Hays plc Due Diligence & Financial Profile: 02150950
Executive summary
Hays plc (company number 02150950) is an active public limited company incorporated on 28 July 1987, operating as a global specialist recruitment and workforce solutions group under SIC code 70100 (Activities of head offices). For the financial year ended 30 June 2025, the group reported consolidated turnover of £6,607,000,000 and an operating profit of £14,900,000, but registered a post-tax loss of £7,800,000 alongside a reduction in net fee income to £972,400,000. While the balance sheet retains net assets of £466,700,000 and £145,000,000 in undrawn bank facilities under a £240,000,000 revolving credit agreement, declining conversion rates and restructuring across international operations warrant close counterparty review.
Corporate finance advisers, commercial lenders, and procurement teams evaluating Hays plc require a comprehensive view of cash conversion, trade debtor exposure, and governance stability. You can inspect the full company record on Corp Intel for ongoing statutory filings and registry status.
What the numbers show
The consolidated accounts for FY25 reflect challenging macroeconomic conditions in white-collar recruitment, characterized by extended corporate hiring timelines and lower placement volumes. Group turnover reached £6,607,000,000, but gross administrative expenses of £957,500,000 absorbed operating margins. Operating profit fell to £14,900,000, compared to £45,600,000 on a pre-exceptional basis. Profit before tax contracted sharply to £1,500,000 (FY24: £14,700,000), resulting in an after-tax loss of £7,800,000 after accounting for a tax expense of £9,300,000.
Multi-year financial performance
The following table sets out the key statutory metrics extracted from filed accounts over available reporting intervals:
| Financial metric | FY25 Full Year (30/06/2025) | HY23 Interim (23/02/2023) | HY21 Interim (31/12/2021) |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Turnover | £6,607,000,000 | £3,839,800,000 | £3,067,000,000 |
| Operating profit | £14,900,000 | £97,000,000 | £101,600,000 |
| Profit before tax | £1,500,000 | £94,000,000 | £97,700,000 |
| Profit after tax | -£7,800,000 | £66,700,000 | £68,400,000 |
| Net assets | £466,700,000 | £665,900,000 | £789,400,000 |
| Cash at bank | £37,000,000 | £191,400,000 | £236,900,000 |
| Current assets | £1,308,500,000 | £1,370,700,000 | £1,176,800,000 |
| Current liabilities | £1,048,600,000 | £969,900,000 | £773,900,000 |
| Working capital | £259,900,000 | £400,800,000 | £402,900,000 |
| Trade debtors | £1,134,100,000 | £1,174,100,000 | £936,900,000 |
| Trade creditors | £931,900,000 | £894,200,000 | £688,600,000 |
| Employee count | 6,070 | 9,099 | 8,266 |
Note: FY21 and FY20 annual records on file indicate zero values for several standard extraction lines due to interim or condensed filing formats. Unaudited interim reports are cited where comprehensive full-year extracts are omitted on the register.
Working capital, liquidity, and gearing
Working capital contracted from £400,800,000 in early 2023 to £259,900,000 at 30 June 2025. Current assets of £1,308,500,000 are dominated by trade debtors of £1,134,100,000, representing 86.7% of all short-term assets. This reflects the group's substantial Temporary and Contracting business, where contractor payroll must be funded upfront while clients settle invoices on commercial terms.
Cash at bank stood at £37,000,000 at year-end, down from £56,800,000 net cash reported in FY24 and £191,400,000 in HY23. To maintain flexibility, the board removed its historical £100,000,000 cash buffer policy. In October 2024, the group refinanced and expanded its revolving credit facility (RCF) from £210,000,000 to £240,000,000, extending its maturity to October 2029. As of 30 June 2025, £145,000,000 of this facility remained undrawn, leaving drawn bank debt at approximately £95,000,000.
The banking covenants under the RCF require:
1. An interest cover ratio of not less than 4.0:1.
2. A leverage ratio (net debt to EBITDA) not exceeding 2.5:1.
With operating profit dropping to £14,900,000 and finance costs recorded at £13,400,000, interest cover on statutory operating profit narrowed significantly. However, covenant compliance is assessed on pre-exceptional EBITDA figures, where pre-exceptional operating profit was reported at £45,600,000.
Dividend compression and capital allocation
Total dividend payments for FY25 were £47,800,000, down from £149,900,000 in HY23. The board proposed a final dividend of 0.29 pence per share, bringing the full-year core dividend to 1.24 pence per share (down from 3.00 pence in FY24). This reduction was driven by core dividend cover falling below the group target range of 2.0x to 3.0x earnings for two consecutive years.
Directors and corporate ownership
Hays plc has no Person with Significant Control (PSC) registered on Companies House. As a publicly traded entity listed on the London Stock Exchange, its voting rights are dispersed across institutional investment funds and market participants under the disclosure requirements of the FCA Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules (DTR 5).
Board composition and key appointments
The public register records a unitary board consisting of non-executive directors and executive management. The current registered officers include:
- Mr Michael Alan Findlay (born January 1968, British, resident in England): Appointed director on 20 January 2025, serving as Non-Executive Chair.
- Mr James Hilton (born May 1978, British, resident in England): Appointed director on 1 October 2022, serving as Chief Financial Officer.
- Mr Mark William Dearnley (born April 1969, British, resident in England): Appointed director on 27 February 2026, serving as Chief Digital and Technology Officer.
- Ms Helen Rose Cunningham (born August 1965, British, resident in the UK): Appointed director on 1 March 2024.
- Mr Anthony Andrew Kirby (born January 1981, British, resident in England): Appointed director on 1 April 2024.
- Mr Joseph Kindall Hurd III (born August 1969, American, resident in the United States): Appointed director on 1 December 2021.
- Ms Cheryl Joanne Millington (born July 1966, British, resident in the UK): Appointed director on 17 June 2019.
- Ms Susan Elizabeth Murray (born January 1957, British, resident in the UK): Appointed director on 12 July 2017.
- Ms Zarin Homi Patel (born February 1961, British, resident in the UK): Appointed director on 1 January 2023.
Company secretarial administration has seen multiple transitions. Ms Rachel Ford was appointed on 26 August 2024 following the resignation of Douglas George Evans, and subsequently resigned on 14 September 2026. Mr Nick Cooper was appointed as company secretary on 14 September 2026.
Executive leadership changes
Mr Dirk Hahn (born September 1968, German), who assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer on 1 September 2023 succeeding long-serving CEO Alistair Richard Cox, is recorded on the register as having resigned his directorship on 27 February 2026. This coincided with the appointment of Mark William Dearnley to the board on the same date.
In accordance with Section 172 of the Companies Act 2006, the board published its stakeholder engagement disclosures in the annual report, outlining restructuring initiatives designed to address regional profitability shortfalls.
Recent activity and statutory register filings
Regulatory and corporate actions over recent reporting cycles highlight major portfolio rationalisation and pension balance-sheet de-risking:
1. Bulk annuity pension buy-in: On 9 December 2024, Hays Pension Trustee Limited entered into a £370,000,000 bulk purchase annuity policy with Pension Insurance Corporation plc (PIC). This contract fully insured the defined benefit scheme's remaining benefit obligations, following an earlier £270,600,000 buy-in executed in 2018. The IAS 19 accounting valuation at 30 June 2025 recorded a surplus of £nil (down from a surplus of £19,400,000 in FY24), with £4,900,000 transferred to balance sheet provisions.
2. Geographic exits: The strategic report confirms deliberate exits from underperforming operational entities in Chile and Colombia, alongside country portfolio restructuring across Europe and Latin America to eliminate structural losses.
3. Cost reduction programme: The group realized £35,000,000 in structural cost savings in FY25, reaching £65,000,000 across FY24 and FY25, with an objective of delivering an additional £45,000,000 in annualised savings by FY29.
4. Company charges and mortgages: Commercial lenders conducting a company charge check should examine the public charges register to confirm the priority and security structure supporting the £240,000,000 revolving credit facility.
5. Statutory notices: No insolvency proceedings, winding-up orders, or petitions appear on record for Hays plc in The Gazette.
Risk indicators and operational headwinds
Corporate intelligence analysts must evaluate Hays plc against several distinct operational and financial sensitivities identified in its disclosures:
- Margin compression in major regions: In FY25, the UK & Ireland division generated net fees of £192,200,000 (down 15%) and recorded an operating loss of £5,800,000, resulting in a negative conversion rate of -3.0%. While H2 showed a return to modest profitability, consultant headcount in UK&I was reduced by 21%. In Germany, net fees dropped 10% to £308,900,000, with operating profit declining 22% to £52,100,000. Australia & New Zealand (ANZ) operating profit contracted by 67% to £3,600,000.
- Working capital exposure: With trade debtors standing at £1,134,100,000, any deterioration in debtor days or corporate insolvencies among enterprise clients poses a direct liquidity risk.
- Headcount reduction: Global consultant numbers dropped significantly. Average group headcount declined from 9,099 in HY23 to 6,070 in FY25, illustrating aggressive capacity trimming across cyclical markets.
- Foreign exchange volatility: The group generates the majority of its net fees outside the UK (principally in Euros and Australian Dollars), exposing reported operating profits to sterling currency fluctuations.
Credit and legal due diligence framework
When assessing high-volume service providers or counterparty credit risks for large workforce solutions contracts, credit officers and legal advisers should apply the following verification methodology:
1. Confirm legal entity identity: Verify whether contracts are written with the holding company, Hays plc (02150950), or with operating subsidiaries such as Hays Specialist Recruitment Limited. Parent company guarantees must be cross-checked against head-office balance sheet covenants.
2. Verify debenture and charge priority: Review Form MR01 filings on Companies House to verify whether general bank debentures contain negative pledge clauses restricting further asset encumbrance.
3. Inspect litigation cause lists: Before signing multi-million-pound recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) agreements or syndicated credit lines, run a winding up search against the Central London High Court cause lists to confirm no pending petitions threaten the entity.
4. Audit trade debtor asset backing: Check whether debtor balances are pledged or factored under commercial facilities, ensuring unsecured trade creditors have unencumbered asset cover.
5. Establish real-time filing alerts: Put free company monitoring in place to track director changes, PSC notices, and late-filing warnings automatically.
Counterparty Verification Workflow:
[Company Registry / Status Verification]
│
▼
[Charge Register Review (Form MR01 / Satisfaction MR04)]
│
▼
[Insolvency & High Court Search: Winding Up Petition Search]
│
▼
[Financial Covenant & Working Capital Headroom Stress Test]
Scenario: Evaluating a trade credit or banking facility
Consider an enterprise client entering an exclusive Managed Service Provider (MSP) agreement involving £15,000,000 in monthly contractor payroll disbursements administered by Hays plc. Under this arrangement, the client relies on the provider to pay thousands of specialized technical contractors on time, regardless of whether client invoice clearing experiences administrative delays.
A prudent procurement and risk team would evaluate the following:
- Cash flow buffer: Hays plc reduced its reported cash balance to £37,000,000 in FY25 and withdrew its static £100,000,000 cash floor policy. However, the £145,000,000 of headroom under its committed RCF through 2029 provides adequate liquidity backstop, provided financial covenants remain compliant.
- Insolvency risk verification: A formal winding up search before contract execution confirms that no dissatisfied trade creditors or statutory bodies have presented petitions. Routine searches with the Insolvency Service confirm zero winding-up orders.
- Contractual structure: The client's legal counsel must ensure that contractor wage liabilities do not revert to the client in the event of operational interruptions, and that payment escrow accounts are insulated from general corporate floating charges.
Manual validation vs Corp Intel intelligence
Validating a corporate counterparty manually requires consulting multiple disconnected registries. An analyst must review the Companies House service for annual accounts, check The Gazette for statutory notices, inspect court cause lists for petitions, and request registry filings for charges and cross-directorships. This process takes several hours and risks missing interim events, such as unadvertised winding-up petitions filed at the Rolls Building or sudden secretarial departures.
Corp Intel consolidates statutory filings, balance sheet trends, debenture registries, and petition cause lists into a single analytical view. Analysts gain instant access to covenant indicators, working capital shifts, and ownership trees, reducing due diligence turnaround from days to minutes while ensuring full regulatory auditability.
For corporate advisers, legal counsel, and credit underwriters
Commercial lenders, corporate finance teams, and legal advisers conduct counterparty reviews during credit facility underwriting, M&A supplier diligence, and high-value commercial contracting. Failing to uncover debtor concentration, compressed interest cover, or recent board resignations exposes institutions to counterparty default and contractual disruption. You can run an instant winding up petition search and verify all security registrations on Corp Intel before completion.
FAQ
What caused Hays plc to report a statutory loss in FY25?
Hays plc posted a statutory loss after tax of £7,800,000 for the year ended 30 June 2025. Although gross turnover stood at £6,607,000,000, net fee income fell by 11% to £972,400,000 due to widespread market hesitation, prolonged hiring cycles, and lower placement volumes. This reduction, combined with administrative costs, regional operating losses in the UK & Ireland and Rest of World divisions, and a £9,300,000 tax charge, erased pre-tax profits.
Who owns Hays plc?
Hays plc is a publicly quoted company on the London Stock Exchange with dispersed equity ownership. There are no registered Persons with Significant Control (PSCs) recorded at Companies House. Major shareholdings are subject to standard public disclosure notifications under FCA rules when crossing institutional voting thresholds.
What are the terms of Hays plc's revolving credit facility?
In October 2024, Hays plc expanded its committed revolving credit facility to £240,000,000, up from £210,000,000, with an expiration date of October 2029. As of 30 June 2025, £145,000,000 was undrawn. The credit agreement mandates an interest cover ratio of at least 4.0:1 and a maximum leverage ratio of 2.5:1.
What was the effect of the December 2024 pension buy-in?
Hays Pension Trustee Limited completed a £370,000,000 bulk purchase annuity contract with Pension Insurance Corporation plc (PIC) on 9 December 2024. This transaction fully insured the defined benefit scheme's remaining liabilities, eliminating future funding deficits for the group. The IAS 19 balance sheet surplus shifted from £19,400,000 in FY24 to £nil in FY25, with £4,900,000 transferred to provisions.
How can I verify if Hays plc has any outstanding winding-up petitions?
A search of Companies House will not reveal live petitions, as petitions are only registered if an order is made. To verify whether any petition has been presented against the company, professionals must conduct an electronic cause list search through the High Court or use a dedicated corporate intelligence platform prior to exchange of contracts.
***
Monitor Hays plc with Corp Intel
Track balance sheet filings, director changes, and registry updates for Hays plc automatically. Activate free company monitoring on Corp Intel to receive real-time email alerts whenever new statutory filings, mortgages, or officer updates are registered.