Recruiter Randstad flags signs of stabilization as uncertainty becomes 'new norm'

By Olivier Cherfan and Mateusz Rabiega

(Reuters) -Randstad signalled improvements in some key markets on Wednesday, with higher demand for outsourcing of recruitment, as staffing firms face a new normal marked by heightened uncertainty.

Recruiters including Randstad, Adecco and Hays have voiced concerns about the worsening job market driven by an escalating global trade war and economic struggles in major European markets like Germany and France.

But the market sentiment has been thawing lately, Randstad CEO Sander van 't Noordende said.

"We have been on a long downward trend, and that seems to be stabilizing today," he told Reuters about market demand. "There's still uncertainty in the market, but that's ... the new norm."

The world's largest employment agency's earnings before interest, taxes and amortization, and before one-offs, were 171 million euros ($200.63 million) in the second quarter. Analysts polled by it were expecting them to reach 170 million euros.

Core earnings in France saw a slower organic decline of 14% than in recent quarters, while a core loss in Germany narrowed from a year earlier.

The earnings were helped by cost reductions, including from a lower average headcount on a full-time-equivalent basis. Randstad also expects slightly lower operating costs in the third quarter compared to the second.

"We have no specific big plans to cut workforce or anything like that," van 't Noordende said about the company's savings measures.

Asked about Randstad's interest in the European defence sector, which he had mentioned in April, the CEO said the company was engaging with the market's largest players.

"We scored some wins, let's say good wins, but not wins that I can share names of, but with larger players in Germany, France, and here in the Benelux," he said.

($1 = 0.8523 euros)

(Reporting by Mateusz Rabiega and Olivier Cherfan in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)