Hays (LON:HAS) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

by · The Markets Daily

Hays (LON:HAS – Get Free Report) issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday. The company reported GBX 0.46 EPS for the quarter, Digital Look Earnings reports. Hays had a negative return on equity of 0.84% and a negative net margin of 0.07%.

Here are the key takeaways from Hays’ conference call:

  • Dirk Hahn has stepped down as CEO and Mark Dearnley is interim, creating near-term leadership transition risk while the board conducts a CEO search.
  • Group net fees fell 9% to £453m and pre-exceptional operating profit dropped 25% to £20.1m (perm down 14%), showing profitability remains below management’s targets.
  • Management cut operating costs ~8% (~£40m), improved consultant productivity by 7% (UK +15%, ANZ +7%) and has delivered ~£80m per annum of cost savings over 2.5 years, limiting the profit hit from lower fees.
  • Strong cash generation with cash from operations of £43.7m, net cash of £40m, free cash flow £16.9m, a completed pension buy-in removing prior deficit funding, and reduced FY26 CapEx guidance to £30m.
  • Progress on the proprietary Hays Digitise platform and AI agents (e.g., “Smarter Meetings”) is reducing admin, improving structured data and consultant effectiveness, which management expects to drive further structural savings and scalable revenue benefits.

Hays Price Performance

Shares of HAS traded down GBX 4.30 during trading hours on Friday, hitting GBX 40.56. 14,450,462 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,062,295. The company has a market cap of £648.44 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -82.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 1.13. Hays has a fifty-two week low of GBX 39.62 and a fifty-two week high of GBX 89.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.31, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 43.81. The firm’s fifty day moving average is GBX 49.20 and its 200 day moving average is GBX 54.98.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of Hays from GBX 100 to GBX 90 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of GBX 81.20.

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