Hays (LON:HAS) Announces Earnings Results

Hays (LON:HAS) issued its earnings results on Friday. The company reported GBX 0.46 earnings per share (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 Trading Down 9.6%

HAS traded down GBX 4.30 during midday trading on Friday, reaching GBX 40.56. 14,450,462 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 11,062,295. Hays has a 52 week low of GBX 39.62 and a 52 week high of GBX 89.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 43.81, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 1.31. The firm has a fifty day moving average of GBX 49.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of GBX 54.98. The stock has a market capitalization 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Hays Company Profile