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Employees: 2,646
Size SThree (STEM.L) is a United Kingdom Industrials company (Personnel Services) with a market value of $481M, the 298th largest of 363 United Kingdom companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at £297.50 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 64.7%, against +8.1% for the median peer and +3.6% for the United Kingdom market (cap-weighted) — 2nd highest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue fell 9.2% over the last twelve months (peer median +1.6%); the operating margin is 1.6% (peer median 4.3%).
Valuation It trades at 42.2× forward earnings against a peer median of 13.7× (3rd most expensive of 20).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 10% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +2%, so the hurdle is +9 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 3.3 points below its cost of capital (10.4% WACC).
Next results Next results expected around 26 Jan 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £1.25B | £1.30B | £1.49B | £1.66B | £1.64B |
| Revenue growth | — | -13% | -10% | +1% | — |
| Gross profit | £293M | £305M | £354M | £403M | £412M |
| EBITDA | £38.5M | £44.6M | £82.3M | £94.3M | £99.1M |
| Net income | £13.0M | £17.7M | £49.7M | £56.1M | £54.2M |
| Free cash flow | £39.3M | £56.2M | £31.4M | £73.4M | £41.5M |
| Capital expenditure | £8.25M | £8.63M | £13.2M | £8.21M | £3.67M |
| Total debt | n/a | £47.5M | £39.9M | £29.0M | £34.1M |
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.
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 | STEM.L | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | -0.8% | -2.3% | 10th highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +64.7% | +8.1% | 2nd highest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -8.5% | -13.9% | 4th highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | -9.2% | +1.6% | 7th lowest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 1.6% | 4.3% | 4th lowest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 42.2× | 13.7× | 3rd most expensive of 20 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 10.2% | -0.3% | 5th most demanding of 18 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +1.6% | +7.7% | 3rd lowest of 18 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +8.6 pp | -12.1 pp | 5th most demanding of 18 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | -3.3 pp | +7.1 pp | 5th lowest of 21 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 0.2× | -1.1× | 6th most indebted of 19 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SThree STEM.L | United Kingdom | $481M | +65% | -9% | 2% | 42.2× | 10.2% | +1.6% |
| en Inc. 4849.T | Japan | $504M | +60% | -11% | 7% | 9.6× | 5.3% | +6.7% |
| Quess QUESS.NS | India | $505M | +41% | -12% | 2% | 17.1× | 16.3% | +7.1% |
| Kelly Services KELYA | United States | $507M | +40% | -10% | 1% | 10.2× | 12.8% | -1.2% |
| HRnetGroup CHZ.SI | Singapore | $519M | -9% | +1% | 7% | 14.0× | -13.1% | +6.2% |
| dip 2379.T | Japan | $520M | -17% | -9% | 7% | 68.1× | -1.1% | +11.0% |
| Groupe Crit CEN.PA | France | $534M | -20% | +1% | 3% | 8.3× | n/a | n/a |
| Fullcast 4848.T | Japan | $401M | +12% | +33% | 9% | 11.6× | -12.6% | +12.3% |
| Link and Motivation 2170.T | Japan | $376M | +4% | +11% | 13% | 17.5× | -0.3% | +6.2% |
| TrueBlue TBI | United States | $370M | +117% | +10% | -2% | 17.6× | n/a | n/a |
| Beijing Career International 300662.SZ | China | $643M | -10% | +13% | 2% | 12.0× | 10.6% | +29.9% |
| Pasona 2168.T | Japan | $344M | -12% | 0% | 0% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Altech 4641.T | Japan | $329M | +4% | +6% | 9% | 13.7× | -13.7% | +8.0% |
| Barrett Business Services BBSI | United States | $725M | 0% | +6% | 4% | 18.2× | 1.9% | +7.1% |
| Synergie SDG.PA | France | $753M | -3% | +5% | 3% | 11.8× | -13.4% | +8.2% |
| World 2429.T | Japan | $302M | +4% | +11% | 3% | 6.2× | -3.5% | +14.6% |
| UT Group Co.,Ltd. 2146.T | Japan | $868M | +22% | -13% | 7% | 16.1× | 6.7% | +7.7% |
| Michael Page PAGE.L | United Kingdom | $896M | +60% | -3% | 2% | 43.4× | 23.5% | +4.1% |
| Grupa Pracuj spolka akcyjna GPP.WA | Poland | $919M | +23% | +5% | 37% | 13.1× | -1.9% | +22.1% |
| Kforce KFRC | United States | $970M | +25% | +2% | 5% | 18.0× | 9.8% | -1.0% |
| Open Up 2154.T | Japan | $1.11B | +12% | -11% | 10% | 13.1× | -6.5% | +11.1% |