UPDATE: Adecco Replaces CEO In Push For Expansion
April 02 2009 - 2:31AM
Dow Jones News
Adecco SA (ADO) Thursday ousted its CEO and replaced him with a
former executive as it seeks to accelerate the international
expansion of its professional staffing business.
Patrick de Maeseneire will succeed Dieter Scheiff, who will
leave the company after three years in the top job.
De Maeseneire, 51 years old, currently heads Swiss industrial
chocolate maker Barry Callebaut AG (BARN.EB). He will take up his
new post June 1.
De Maeseneire was unavailable for comment.
Adecco Chairman Rolf Doerig said de Maeseneire's appointment was
part of Adecco's strategic plan to broaden the global reach of its
high-margin professional staffing business, which places highly
qualified workers such as lawyers, economists and medical
employees.
"De Maeseneire has a proven successful international track
record," Doerig said, adding that, "in combination with his strong
leadership skills and international sales background, de Maeseneire
will lead Adecco to the next stage of development and success."
De Maeseneire, a Belgian who worked at Adecco from 1998 to 2002,
has intimate knowledge of the company's professional staffing
business. He led this business from New York from 2000 to 2002
before he joined Barry Callebaut as CEO. Under his reign, Adecco
started to move into this business field more actively.
Professional staffing generates substantially higher profit
margins than the regular placement of blue-collar workers, where
profitability is on the decline as firms hire fewer staff.
To counter this trend, Adecco has pushed its professional
staffing division in the past but now aims to further accelerate
growth and profitability in this area. "We want to grow this
business organically and via acquisitions," Chairman Doerig
said.
Adecco, like rivals such as U.S.-based Manpower Inc. (MAN) and
Randstad NV (RAND.AE) of the Netherlands, is struggling with
sharply deteriorating employment markets, especially in countries
such as the U.S., Spain and the U.K., where unemployment rates are
reaching record highs.
The company recently has said it hoped to counter declining
sales and profits with job cuts and cost cuts. But acquisitions
should also help it buck the rapidly deteriorating trend. Adecco
posted a fourth-quarter net loss and saw sales fall about 25% in
January and February.
Doerig thanked outgoing CEO Scheiff, 56, for his contribution
"to improve the profitability of the company even in challenging
times." Scheiff had joined Adecco three years ago from
Germany-based staffing company DIS.
Adecco's shares Wednesday closed at 36.12 Swiss francs and have
lost 38% of their value in the past 12 months as companies cut back
on staff during a widespread recession.
Company Web site: www.adecco.com
-By Goran Mijuk, Dow Jones Newswires, +41 43 443 80 47; goran.mijuk@dowjones.com