mentioned

Speaker 1: Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. okay Thank you very much. thank you very much

Speaker 7: Your next question comes from the line of James Rowland Clark with Barclays. Your line is open. Your next question comes from the line of James Rowland Clark with Barclays. your next question comes from the line of james rowland clark with barclays Your line is open. your line is open

Speaker 6: Hi there. Thanks for taking my questions. My first is just on the answer you just gave about good momentum. Just to be clear, I understand you've taken a lot of market share in the last few quarters. Is that momentum comment about you specifically taking share, or do you think that's more market-based? Just if you could help of those two elements, that'd be great. Secondly, on EBIT margins in 2026, I think consensus has got 30-40 bits of margin growth. Are you comfortable with that? Could you help us bridge that improvement across organic gross margin, which looks to be under pressure going into this year, but also then offset by SG&A? Hi there. hi there Thanks for taking my questions. thanks for taking my questions My first is just on the answer you just gave about good momentum. my first is just on the answer you just gave about good momentum Just to be clear, I understand you've taken a lot of market share in the last few quarters. just to be clear i understand you've taken a lot of market share in the last few quarters Is that momentum comment about you specifically taking share, or do you think that's more market-based? is that momentum comment about you specifically taking share or do you think that's more market-based Just if you could help of those two elements, that'd be great. just if you could help of those two elements that'd be great Secondly, on EBIT margins in 2026, I think consensus has got 30- 40 bits of margin growth. secondly on ebit margins in 2026 i think consensus has got 30- 40 bits of margin growth Are you comfortable with that? are you comfortable with that Could you help us bridge that improvement across organic gross margin, which looks to be under pressure going into this year, but also then offset by SG&A? could you help us bridge that improvement across organic gross margin which looks to be under pressure going into this year but also then offset by sg&a I'd love just to get your sense on the, on the moving parts, to achieve that margin, if you're comfortable with it. Finally, on leverage, you're guiding to down to 1.5x by the end of 2027, so you've got to lose half a term a year, between now and then. Do you see that as a linear progression or faster in 2026 and 2027 or vice versa? If so, why? Thank you. I'd love just to get your sense on the, on the moving parts, to achieve that margin, if you're comfortable with it. i'd love just to get your sense on the on the moving parts to achieve that margin if you're comfortable with it Finally, on leverage, you're guiding to down to 1.5 x by the end of 2027, so you've got to lose half a term a year, between now and then. finally on leverage you're guiding to down to 1.5 x by the end of 2027 so you've got to lose half a term a year between now and then Do you see that as a linear progression or faster in 2026 and 2027 or vice versa? do you see that as a linear progression or faster in 2026 and 2027 or vice versa If so, why? if so why Thank you. thank you

Speaker 3: Thank you, James. I'm sure Valentina would be super happy to take the EBITDA and leverage questions. I'm gonna talk about the momentum. Two things here: As much as I believe that the way we operate, the way we've put in place a very strong sales dynamic, which we adjust as per market conditions, as per the industry we are facing, et cetera, as per the geographies. You know, we have also put a very strong delivery engine that helps us gain share from our own merits, and that makes me very confident for the future. I also believe that it's overall the market conditions that are also improving. Thank you, James. thank you james I'm sure Valentina would be super happy to take the EBITDA and leverage questions. i'm sure valentina would be super happy to take the ebitda and leverage questions I'm gonna talk about the momentum. i'm gonna talk about the momentum Two things here: As much as I believe that the way we operate, the way we've put in place a very strong sales dynamic, which we adjust as per market conditions, as per the industry we are facing, et cetera, as per the geographies. two things here as much as i believe that the way we operate the way we've put in place a very strong sales dynamic which we adjust as per market conditions as per the industry we are facing et cetera as per the geographies You know, we have also put a very strong delivery engine that helps us gain share from our own merits, and that makes me very confident for the future. you know we have also put a very strong delivery engine that helps us gain share from our own merits and that makes me very confident for the future I also believe that it's overall the market conditions that are also improving. i also believe that it's overall the market conditions that are also improving You know, we have been through some difficult quarters, I would say, in the end of 2024 and beginning of 2025, and we see an overall better traction on the markets. On that, we are well-positioned because we've done all the hard work to strengthen the muscle in sales, strengthen the muscle in delivery. I would say it's a, it's a bit of both that help us grow our as we do. Valentina. You know, we have been through some difficult quarters, I would say, in the end of 2024 and beginning of 2025, and we see an overall better traction on the markets. you know we have been through some difficult quarters i would say in the end of 2024 and beginning of 2025 and we see an overall better traction on the markets On that, we are well-positioned because we've done all the hard work to strengthen the muscle in sales, strengthen the muscle in delivery. on that we are well-positioned because we've done all the hard work to strengthen the muscle in sales strengthen the muscle in delivery I would say it's a, it's a bit of both that help us grow our as we do. i would say it's a it's a bit of both that help us grow our as we do Valentina. valentina

Speaker 12: I'll build on the comments that Denis just mentioned about momentum, just to give you some more flavor on guidance for Q1 EBIT. I think that what you mentioned, James, is reasonable. The way that I think about our Q1 EBITDA is the continued positive volumes behavior gives us confidence in terms of revenue outlook, and gross margin is broadly stable sequentially. If you think also about the comparison year-on-year is we have a 20 basis points headwind coming from FX. You may remember that last year in Q1 2025, this represented a tailwind, that gives you a flavor why also a year-on-year Q1 gross margin is actually broadly stable. I'll build on the comments that Denis just mentioned about momentum, just to give you some more flavor on guidance for Q1 EBIT. i'll build on the comments that denis just mentioned about momentum just to give you some more flavor on guidance for q1 ebit I think that what you mentioned, James, is reasonable. i think that what you mentioned james is reasonable The way that I think about our Q1 EBITDA is the continued positive volumes behavior gives us confidence in terms of revenue outlook, and gross margin is broadly stable sequentially. the way that i think about our q1 ebitda is the continued positive volumes behavior gives us confidence in terms of revenue outlook and gross margin is broadly stable sequentially If you think also about the comparison year-on-year is we have a 20 basis points headwind coming from FX. if you think also about the comparison year-on-year is we have a 20 basis points headwind coming from fx You may remember that last year in Q1 2025, this represented a tailwind, that gives you a flavor why also a year-on-year Q1 gross margin is actually broadly stable. you may remember that last year in q1 2025 this represented a tailwind that gives you a flavor why also a year-on-year q1 gross margin is actually broadly stable In terms of SG&A, our normal seasonality from Q4 to Q1 usually sees SG&A going up by EUR 10-15 million. The fact that we're guiding for broadly stable tells you about the cost discipline that we continue to enforce. You saw that we've mentioned the FESCO income because we assume FESCO to continue to contribute positively on a full year basis, but the timing last year, it can vary, and last year it happened in Q1. In terms of SG&A, our normal seasonality from Q4 to Q1 usually sees SG&A going up by EUR 10-15 million. in terms of sg&a our normal seasonality from q4 to q1 usually sees sg&a going up by eur 10-15 million The fact that we're guiding for broadly stable tells you about the cost discipline that we continue to enforce. the fact that we're guiding for broadly stable tells you about the cost discipline that we continue to enforce You saw that we've mentioned the FESCO income because we assume FESCO to continue to contribute positively on a full year basis, but the timing last year, it can vary, and last year it happened in Q1. you saw that we've mentioned the fesco income because we assume fesco to continue to contribute positively on a full year basis but the timing last year it can vary and last year it happened in q1 On a full year EBITDA, we don't guide overall, but I think this gives you a bit the moving pieces that you need to model in terms of getting there, and your assumption that you mentioned are quite reasonable. Moving to leverage, I think it's, you know, the free cash flow generation, the performance that we had, the trajectory of the performance that we had throughout 2025 delivered a good levering, 0.2 year-on-year and sequentially 0.6. The path to 1.5 is clear. We don't guide specifically on 2026 and 2027, but clearly the levers that we have in our hands and we are already pulling are modest growth. On a full year EBITDA, we don't guide overall, but I think this gives you a bit the moving pieces that you need to model in terms of getting there, and your assumption that you mentioned are quite reasonable. on a full year ebitda we don't guide overall but i think this gives you a bit the moving pieces that you need to model in terms of getting there and your assumption that you mentioned are quite reasonable Moving to leverage, I think it's, you know, the free cash flow generation, the performance that we had, the trajectory of the performance that we had throughout 2025 delivered a good levering, 0.2 year-on-year and sequentially 0.6. moving to leverage i think it's you know the free cash flow generation the performance that we had the trajectory of the performance that we had throughout 2025 delivered a good levering 0.2 year-on-year and sequentially 0.6 The path to 1.5 is clear. the path to 1.5 is clear We don't guide specifically on 2026 and 2027, but clearly the levers that we have in our hands and we are already pulling are modest growth. we don't guide specifically on 2026 and 2027 but clearly the levers that we have in our hands and we are already pulling are modest growth You've seen how growth has dropped through in operating leverage over the past quarters. We expect that to continue throughout the next quarters. We have additional benefits coming from Akkodis Germany, but also other elements like the turnaround in North America, like the improvement in France, that will continue to help us get there, as we've shown you in the last in recent quarters. You've seen how growth has dropped through in operating leverage over the past quarters. you've seen how growth has dropped through in operating leverage over the past quarters We expect that to continue throughout the next quarters. we expect that to continue throughout the next quarters We have additional benefits coming from Akkodis Germany, but also other elements like the turnaround in North America, like the improvement in France, that will continue to help us get there, as we've shown you in the last in recent quarters. we have additional benefits coming from akkodis germany but also other elements like the turnaround in north america like the improvement in france that will continue to help us get there as we've shown you in the last in recent quarters

Speaker 6: That's very, very helpful. Thank you very much. That's very, very helpful. that's very very helpful Thank you very much. thank you very much

Speaker 7: Your next question comes from the line of Suhasini Varanasi with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open. Your next question comes from the line of Suhasini Varanasi with Goldman Sachs. your next question comes from the line of suhasini varanasi with goldman sachs Your line is open. your line is open

Speaker 11: Hi, good morning. Just one question for me, please. Just want to clarify the exit rate and momentum that you saw year to date, because I think your slide on slide five seems to suggest, at least on the GBU, Adecco GBU front, the momentum is continuing to improve in year to date. Just at that GBU level and at the group level, can you please clarify how the exit rate has looked, compared to the 3.94% growth that you reported last quarter? Thank you. Hi, good morning. hi good morning Just one question for me, please. just one question for me please Just want to clarify the exit rate and momentum that you saw year to date, because I think your slide on slide five seems to suggest, at least on the GBU, Adecco GBU front, the momentum is continuing to improve in year to date. just want to clarify the exit rate and momentum that you saw year to date because i think your slide on slide five seems to suggest at least on the gbu adecco gbu front the momentum is continuing to improve in year to date Just at that GBU level and at the group level, can you please clarify how the exit rate has looked, compared to the 3.94% growth that you reported last quarter? just at that gbu level and at the group level can you please clarify how the exit rate has looked compared to the 3.94% growth that you reported last quarter Thank you. thank you

Speaker 12: Good morning, Suhasini. I'll take this one. Just to give you a sense, the exit rate was very much aligned with the quarter average, so a group level. I hope that's helpful to give you a sense. Good morning, Suhasini. good morning suhasini I'll take this one. i'll take this one Just to give you a sense, the exit rate was very much aligned with the quarter average, so a group level. just to give you a sense the exit rate was very much aligned with the quarter average so a group level I hope that's helpful to give you a sense. i hope that's helpful to give you a sense

Speaker 11: Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 12: You're welcome. You're welcome. you're welcome

Speaker 7: Your next question comes from the line of Simon Lechipre with Jefferies. Your line is open. Your next question comes from the line of Simon Lechipre with Jefferies. your next question comes from the line of simon lechipre with jefferies Your line is open. your line is open

Speaker 9: Morning. First question, looking at your Q4 results, if we exclude Akkodis, gross margin was down 30 basis points on an organic basis, and SG&A was probably flat organically. In prior quarters, it seems you were able to offset the gross margin pressure through cost savings. Does that mean it is no longer the case? I mean, how should we think about the future quarters in terms of the relation, gross margin performance and SG&A? Secondly, in terms of your Q1 gross margin guidance, stable sequentially, I would assume the seasonal effect is from Q4 to Q1 is negative. It seems you're also talking about, like, FX negative impact being a bit stronger. How would you offset these two factors to get to the stable gross margin sequentially? Morning. morning First question, looking at your Q4 results, if we exclude Akkodis, gross margin was down 30 basis points on an organic basis, and SG&A was probably flat organically. first question looking at your q4 results if we exclude akkodis gross margin was down 30 basis points on an organic basis and sg&a was probably flat organically In prior quarters, it seems you were able to offset the gross margin pressure through cost savings. in prior quarters it seems you were able to offset the gross margin pressure through cost savings Does that mean it is no longer the case? does that mean it is no longer the case I mean, how should we think about the future quarters in terms of the relation, gross margin performance and SG&A? i mean how should we think about the future quarters in terms of the relation gross margin performance and sg&a Secondly, in terms of your Q1 gross margin guidance, stable sequentially, I would assume the seasonal effect is from Q4 to Q1 is negative. secondly in terms of your q1 gross margin guidance stable sequentially i would assume the seasonal effect is from q4 to q1 is negative It seems you're also talking about, like, FX negative impact being a bit stronger. it seems you're also talking about like fx negative impact being a bit stronger How would you offset these two factors to get to the stable gross margin sequentially? how would you offset these two factors to get to the stable gross margin sequentially Last thing on AI, we see more and more evidences of how AI can make the business more efficient, so I would assume this suggests some deflationary effect on top line. How do you think about the net bottom line impact in the future? Like, do you think your SG&A would continue to reduce, and would that be enough to offset this initial deflationary trend on the top line? Thank you. Last thing on AI, we see more and more evidences of how AI can make the business more efficient, so I would assume this suggests some deflationary effect on top line. last thing on ai we see more and more evidences of how ai can make the business more efficient so i would assume this suggests some deflationary effect on top line How do you think about the net bottom line impact in the future? how do you think about the net bottom line impact in the future Like, do you think your SG&A would continue to reduce, and would that be enough to offset this initial deflationary trend on the top line? like do you think your sg&a would continue to reduce and would that be enough to offset this initial deflationary trend on the top line Thank you. thank you

Speaker 3: I'll take the AI piece, and Valentina will be very happy to take the gross margin question and the FX. I'll take the AI piece, and Valentina will be very happy to take the gross margin question and the FX. i'll take the ai piece and valentina will be very happy to take the gross margin question and the fx

Speaker 12: Starting with your two questions on gross margin, Simon. I think when you think about the performance that we had in Q4, at 19.1%, it's a very healthy level. It's industry-leading, it reflects a number of components. It's not just Akkodis, right? There's firm pricing and client mix, and there's GBUs mix that contribute positively to the gross margin build-up. Yes, Akkodis Germany is a component of it, but it's not the only one. There's clear added value in the gross margin that comes from the service lines that have higher gross margin profile, like outsourcing, like EZRA. Starting with your two questions on gross margin, Simon. starting with your two questions on gross margin simon I think when you think about the performance that we had in Q4, at 19.1%, it's a very healthy level. i think when you think about the performance that we had in q4 at 19.1% it's a very healthy level It's industry-leading, it reflects a number of components. it's industry-leading it reflects a number of components It's not just Akkodis, right? it's not just akkodis right There's firm pricing and client mix, and there's GBUs mix that contribute positively to the gross margin build-up. there's firm pricing and client mix and there's gbus mix that contribute positively to the gross margin build-up Yes, Akkodis Germany is a component of it, but it's not the only one. yes akkodis germany is a component of it but it's not the only one There's clear added value in the gross margin that comes from the service lines that have higher gross margin profile, like outsourcing, like EZRA. there's clear added value in the gross margin that comes from the service lines that have higher gross margin profile like outsourcing like ezra You've heard us mentioning a number of service lines that have grown double-digit in Q4 and will continue to do that. There are a number of levers that we can continue to work on, Akkodis Germany is one of them, to work on our gross margin and keep it at these stable levels. When you look at, by the way, permanent placement continues to be subdued, clearly. When permanent placement picks up, it is a further lever that we can capture, because we will capture permanent placement growth when it comes, and that's another further lever that we can pull. When you think about Q1, let me just take a moment to walk you through the elements. You've called out the facts. It's correct. You've heard us mentioning a number of service lines that have grown double-digit in Q4 and will continue to do that. you've heard us mentioning a number of service lines that have grown double-digit in q4 and will continue to do that There are a number of levers that we can continue to work on, Akkodis Germany is one of them, to work on our gross margin and keep it at these stable levels. there are a number of levers that we can continue to work on akkodis germany is one of them to work on our gross margin and keep it at these stable levels When you look at, by the way, permanent placement continues to be subdued, clearly. when you look at by the way permanent placement continues to be subdued clearly When permanent placement picks up, it is a further lever that we can capture, because we will capture permanent placement growth when it comes, and that's another further lever that we can pull. when permanent placement picks up it is a further lever that we can capture because we will capture permanent placement growth when it comes and that's another further lever that we can pull When you think about Q1, let me just take a moment to walk you through the elements. when you think about q1 let me just take a moment to walk you through the elements You've called out the facts. you've called out the facts It's correct. it's correct As I was mentioning before, actually, it was a tailwind in Q1 last year, so you do have a 20 basis points gap, or when you look at it from a Q1Q perspective. Then we again have several pieces, because there's modest impact coming from perm and flex, but there's also modest positive impact coming from the other service lines. That is why we continue to say it's really broad, broadly stable, even on a year-on-year basis. If you take out the FX, we are continuing to see how the benefits of the other service lines of Akkodis that we are implementing is affecting the modest client mix that we had in flex and perm. As I was mentioning before, actually, it was a tailwind in Q1 last year, so you do have a 20 basis points gap, or when you look at it from a Q1Q perspective. as i was mentioning before actually it was a tailwind in q1 last year so you do have a 20 basis points gap or when you look at it from a q1q perspective Then we again have several pieces, because there's modest impact coming from perm and flex, but there's also modest positive impact coming from the other service lines. then we again have several pieces because there's modest impact coming from perm and flex but there's also modest positive impact coming from the other service lines That is why we continue to say it's really broad, broadly stable, even on a year-on-year basis. that is why we continue to say it's really broad broadly stable even on a year-on-year basis If you take out the FX, we are continuing to see how the benefits of the other service lines of Akkodis that we are implementing is affecting the modest client mix that we had in flex and perm. if you take out the fx we are continuing to see how the benefits of the other service lines of akkodis that we are implementing is affecting the modest client mix that we had in flex and perm

Speaker 3: Yeah, fine. Yeah, fine. yeah fine

Speaker 9: may I have just a quick follow-up on GM and also on SG&A? It was -1% organically year-on-year in Q4, so it's mainly driven by Akkodis. Does that mean, like, the other GBU, SG&A is now trending kind of flattish year-on-year? may I have just a quick follow-up on GM and also on SG&A? may i have just a quick follow-up on gm and also on sg&a It was - 1% organically year-on-year in Q4, so it's mainly driven by Akkodis. it was - 1% organically year-on-year in q4 so it's mainly driven by akkodis Does that mean, like, the other GBU, SG&A is now trending kind of flattish year-on-year? does that mean like the other gbu sg&a is now trending kind of flattish year-on-year

Speaker 12: No, we continue to see the same performance. We call out Akkodis when we mention that because we want to call out the nice progress that we've done in the restructuring and the fact that most of it is coming through SG&A, but it's broad-based. You've seen it also in our productivity numbers. They're up in all of the GBUS, not just in Akkodis, in our G&A over sales, that is just 3%, that is not just Akkodis, it's broad-based. No, we continue to see the same performance. no we continue to see the same performance We call out Akkodis when we mention that because we want to call out the nice progress that we've done in the restructuring and the fact that most of it is coming through SG&A, but it's broad-based. we call out akkodis when we mention that because we want to call out the nice progress that we've done in the restructuring and the fact that most of it is coming through sg&a but it's broad-based You've seen it also in our productivity numbers. you've seen it also in our productivity numbers They're up in all of the GBUS, not just in Akkodis, in our G&A over sales, that is just 3%, that is not just Akkodis, it's broad-based. they're up in all of the gbus not just in akkodis in our g&a over sales that is just 3% that is not just akkodis it's broad-based

Speaker 3: Let me take now the AI impact. I think there is a top-line impact, positive impact, and also an impact in productivity that's gonna help our profitability overall. On the top line, I believe that AI is really an opportunity for us. Remind you, we are on fragmented markets, so the more, you know, optimized we are in how we deliver our service through AI, the better we can gain share. I'll give you 2 examples. You know, we've embedded generative AI into our Career Studio in at LHH. When people use Career Studio with AI powered, they find a job 32 days earlier than the ones who don't. This is creating value for our clients. This is help us penetrate bigger, faster our clients. Let me take now the AI impact. let me take now the ai impact I think there is a top-line impact, positive impact, and also an impact in productivity that's gonna help our profitability overall. i think there is a top-line impact positive impact and also an impact in productivity that's gonna help our profitability overall On the top line, I believe that AI is really an opportunity for us. on the top line i believe that ai is really an opportunity for us Remind you, we are on fragmented markets, so the more, you know, optimized we are in how we deliver our service through AI, the better we can gain share. remind you we are on fragmented markets so the more you know optimized we are in how we deliver our service through ai the better we can gain share I'll give you 2 examples. i'll give you 2 examples You know, we've embedded generative AI into our Career Studio in at LHH. you know we've embedded generative ai into our career studio in at lhh When people use Career Studio with AI powered, they find a job 32 days earlier than the ones who don't. when people use career studio with ai powered they find a job 32 days earlier than the ones who don't This is creating value for our clients. this is creating value for our clients This is help us penetrate bigger, faster our clients. this is help us penetrate bigger faster our clients This has a positive impact on the top line. If I look at the way we deliver, you know, with our AI agents in the UK on our recruitment, we have fill rates that have improved 550 basis points. Okay. This is an impact. We have improved our time to submit by 24% quarter-on-quarter. This helps us be more efficient, that even more. A positive impact on the top line. In doing so, we have operating leverage, as Valentina was saying, and in terms of how we optimize our cost, of course, we will progressively embed AI into our processes. We, you know, embed AI in our middle and back office, this is gonna create also efficiencies. This has a positive impact on the top line. this has a positive impact on the top line If I look at the way we deliver, you know, with our AI agents in the UK on our recruitment, we have fill rates that have improved 550 basis points. if i look at the way we deliver you know with our ai agents in the uk on our recruitment we have fill rates that have improved 550 basis points Okay. okay This is an impact. this is an impact We have improved our time to submit by 24% quarter-on-quarter. we have improved our time to submit by 24% quarter-on-quarter This helps us be more efficient, that even more. this helps us be more efficient that even more A positive impact on the top line. a positive impact on the top line In doing so, we have operating leverage, as Valentina was saying, and in terms of how we optimize our cost, of course, we will progressively embed AI into our processes. in doing so we have operating leverage as valentina was saying and in terms of how we optimize our cost of course we will progressively embed ai into our processes We, you know, embed AI in our middle and back office, this is gonna create also efficiencies. we you know embed ai in our middle and back office this is gonna create also efficiencies I believe that AI will have a positive impact both on the way we capture market share and the way we improve our profitability. I believe that AI will have a positive impact both on the way we capture market share and the way we improve our profitability. i believe that ai will have a positive impact both on the way we capture market share and the way we improve our profitability

Speaker 9: Thank you. Thank you. thank you

Speaker 7: Your next question comes from the line of Rémi Grenu with Morgan Stanley. Your line is open. Your next question comes from the line of Rémi Grenu with Morgan Stanley. your next question comes from the line of rémi grenu with morgan stanley Your line is open. your line is open

Speaker 8: Morning, Denis. Morning, Valentina. Just one question remaining on my side. Focusing a little bit on North America and the very high growth there. I mean, the acceleration came in Q1 and Q2 last year, if I remember correctly. Can you help us unpack a little bit the performance there, if it's been driven by a few contracts? And if we then should expect some kind of annualization of these benefits in Q1 and Q2 this year? Just trying to understand a little bit from the 20% organic growth you're currently growing out in that country, what we should expect in term of potential normalization over the next few quarters. Morning, Denis. morning denis Morning, Valentina. morning valentina Just one question remaining on my side. just one question remaining on my side Focusing a little bit on North America and the very high growth there. focusing a little bit on north america and the very high growth there I mean, the acceleration came in Q1 and Q2 last year, if I remember correctly. i mean the acceleration came in q1 and q2 last year if i remember correctly Can you help us unpack a little bit the performance there, if it's been driven by a few contracts? can you help us unpack a little bit the performance there if it's been driven by a few contracts And if we then should expect some kind of annualization of these benefits in Q1 and Q2 this year? and if we then should expect some kind of annualization of these benefits in q1 and q2 this year Just trying to understand a little bit from the 20% organic growth you're currently growing out in that country, what we should expect in term of potential normalization over the next few quarters. just trying to understand a little bit from the 20% organic growth you're currently growing out in that country what we should expect in term of potential normalization over the next few quarters

Speaker 3: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Rémi. If I go back to history, you know, Q1, we were at -1% year-on-year. Q2, we were at +10%. Q3, we are +21%. Q4, we are +23%. Of course, we're very pleased. This shows that all the effort that we've put in the turnaround plan in the U.S. is delivering. We have productivity improved by 10%. We have a very strong dynamic on the large accounts. We also are positive in the SMEs, but that's the point where we need to focus our efforts, because the growth on our large accounts is a bit higher than the growth on small and medium companies. Yeah. yeah Thank you. thank you Thank you, Rémi. thank you rémi I f I go back to history, you know, Q1, we were at -1% year-on-year. i f i go back to history you know q1 we were at -1% year-on-year Q2, we were at +10%. q2 we were at +10% Q3, we are +21%. q3 we are +21% Q4, we are +23%. q4 we are +23% Of course, w e're very pleased. of course w e're very pleased This shows that all the effort that we've put in the turnaround plan in the U.S. is delivering. this shows that all the effort that we've put in the turnaround plan in the u.s is delivering We have productivity improved by 10%. we have productivity improved by 10% We have a very strong dynamic on the large accounts. we have a very strong dynamic on the large accounts We also are positive in the SMEs, but that's the point where we need to focus our efforts, because the growth on our large accounts is a bit higher than the growth on small and medium companies. we also are positive in the smes but that's the point where we need to focus our efforts because the growth on our large accounts is a bit higher than the growth on small and medium companies To your point, yes, let's be clear, we started from a low base, okay? These double-digit growth trend rates are encouraging, but as we anniversary some of the wins of the large clients, we will go more towards more market trends, a bit of a normalization. Still, our focus and, you know, our efforts will be to gain share, to be ahead of the market, and I'm quite positive that we can achieve that, but probably not to the extent that we've had this year. We have good traction in customer goods, in retail, in autos, in food and beverages. I mean, there's traction on the market. To your point, yes, let's be clear, we started from a low base, okay? to your point yes let's be clear we started from a low base okay T hese double-digit growth trend rates are encouraging, but as we anniversary some of the wins of the large clients, we will go more towards more market trends, a bit of a normalization. t hese double-digit growth trend rates are encouraging but as we anniversary some of the wins of the large clients we will go more towards more market trends a bit of a normalization Still, our focus and, you know, our efforts will be to gain share, to be ahead of the market, and I'm quite positive that we can achieve that, but probably not to the extent that we've had this year. still our focus and you know our efforts will be to gain share to be ahead of the market and i'm quite positive that we can achieve that but probably not to the extent that we've had this year We have good traction in customer goods, in retail, in autos, in food and beverages. we have good traction in customer goods in retail in autos in food and beverages I mean, there's traction on the market. i mean there's traction on the market The economy in the U.S. is still pretty good. We will surf on that. We are much stronger than we were two years ago, and yes. You know, you can expect growth, probably not with a such a differential with the market. The economy in the U.S. is still pretty good. the economy in the u.s is still pretty good We will surf on that. we will surf on that We are much stronger than we were two years ago, and yes. we are much stronger than we were two years ago and yes You know, you can expect growth, probably not with a such a differential with the market. you know you can expect growth probably not with a such a differential with the market

Speaker 8: Understood. Just maybe building up a little bit on the question from Simon, the operating costs guidance for Q1. I mean, I'm a little bit surprised by the comment on stability. Can you help us a little bit quantify the building blocks to get there? I mean, discussing with some of your competitors feels like that they're forecasting some wage inflation around 2% or a little bit more than that. The higher volume of activity, the 4% organic growth and positive momentum probably would mean, under a normal cycle, that you need to invest a little bit more in resources. Yes, can you help us a little bit on that stability of operating costs? Understood. understood Just maybe building up a little bit on the question from Simon, the operating costs guidance for Q1. just maybe building up a little bit on the question from simon the operating costs guidance for q1 I mean, I'm a little bit surprised by the comment on stability. i mean i'm a little bit surprised by the comment on stability Can you help us a little bit quantify the building blocks to get there? can you help us a little bit quantify the building blocks to get there I mean, discussing with some of your competitors feels like that they're forecasting some wage inflation around 2% or a little bit more than that. i mean discussing with some of your competitors feels like that they're forecasting some wage inflation around 2% or a little bit more than that The higher volume of activity, the 4% organic growth and positive momentum probably would mean, under a normal cycle, that you need to invest a little bit more in resources. the higher volume of activity the 4% organic growth and positive momentum probably would mean under a normal cycle that you need to invest a little bit more in resources Yes, can you help us a little bit on that stability of operating costs? yes can you help us a little bit on that stability of operating costs I'm just trying to understand as well if, to what extent you think that stability comments and these cost efficiencies are already driven by AI initiatives, or if it's just about Adecco removing some of the inefficiencies in the cost base that you had there and had to address? Thanks. I'm just trying to understand as well if, to what extent you think that stability comments and these cost efficiencies are already driven by AI initiatives, or if it's just about Adecco removing some of the inefficiencies in the cost base that you had there and had to address? i'm just trying to understand as well if to what extent you think that stability comments and these cost efficiencies are already driven by ai initiatives or if it's just about adecco removing some of the inefficiencies in the cost base that you had there and had to address Thanks. thanks

Speaker 3: Let me start by a little bit of how we strategize that growth. You heard me say in the past that what we try is to be very, very granular in the way we inject the resources that are linked to the dynamic of the markets. If I talk markets, it's by country, it's even by region in a country, it's by industry in a particular region, a particular country. Really adjust through this empowerment that we've put in place years ago, that's what we let people adjust very precisely to the market conditions. Yes, we will need to invest in some places, but we're also cautious in some others. That's how we operate. Let me start by a little bit of how we strategize that growth. let me start by a little bit of how we strategize that growth You heard me say in the past that what we try is to be very, very granular in the way we inject the resources that are linked to the dynamic of the markets. you heard me say in the past that what we try is to be very very granular in the way we inject the resources that are linked to the dynamic of the markets If I talk markets, it's by country, it's even by region in a country, it's by industry in a particular region, a particular country. if i talk markets it's by country it's even by region in a country it's by industry in a particular region a particular country Really adjust through this empowerment that we've put in place years ago, that's what we let people adjust very precisely to the market conditions. really adjust through this empowerment that we've put in place years ago that's what we let people adjust very precisely to the market conditions Yes, we will need to invest in some places, but we're also cautious in some others. yes we will need to invest in some places but we're also cautious in some others That's how we operate. that's how we operate Definitely, we will, we have improved our cost inefficiencies. We've really readjusted our SPs, we have adjusted our G&A. I think we continuously optimizing the resources, and I think AI will nicely help us on that. On the building blocks for Q1? Definitely, we will, we have improved our cost inefficiencies. definitely we will we have improved our cost inefficiencies We've really readjusted our SPs, we have adjusted our G&A. we've really readjusted our sps we have adjusted our g&a I think we continuously optimizing the resources, and I think AI will nicely help us on that. i think we continuously optimizing the resources and i think ai will nicely help us on that On the building blocks for Q1? on the building blocks for q1

Speaker 12: Just to give additional color, and hello, Remi, from my side. On the operating cost, sequentially stable, and it's all about cost discipline, right? The continuous focus on productivity and G&A gets us there. If you look for a seg on the Q4, I think it's also very helpful to see how we have performed. Productivity was up, broad-based, +11 in at group level. If you look at each GBU, Adecco was +6, LHH was +12, and Akkodis is, even with Germany, softer, kept a 90% utilization rate, approximately. If you look at our employee, you know, group employees, they're actually slightly down. Just to give additional color, and hello, Remi, from my side. just to give additional color and hello remi from my side On the operating cost, sequentially stable, and it's all about cost discipline, right? on the operating cost sequentially stable and it's all about cost discipline right The continuous focus on productivity and G&A gets us there. the continuous focus on productivity and g&a gets us there If you look for a seg on the Q4, I think it's also very helpful to see how we have performed. if you look for a seg on the q4 i think it's also very helpful to see how we have performed Productivity was up, broad-based, +11 in at group level. productivity was up broad-based +11 in at group level If you look at each GBU, Adecco was +6, LHH was +12, and Akkodis is, even with Germany, softer, kept a 90% utilization rate, approximately. if you look at each gbu adecco was +6 lhh was +12 and akkodis is even with germany softer kept a 90% utilization rate approximately If you look at our employee, you know, group employees, they're actually slightly down. if you look at our employee you know group employees they're actually slightly down That tells you how we are combining very well growth with good cost discipline and good productivity. That gives you a sense of, you know, why we guide for this to continue to be stable as we continue building on these two clear levers that has been key to the operating leverage, that you've seen our results. That tells you how we are combining very well growth with good cost discipline and good productivity. that tells you how we are combining very well growth with good cost discipline and good productivity That gives you a sense of, you know, why we guide for this to continue to be stable as we continue building on these two clear levers that has been key to the operating leverage, that you've seen our results. that gives you a sense of you know why we guide for this to continue to be stable as we continue building on these two clear levers that has been key to the operating leverage that you've seen our results

Speaker 3: Just to complement on AI, yeah, we see 30 basis points improvement when we serve the clients by three AI initiatives, but it's not at the scale that I want to see. We said that we would cover, you know, 60% of our revenues by agentic AI, over time, by the end of 2026. I mean, it's progressing. We yet have to fully scale. More to come. We'll keep you updated on the progress. I remain prudent in the impact of AI because, you know, there's no magic in AI. It's hard work. You need to scale it. I think we have all the levers and the foundations, but let's see how it goes. The trend is positive. Just to complement on AI, yeah, we see 30 basis points improvement when we serve the clients by three AI initiatives, but it's not at the scale that I want to see. just to complement on ai yeah we see 30 basis points improvement when we serve the clients by three ai initiatives but it's not at the scale that i want to see We said that we would cover, you know, 60% of our revenues by agentic AI, over time, by the end of 2026. we said that we would cover you know 60% of our revenues by agentic ai over time by the end of 2026 I mean, it's progressing. i mean it's progressing We yet have to fully scale. we yet have to fully scale More to come. more to come We'll keep you updated on the progress. we'll keep you updated on the progress I remain prudent in the impact of AI because, you know, there's no magic in AI. i remain prudent in the impact of ai because you know there's no magic in ai It's hard work. it's hard work You need to scale it. you need to scale it I think we have all the levers and the foundations, but let's see how it goes. i think we have all the levers and the foundations but let's see how it goes The trend is positive. the trend is positive

Speaker 8: Okay, thank you. The last question is on the SME, which you referred to, Denis, I think in one of your previous answers, saying that you need to address this segment better. Is the issue market-related? Is just the momentum between the two markets, if you separate them between SME and large enterprise, still very, I mean, diverging a lot in term of volume of activity? Is there any initiative at Adecco's level, which you need to implement to be better at serving this cohort of client? Because it has implication, obviously, for gross margin and profitability, I guess. Okay, thank you. okay thank you The last question is on the SME, which you referred to, Denis, I think in one of your previous answers, saying that you need to address this segment better. the last question is on the sme which you referred to denis i think in one of your previous answers saying that you need to address this segment better Is the issue market-related? is the issue market-related Is just the momentum between the two markets, if you separate them between SME and large enterprise, still very, I mean, diverging a lot in term of volume of activity? is just the momentum between the two markets if you separate them between sme and large enterprise still very i mean diverging a lot in term of volume of activity Is there any initiative at Adecco's level, which you need to implement to be better at serving this cohort of client? is there any initiative at adecco's level which you need to implement to be better at serving this cohort of client Because it has implication, obviously, for gross margin and profitability, I guess. because it has implication obviously for gross margin and profitability i guess

Speaker 3: Well, actually, we've really doubled down in the past couple of years, in how we serve the large clients, and enhance talent supply chain and enhance all that. We still have a pretty good dynamic in SMEs, but this is a place where we accelerate our efforts because we know, to your point, that is very accretive to our margin. I think we are in a good place in how we roll out all our technology into our talent supply chain, and we are also rolling out progressively the technology through our branches. I believe that the strength of branch network is that proximity, that, you know, that deep understanding of the local ecosystems. Well, actually, we've really doubled down in the past couple of years, in how we serve the large clients, and enhance talent supply chain and enhance all that. well actually we've really doubled down in the past couple of years in how we serve the large clients and enhance talent supply chain and enhance all that We still have a pretty good dynamic in SMEs, but this is a place where we accelerate our efforts because we know, to your point, that is very accretive to our margin. we still have a pretty good dynamic in smes but this is a place where we accelerate our efforts because we know to your point that is very accretive to our margin I think we are in a good place in how we roll out all our technology into our talent supply chain, and we are also rolling out progressively the technology through our branches. i think we are in a good place in how we roll out all our technology into our talent supply chain and we are also rolling out progressively the technology through our branches I believe that the strength of branch network is that proximity, that, you know, that deep understanding of the local ecosystems. i believe that the strength of branch network is that proximity that you know that deep understanding of the local ecosystems That's one of the top priorities for 2026, is to inject as much energy and technology into the SME segments as we have done in the large accounts. That's one of the top priorities for 2026, is to inject as much energy and technology into the SME segments as we have done in the large accounts. that's one of the top priorities for 2026 is to inject as much energy and technology into the sme segments as we have done in the large accounts

Speaker 8: Understood. Thank you very much. Understood. understood Thank you very much. thank you very much

Speaker 7: Your next question comes from the line of Simon Van Oppen with Kepler Cheuvreux. Your line is open. Your next question comes from the line of Simon Van Oppen with Kepler Cheuvreux. your next question comes from the line of simon van oppen with kepler cheuvreux Your line is open. your line is open

Speaker 10: Hi, good morning. I have a question on margins. We see margins in all divisions strengthening in Q4, most significantly in Akkodis and LHH, especially on an underlying basis. Can you unpack a little bit the main drivers for the strengthening of your margins by division? What do you expect in terms of margin for each division in 2026? In extension to that, should we expect more one-offs in 2026? If so, roughly by how much by division? Thank you. Hi, good morning. hi good morning I have a question on margins. i have a question on margins We see margins in all divisions strengthening in Q4, most significantly in Akkodis and LHH, especially on an underlying basis. we see margins in all divisions strengthening in q4 most significantly in akkodis and lhh especially on an underlying basis Can you unpack a little bit the main drivers for the strengthening of your margins by division? can you unpack a little bit the main drivers for the strengthening of your margins by division What do you expect in terms of margin for each division in 2026? what do you expect in terms of margin for each division in 2026 In extension to that, should we expect more one-offs in 2026? in extension to that should we expect more one-offs in 2026 If so, roughly by how much by division? if so roughly by how much by division Thank you. thank you

Speaker 3: Valentina? Valentina? valentina

Speaker 12: Thank you, Simon. Good morning. Let me explain a bit around the, you know, each GBU and how they evolved in terms of margin, and then we can also quickly touch on formal one-off guidance. The, I think what is the common denominator among the three GBUs improvement is volumes up, operating leverage drop through. That is clearly, and it's, if I take it for a moment, Akkodis is out, it's a clear denominator, right? If I take one GBU apart, you have Adecco that grew materially, right? You've seen how in Q4, it's up almost 5%, with the pockets that are even double digits. Thank you, Simon. thank you simon Good morning. good morning Let me explain a bit around the, you know, each GBU and how they evolved in terms of margin, and then we can also quickly touch on formal one-off guidance. let me explain a bit around the you know each gbu and how they evolved in terms of margin and then we can also quickly touch on formal one-off guidance The, I think what is the common denominator among the three GBUs improvement is volumes up, operating leverage drop through. the i think what is the common denominator among the three gbus improvement is volumes up operating leverage drop through That is clearly, and it's, if I take it for a moment, Akkodis is out, it's a clear denominator, right? that is clearly and it's if i take it for a moment akkodis is out it's a clear denominator right If I take one GBU apart, you have Adecco that grew materially, right? if i take one gbu apart you have adecco that grew materially right You've seen how in Q4, it's up almost 5%, with the pockets that are even double digits. you've seen how in q4 it's up almost 5% with the pockets that are even double digits Clearly, the Adecco story is a story around strong operating leverage, but also diversification with the service lines like outsourcing that grew double digits, to give you a sense. It always comes on the back of good cost discipline, hence the operating leverage and the improvement in margins. In LHH, you've seen us mention that there's an element of the improvement year-on-year that is because we had headwinds last year. It is a 500 basis points improvement, but in fact, underlining is half of it to 250, which is still a very significant improvement. Clearly, the Adecco story is a story around strong operating leverage, but also diversification with the service lines like outsourcing that grew double digits, to give you a sense. clearly the adecco story is a story around strong operating leverage but also diversification with the service lines like outsourcing that grew double digits to give you a sense It always comes on the back of good cost discipline, hence the operating leverage and the improvement in margins. it always comes on the back of good cost discipline hence the operating leverage and the improvement in margins In LHH, you've seen us mention that there's an element of the improvement year-on-year that is because we had headwinds last year. in lhh you've seen us mention that there's an element of the improvement year-on-year that is because we had headwinds last year It is a 500 basis points improvement, but in fact, underlining is half of it to 250, which is still a very significant improvement. it is a 500 basis points improvement but in fact underlining is half of it to 250 which is still a very significant improvement It's mainly coming from Citi continuing to performing very well, but also the contribution of other lines like EZRA and like the B2B business in GA that have grown double digits and they come with very healthy, high growth margins. Finally, in Akkodis is clearly the main driver of the improvement in performance is Akkodis Germany, and the fact that we are progressing well in the turnaround. In terms of FO's, sorry, of one-off costs, the guidance that we're giving you is down from EUR 60 million this year to EUR 40 next year. The EUR 60 million clearly this year is mainly coming from the Akkodis Germany turnaround. It's mainly coming from Citi continuing to performing very well, but also the contribution of other lines like EZRA and like the B2B business in GA that have grown double digits and they come with very healthy, high growth margins. it's mainly coming from citi continuing to performing very well but also the contribution of other lines like ezra and like the b2b business in ga that have grown double digits and they come with very healthy high growth margins Finally, in Akkodis is clearly the main driver of the improvement in performance is Akkodis Germany, and the fact that we are progressing well in the turnaround. finally in akkodis is clearly the main driver of the improvement in performance is akkodis germany and the fact that we are progressing well in the turnaround In terms of FO's, sorry, of one-off costs, the guidance that we're giving you is down from EUR 60 million this year to EUR 40 next year. in terms of fo's sorry of one-off costs the guidance that we're giving you is down from eur 60 million this year to eur 40 next year The EUR 60 million clearly this year is mainly coming from the Akkodis Germany turnaround. the eur 60 million clearly this year is mainly coming from the akkodis germany turnaround We're basically guiding next year to be lower in one-off, mainly because Akkodis Germany is basically completed. We're basically guiding next year to be lower in one-off, mainly because Akkodis Germany is basically completed. we're basically guiding next year to be lower in one-off mainly because akkodis germany is basically completed

Speaker 10: Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. okay Thank you very much. thank you very much

Speaker 12: You're welcome. You're welcome. you're welcome

Speaker 7: Your next question comes from the line of Gian Marco Werro with ZKB. Your line is open. Your next question comes from the line of Gian Marco Werro with ZKB. your next question comes from the line of gian marco werro with zkb Your line is open. your line is open

Speaker 4: Thank you, everyone. Two questions from my side. The first one is on the gross profit margin in flexible placement. I would appreciate if you can dive there a little bit deeper into this development of 20 basis points decline year-over-year. Can you maybe elaborate please on the gross profit margin dynamics in temporary staffing, especially in your key markets like France, Germany, and also the US, please, just to grab a little bit better the dynamics, how is it evolving, still increasing, stable, declining? Then on the second question is on AI also. Thank you, everyone. thank you everyone Two questions from my side. two questions from my side The first one is on the gross profit margin in flexible placement. the first one is on the gross profit margin in flexible placement I would appreciate if you can dive there a little bit deeper into this development of 20 basis points decline year-over-year. i would appreciate if you can dive there a little bit deeper into this development of 20 basis points decline year-over-year Can you maybe elaborate please on the gross profit margin dynamics in temporary staffing, especially in your key markets like France, Germany, and also the US, please, just to grab a little bit better the dynamics, how is it evolving, still increasing, stable, declining? can you maybe elaborate please on the gross profit margin dynamics in temporary staffing especially in your key markets like france germany and also the us please just to grab a little bit better the dynamics how is it evolving still increasing stable declining Then on the second question is on AI also. then on the second question is on ai also Denis, I appreciate your optimistic tone about the opportunities lying here, very frankly speaking, don't you also see also, of course, some headwinds here of jobs that become redundant, like many operations of warehouses, IT, white collar, back office work, that in my view, is certainly also affecting your top line negatively? I would appreciate if we can just talk here briefly about the dynamics that you observe in the industry. Thank you. Denis, I appreciate your optimistic tone about the opportunities lying here, very frankly speaking, don't you also see also, of course, some headwinds here of jobs that become redundant, like many operations of warehouses, IT, white collar, back office work, that in my view, is certainly also affecting your top line negatively? denis i appreciate your optimistic tone about the opportunities lying here very frankly speaking don't you also see also of course some headwinds here of jobs that become redundant like many operations of warehouses it white collar back office work that in my view is certainly also affecting your top line negatively I would appreciate if we can just talk here briefly about the dynamics that you observe in the industry. i would appreciate if we can just talk here briefly about the dynamics that you observe in the industry Thank you. thank you

Speaker 3: I'm gonna start by answering your questions on AI, Gian-Marco, and then Valentina will talk about the gross margin. Fundamentally, we don't see any impact of AI at this stage. We know that as all technology evolutions that are happening, some jobs are gonna be impacted, some destroyed, but so many are going to be created. That's what history tells us, okay? For the moment, if you look at the numbers coming from career transition, okay, which is the world leader in our placement, 1.4% of the people are telling us that they've been laid off for, or due to AI. That's it, okay? I'm gonna start by answering your questions on AI, Gian-Marco, and then Valentina will talk about the gross margin. i'm gonna start by answering your questions on ai gian-marco and then valentina will talk about the gross margin Fundamentally, we don't see any impact of AI at this stage. fundamentally we don't see any impact of ai at this stage We know that as all technology evolutions that are happening, some jobs are gonna be impacted, some destroyed, but so many are going to be created. we know that as all technology evolutions that are happening some jobs are gonna be impacted some destroyed but so many are going to be created That's what history tells us, okay? that's what history tells us okay For the moment, if you look at the numbers coming from career transition, okay, which is the world leader in our placement, 1.4% of the people are telling us that they've been laid off for, or due to AI. for the moment if you look at the numbers coming from career transition okay which is the world leader in our placement 1.4% of the people are telling us that they've been laid off for or due to ai That's it, okay? that's it okay 12% say, "Yes, there was a bit of AI coming in." To date, there's no, you know, massive impact, no impact of AI. Let's be clear, and I'm not the only one to say that, a lot of companies are doing layoff plans, pretending that it's coming from AI because it makes them look good, okay. Fundamentally, this is not the case, okay. Now, nobody knows within three or five years, what the relationship is between the jobs destroyed and the jobs created, okay. If you look back, 10 years ago, nobody was talking about cloud architects. Nobody was talking about, you know, content moderation, you know. These jobs have been created because of the, you know, digital world, et cetera. This is gonna come as well with AI, okay. 12% say, "Yes, there was a bit of AI coming in." To date, there's no, you know, massive impact, no impact of AI. 12% say "yes there was a bit of ai coming in." to date there's no you know massive impact no impact of ai Let's be clear, and I'm not the only one to say that, a lot of companies are doing layoff plans, pretending that it's coming from AI because it makes them look good, okay. let's be clear and i'm not the only one to say that a lot of companies are doing layoff plans pretending that it's coming from ai because it makes them look good okay Fundamentally, this is not the case, okay. fundamentally this is not the case okay Now, nobody knows within three or five years, what the relationship is between the jobs destroyed and the jobs created, okay. now nobody knows within three or five years what the relationship is between the jobs destroyed and the jobs created okay If you look back, 10 years ago, nobody was talking about cloud architects. if you look back 10 years ago nobody was talking about cloud architects Nobody was talking about, you know, content moderation, you know. nobody was talking about you know content moderation you know These jobs have been created because of the, you know, digital world, et cetera. these jobs have been created because of the you know digital world et cetera This is gonna come as well with AI, okay. this is gonna come as well with ai okay I believe that because of this massive reshuffling of the labor market, this is a massive opportunity for us to upskill, reskill, move people around, accompanying people in their agility. That's what we are here for. You know, AI is not new. It has been now around for more than a couple of years, and look at our numbers, okay? We are trending nicely in this world of AI. We are reshaping the future of work in this AI era, and we are well-placed to accompany our clients on the agility that is necessary with AI. That makes me very confident. Now, on the gross margin. I believe that because of this massive reshuffling of the labor market, this is a massive opportunity for us to upskill, reskill, move people around, accompanying people in their agility. i believe that because of this massive reshuffling of the labor market this is a massive opportunity for us to upskill reskill move people around accompanying people in their agility That's what we are here for. that's what we are here for You know, AI is not new. you know ai is not new It has been now around for more than a couple of years, and look at our numbers, okay? it has been now around for more than a couple of years and look at our numbers okay We are trending nicely in this world of AI. we are trending nicely in this world of ai We are reshaping the future of work in this AI era, and we are well-placed to accompany our clients on the agility that is necessary with AI. we are reshaping the future of work in this ai era and we are well-placed to accompany our clients on the agility that is necessary with ai That makes me very confident. that makes me very confident Now, on the gross margin. now on the gross margin

Speaker 12: The year-on-year development you were asking about, Gian-Marco, on flex. First of all, it's a modest impact. Overall, the flex gross margin remains quite healthy. We are happy with pricing. It stays firm. We have a positive spread, bill to pay rate, the modest impact that you see is fundamentally a client and country mix. Just to build on the question that you were asking about, what about countries, France, U.S.? It is really all about how do we grow, right? Sometimes in some countries, but also in some industries, we may see, you know, one client segment growing faster than the other. It's the case right now, as Denis Machuel was mentioning in France and North America. The year-on-year development you were asking about, Gian-Marco, on flex. the year-on-year development you were asking about gian-marco on flex First of all, it's a modest impact. first of all it's a modest impact Overall, the flex gross margin remains quite healthy. overall the flex gross margin remains quite healthy We are happy with pricing. we are happy with pricing It stays firm. it stays firm We have a positive spread, bill to pay rate, the modest impact that you see is fundamentally a client and country mix. we have a positive spread bill to pay rate the modest impact that you see is fundamentally a client and country mix Just to build on the question that you were asking about, what about countries, France, U.S.? just to build on the question that you were asking about what about countries france u.s It is really all about how do we grow, right? it is really all about how do we grow right Sometimes in some countries, but also in some industries, we may see, you know, one client segment growing faster than the other. sometimes in some countries but also in some industries we may see you know one client segment growing faster than the other It's the case right now, as Denis Machuel was mentioning in France and North America. it's the case right now as denis machuel was mentioning in france and north america What is really important is that as that happens, we also operate on cost base, right? Because these are also clients that come with a lower cost to serve. The most important thing when we think about margin, yes, it's the gross margin, but it's also the mix that we have between SMEs and large, and the drop-through, on the overall margin. What is really important is that as that happens, we also operate on cost base, right? what is really important is that as that happens we also operate on cost base right Because these are also clients that come with a lower cost to serve. because these are also clients that come with a lower cost to serve The most important thing when we think about margin, yes, it's the gross margin, but it's also the mix that we have between SMEs and large, and the drop-through, on the overall margin. the most important thing when we think about margin yes it's the gross margin but it's also the mix that we have between smes and large and the drop-through on the overall margin

Speaker 4: Okay, thank you. No specific comments you want to make here on the three countries I mentioned? About the development of the gross margin, is it stable or any mention, most probably, yeah? Okay, thank you. okay thank you No specific comments you want to make here on the three countries I mentioned? no specific comments you want to make here on the three countries i mentioned About the development of the gross margin, is it stable or any mention, most probably, yeah? about the development of the gross margin is it stable or any mention most probably yeah

Speaker 3: I think the trends in these three countries are aligned with the overall trend of the GBUs. Yeah. I think the trends in these three countries are aligned with the overall trend of the GBUs. i think the trends in these three countries are aligned with the overall trend of the gbus Yeah. yeah

Speaker 4: Thank you so much. Thanks for the elaboration. Thank you so much. thank you so much Thanks for the elaboration. thanks for the elaboration

Speaker 7: Your next question comes from the line of Irene Austin with Barclays. Your line is open. Your next question comes from the line of Irene Austin with Barclays. your next question comes from the line of irene austin with barclays Your line is open. your line is open

Speaker 5: Hi, thanks for taking my question, and thanks for the presentation. I just had a quick one on the hybrid. I believe on your third quarter conference call, you mentioned your attention to refinance at the time, the hybrid. Just wondering whether that's still the case. Thank you. Hi, thanks for taking my question, and thanks for the presentation. hi thanks for taking my question and thanks for the presentation I just had a quick one on the hybrid. i just had a quick one on the hybrid I believe on your third quarter conference call, you mentioned your attention to refinance at the time, the hybrid. i believe on your third quarter conference call you mentioned your attention to refinance at the time the hybrid Just wondering whether that's still the case. just wondering whether that's still the case Thank you. thank you

Speaker 12: Thank you, Irene. Good morning. Yes, you're correct. We are refinancing the hybrid. We are in progress of doing that. We are constantly the market to understand when the right moment is to execute, but you should expect that to be happening. Thank you, Irene. thank you irene Good morning. good morning Yes, y ou're correct. yes y ou're correct We are refinancing the hybrid. we are refinancing the hybrid We are in progress of doing that. we are in progress of doing that We are constantly the market to understand when the right moment is to execute, but you should expect that to be happening. we are constantly the market to understand when the right moment is to execute but you should expect that to be happening

Speaker 5: That's very helpful. Thank you. That's very helpful. that's very helpful Thank you. thank you

Speaker 7: Your next question comes from the line of Andrew Grobler with BNP Paribas. Your line is open. Your next question comes from the line of Andrew Grobler with BNP Paribas. your next question comes from the line of andrew grobler with bnp paribas Your line is open. your line is open

Speaker 1: Hi. Just one follow-up, if I may. Just on the dividend, you moved to the option of a scrip. What drove that decision, and to what extent is that part of the plan for getting to 1.5x leverage by the end of next year? Thanks very much. Hi. hi Just one follow-up, if I may. just one follow-up if i may Just on the dividend, you moved to the option of a scrip. just on the dividend you moved to the option of a scrip What drove that decision, and to what extent is that part of the plan for getting to 1.5 x leverage by the end of next year? what drove that decision and to what extent is that part of the plan for getting to 1.5 x leverage by the end of next year Thanks very much. thanks very much

Speaker 3: Thanks, Andrew Grobler. Let me put the overall perspective. The group has a very clear framework on capital allocation and a clear dividend policy. Every year, of course, depending upon the results, the annual performance, the board evaluates all options within that framework and within given policy to provide what the board believes is the best outcome for shareholders. This year, the decision has been made to propose the choice between a payment in shares or payment in cash, which we believe is the right balance between our de-leveraging priority on one side and also retaining cash for growth. We also felt that this is an optionality that is financially attractive for shareholders, for qualifying shareholders on, you know, tax, on the tax side. I think it's a pretty good decision for shareholders. Thanks, Andrew Grobler. thanks andrew grobler Let me put the overall perspective. let me put the overall perspective The group has a very clear framework on capital allocation and a clear dividend policy. the group has a very clear framework on capital allocation and a clear dividend policy Every year, of course, depending upon the results, the annual performance, the board evaluates all options within that framework and within given policy to provide what the board believes is the best outcome for shareholders. every year of course depending upon the results the annual performance the board evaluates all options within that framework and within given policy to provide what the board believes is the best outcome for shareholders This year, the decision has been made to propose the choice between a payment in shares or payment in cash, which we believe is the right balance between our de-leveraging priority on one side and also retaining cash for growth. this year the decision has been made to propose the choice between a payment in shares or payment in cash which we believe is the right balance between our de-leveraging priority on one side and also retaining cash for growth We also felt that this is an optionality that is financially attractive for shareholders, for qualifying shareholders on, you know, tax, on the tax side. we also felt that this is an optionality that is financially attractive for shareholders for qualifying shareholders on you know tax on the tax side I think it's a pretty good decision for shareholders. i think it's a pretty good decision for shareholders Now on the leverage, yeah. Now on the leverage, yeah. now on the leverage yeah

Speaker 12: As Denis mentioned, the scrip is an option, completely independent from the path that we've discussed to reach our EUR 1.5 billion. That path is based on performance, growth, operating leverage, the turnaround that we're doing. The scrip is an option, and it's independent from that. As Denis mentioned, the scrip is an option, completely independent from the path that we've discussed to reach our EUR 1.5 billion. as denis mentioned the scrip is an option completely independent from the path that we've discussed to reach our eur 1.5 billion That path is based on performance, growth, operating leverage, the turnaround that we're doing. that path is based on performance growth operating leverage the turnaround that we're doing The scrip is an option, and it's independent from that. the scrip is an option and it's independent from that

Speaker 1: Okay, thank you. Okay, thank you. okay thank you

Speaker 7: I will now turn the call back over to Denis Machuel, CEO, for closing remarks. I will now turn the call back over to Denis Machuel, CEO, for closing remarks. i will now turn the call back over to denis machuel ceo for closing remarks

Speaker 3: Thank you very much, everyone. We really appreciate your presence today. Just to wrap up, I think our 2025 results make me very confident for the future. I must tell you that our teams are energized, and they are focused on delivering performance. Yes, we still have a lot to do, but the momentum that we've created and which continues at the beginning of 2026, as we said, puts us in a very good place. In a very good place to deliver profitable growth moving forward and to delever. With that, thanks a lot for having been with us today, and speak to you next time. Have a great day. Thank you. Thank you very much, everyone. thank you very much everyone We really appreciate your presence today. we really appreciate your presence today Just to wrap up, I think our 2025 results make me very confident for the future. just to wrap up i think our 2025 results make me very confident for the future I must tell you that our teams are energized, and they are focused on delivering performance. i must tell you that our teams are energized and they are focused on delivering performance Yes, we still have a lot to do, but the momentum that we've created and which continues at the beginning of 2026, as we said, puts us in a very good place. yes we still have a lot to do but the momentum that we've created and which continues at the beginning of 2026 as we said puts us in a very good place In a very good place to deliver profitable growth moving forward and to delever. in a very good place to deliver profitable growth moving forward and to delever With that, thanks a lot for having been with us today, and speak to you next time. with that thanks a lot for having been with us today and speak to you next time Have a great day. have a great day Thank you. thank you

Speaker 7: Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. ladies and gentlemen that concludes today's call Thank you for joining. thank you for joining You may now disconnect. you may now disconnect