ManpowerGroup Posts 13.7 Revenue Decline

February 4, 2021 – ManpowerGroup / (NYSE:MAN) posted full-year revenues of $18 billion, a decrease of 13.7 percent from $22 billion a year ago. The company posted fourth-quarter revenues of $5.1 billion, a decrease of three percent from the year earlier period. This surpassed the Zacks consensus estimate by 6.97 percent. This compares to year-ago revenues of $5.20 billion. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates three times over the last four quarters. U.S. revenue fell 4.1 percent in the fourth quarter. Revenue also fell 0.3 percent in Southern Europe and 6.7 percent in Northern Europe. The declines on a constant currency basis were 7.2 percent and 10.6 percent, respectively.

The Milwaukee-based company recorded net earnings of $23.8 million for the year, or $0 .41 per diluted share, compared to earnings of $456.7 million, or $7.72 per diluted share in 2016. For the quarter, earnings totaled $76.23 million, or $1.33 per diluted share; this compared to $158.3 million, or $2.33 per diluted share, a year earlier. “Our fourth quarter results reflect a continuation of the revenue recovery that began in May 2020,” said Jonas Prising, chairman and CEO of ManpowerGroup. “Despite experiencing a series of ongoing lockdowns around the world during the fourth quarter, our results reflect a stronger market environment, including revenue growth and new opportunities in select markets. The combination of our tech and PeopleFirst approach – the talent, skills and dedication of our teams – allows us to confidently manage uncertainty, volatility, collaborate remotely and be more agile than we ever believed possible.”

“We are pleased with the strategic progress we made in 2020 despite a very difficult operating environment,” said Mr. Prising. “We enter the new year confident that our strategy to diversify, digitize and innovate continues to position ManpowerGroup for greater success and profitable growth in the future.”

The current year quarter included restructuring costs which reduced earnings per share by $0.15. Financial results in the quarter were also impacted by the weaker U.S. dollar relative to foreign currencies compared to the prior year period.

New Board Members

ManpowerGroup recently announced that Jean-Philippe Courtois, executive vice president of Microsoft Corp. and president, Microsoft global sales, marketing and operations; and William P. Gipson, a retired executive at Procter & Gamble, who most recently served as president of enterprise packaging transformation and chief diversity & inclusion officer, have been elected to the company’s board of directors.

“We are delighted to welcome Jean-Philippe and William to the ManpowerGroup Board – two impressive executives with significant global experience and innovation acumen,” said Mr. Prising. “Jean-Philippe brings a breadth of expertise in digital transformation, together with a passion for leveraging technology to drive a positive societal impact while enabling people and organizations all around the global to achieve their potential. His extensive experience aligns well with our strategic priorities and will be a great asset as we accelerate our journey to digitize, diversify and innovate.”

“William has an impressive innovation track record driving business transformation and connecting to consumers at scale,” Mr. Prising said. “His deep set of perspectives and experiences leading across different businesses, industries and geographies together with his commitment to accelerating innovation at scale is well aligned with our own priorities and purpose.”

Looking Ahead

“We anticipate diluted earnings per share in the first quarter will be between $0.64 and $0.72, which includes an estimated favorable currency impact of seven cents,” Mr. Prising said. ManpowerGroup has yet to issue any earnings guidance.

Shares in ManpowerGroup were down 3.33 percent to $86.78 upon release of their numbers. They were 11.36 percent below their 52-week high. The company had a market cap of $5.16 billion.

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media

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