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UK-based global recruitment company placing professional and skilled workers across many industries.
UK-based global recruitment company placing professional and skilled workers across many industries.
Charges employers a fee, tied to the new hire's salary, for permanent placements, and a mark-up on the pay of temporary and contract workers it places and employs, which is steadier. Permanent hiring falls first in downturns. Germany, the UK and Ireland, and Australia and New Zealand are among its largest regions.
In one line: A UK ManpowerGroup/Robert Half peer.
Moat: none (brand, scale, network effects). Global recruiter brand and candidate database, but a highly competitive industry.
Headquarters: London, UK · Founded: 1969 · Employees: 8,125
Size Hays (HAS.L) is a United Kingdom Industrials company (Personnel Services) with a market value of $1.24B, the 202nd largest of 363 United Kingdom companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at £58.55 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 75.4%, against +22.5% for the median peer and +3.6% for the United Kingdom market (cap-weighted) — highest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue fell 2.8% over the last twelve months (peer median +0.8%); the operating margin is 0.8% (peer median 4.3%).
Valuation It trades at 33.0× forward earnings against a peer median of 14.0× (4th most expensive of 20).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 18% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +3%, so the hurdle is +16 pp: the price needs faster growth than the company has been delivering — of companies that just grew 25–50% a year, 93.8% slowed down over the next four years.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 4.5 points below its cost of capital (11.3% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 25 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2026 | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £6.42B | £6.42B | £6.61B | £6.95B | £7.58B |
| Revenue growth | — | -3% | -5% | -8% | — |
| Gross profit | £851M | £55.2M | £53.7M | £113M | £206M |
| EBITDA | £104M | £104M | £110M | £171M | £264M |
| Net income | -£58.2M | -£58.2M | -£7.80M | -£4.90M | £138M |
| Free cash flow | £59.7M | £59.7M | £95.6M | £84.2M | £152M |
| Capital expenditure | £24.1M | £24.1M | £22.7M | £23.4M | £29.1M |
| Total debt | n/a | £245M | £312M | £283M | £200M |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hays HAS.L | $1.24B | +75% | -3% | 1% | 33.0× | 18.3% |
| ManpowerGroup MAN | $2.07B | +49% | +7% | 2% | 10.3× | -0.4% |
| Robert Half RHI | $4.28B | +55% | -3% | 1% | 23.5× | 26.7% |
| Michael Page PAGE.L | $896M | +60% | -3% | 2% | 43.4× | 23.5% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | HAS.L | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | -5.5% | -2.3% | 8th lowest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +75.4% | +22.5% | highest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -25.4% | -15.9% | 8th lowest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | -2.8% | +0.8% | 8th lowest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 0.8% | 4.3% | 3rd lowest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 33.0× | 14.0× | 4th most expensive of 20 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 18.3% | 3.6% | 3rd most demanding of 19 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +2.6% | +7.4% | 5th lowest of 19 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +15.7 pp | -3.3 pp | 2nd most demanding of 19 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | -4.5 pp | +7.4 pp | 4th lowest of 20 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 1.3× | -0.9× | 4th most indebted of 19 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hays HAS.L | United Kingdom | $1.24B | +75% | -3% | 1% | 33.0× | 18.3% | +2.6% |
| Upwork UPWK | United States | $1.26B | +14% | -1% | 18% | 8.9× | -7.1% | +16.1% |
| JAC Recruitment 2124.T | Japan | $1.21B | +34% | +12% | 26% | 19.3× | -1.0% | +16.4% |
| SMS 2175.T | Japan | $1.31B | +33% | +8% | 11% | 31.1× | 19.2% | +12.5% |
| Open Up 2154.T | Japan | $1.11B | +12% | -11% | 10% | 13.1× | -6.5% | +11.1% |
| Kforce KFRC | United States | $970M | +25% | +2% | 5% | 18.0× | 9.8% | -1.0% |
| Grupa Pracuj spolka akcyjna GPP.WA | Poland | $919M | +23% | +5% | 37% | 13.1× | -1.9% | +22.1% |
| Michael Page PAGE.L | United Kingdom | $896M | +60% | -3% | 2% | 43.4× | 23.5% | +4.1% |
| UT Group Co.,Ltd. 2146.T | Japan | $868M | +22% | -13% | 7% | 16.1× | 6.7% | +7.7% |
| Synergie SDG.PA | France | $753M | -3% | +5% | 3% | 11.8× | -13.4% | +8.2% |
| ManpowerGroup MAN | United States | $2.07B | +49% | +7% | 2% | 10.3× | -0.4% | 0.0% |
| Barrett Business Services BBSI | United States | $725M | 0% | +6% | 4% | 18.2× | 1.9% | +7.1% |
| Beijing Career International 300662.SZ | China | $643M | -10% | +13% | 2% | 12.0× | 10.6% | +29.9% |
| Groupe Crit CEN.PA | France | $534M | -20% | +1% | 3% | 8.3× | n/a | n/a |
| dip 2379.T | Japan | $520M | -17% | -9% | 7% | 68.1× | -1.1% | +11.0% |
| HRnetGroup CHZ.SI | Singapore | $519M | -9% | +1% | 7% | 14.0× | -13.1% | +6.2% |
| Jinhai Medical Technology 2225.HK | Hong Kong | $3.02B | -6% | +75% | -17% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Kelly Services KELYA | United States | $507M | +40% | -10% | 1% | 10.2× | 12.8% | -1.2% |
| Quess QUESS.NS | India | $505M | +41% | -12% | 2% | 17.1× | 16.3% | +7.1% |
| en Inc. 4849.T | Japan | $504M | +60% | -11% | 7% | 9.6× | 5.3% | +6.7% |
| SThree STEM.L | United Kingdom | $481M | +65% | -9% | 2% | 42.2× | 10.2% | +1.6% |