Swiss Staffing Firm Adecco Considers Selling Akkodis Unit

Jan-Henrik Förster and Paula Doenecke, Bloomberg News

An Adecco SA logo. Photographer: Michele Limina/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Swiss staffing company Adecco Group AG is considering a possible sale of its technology consulting unit Akkodis, according to people familiar with the matter.

The Zurich-based company has been gauging potential buyer interest for the division, which was created through the purchase of Akka Technologies, the people said.

Shares of Adecco Group rose as much as 1.7% to a one-week high in early Thursday trading. The stock is still down about 25% this year, giving it a market value of about 5.2 billion Swiss francs ($5.8 billion).

Adecco Group could opt to keep a stake in Akkodis in any sale, some of the people said. Deliberations are ongoing and may not lead to a transaction, they said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. A representative for Adecco Group declined to comment.

Adecco Group bought French engineering and technology consulting firm Akka Technologies for €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) in 2022, which was the company’s biggest acquisition. It then combined Akka with its own tech services engineering business Modis to create Akkodis, which focuses on providing consulting services, industry experts and coaching for the technology sector.

Akkodis generated €3.7 billion in revenue in 2023, accounting for about 16% of Adecco Group’s total revenue, according to its financial report.

“We do not believe a sale of Akkodis is necessary for the company, and a natural industry buyer is not directly visible for us,” Konrad Zomer, an analyst at ABN Amro Oddo Bhf BV, wrote in a note. A private equity buyer could always be interested as it requires little invested capital, generates decent free cash flow, is profitable and can be levered up to an extent, the analyst said.

Adecco Group has been trying to diversify away from placing temporary staff through acquisitions to provide more specialized and value-added services. However, the company has seen a challenging macroeconomic environment when employers tend to cut staffing.

Randstad NV, ManpowerGroup Inc. and Robert Half Inc. are among Adecco Group’s major competitors.

--With assistance from Dinesh Nair and Michael Msika.

(Updates Adecco Group’s share moves in third paragraph, adds analyst comment in seventh paragraph.)