Hays (LON:HAS) Posts Earnings Results

Hays (LON:HAS) announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 0.07% and a negative return on equity of 0.84%.

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 opened at GBX 40.56 on Friday. Hays has a 1-year low of GBX 39.62 and a 1-year high of GBX 89.85. The stock has a market capitalization of £648.44 million, a PE ratio of -82.77, a PEG ratio of 0.24 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 1.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 43.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of GBX 48.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of GBX 54.82.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

About Hays