European Staffing Sector Snippet

RECENT M&A ACTIVITY IN THE EUROPEAN STAFFING MARKET SEEMS TO HAVE TWO DRIVERS: TECHNOLOGY AND SIZE

The transaction environment within staffing in Europe continues to be strong, and Clairfield International has assisted Openjobmetis in the acquisition of the innovative Italian start-up company Coverclip S.r.l., the owner of the online platform specializing in the selection and recruitment of candidates for digital and hi-tech jobs using advanced matching systems.

We see this as an example of the increasing digital element across the industry, as the needs of employers and the desires of the younger employees will continue to drive change.

In an environment of changing market needs and the emergence of new(ish) business models driven by technology, there is a clear need for strength to invest and adapt to the necessary change among the midmarket players.

This is for example shown through the announced merger between Poolia and Uniflex, both listed on the Nasdaq OMX Stockholm exchange. Combined, the companies will have revenues of approximately EUR 200 million. We see this as a natural development in the market where the majors of the staffing world are showing limited M&A participation and consolidation is currently much more active on the regional arena and with a fair private equity-driven interest.

We expect the market in Europe to continue to be fairly active through the year, benefiting from the strong performance of the Euromarket.

The median valuation of listed companies is slightly down from the beginning of the year but continues to hover close to 9x EBITDA. The median margin remains below 4 %. See the table on the following slide for additional information.