Is Hays plc profitable in 2026?

Yes but weakly. Hays FY25 pre-exceptional operating profit was £45.6m, down about 57% year on year, as of 30 June 2025. FY26 has continued to weaken, with H1 FY26 pre-exceptional PBT down 30% to £13.4m, though Q4 FY26 guidance lifted profit toward the top of a £37-46m consensus range by July 2026.

Is Hays plc doing layoffs?

Yes. Hays has cut consultant headcount by 37% from its early-2023 peak, standing at 5,759 consultants by end of H1 FY26 (31 December 2025), down 15% year on year. By Q4 FY26 (30 June 2026) consultant headcount was still down 12% year on year amid an ongoing £45m FY29 cost-savings program.

Could AI replace Hays plc's recruitment business?

Partially. Hays' own November 2025 research found over half of employers see more applications and a third of jobseekers use generative AI to apply, showing AI already reshapes CV screening and candidate matching, the core of Hays' contingency business. Enterprise MSP/RPO contracts remain more insulated due to workflow lock-in.

Who are Hays plc's biggest competitors?

Hays competes with global staffing giants Randstad, Adecco Group, and ManpowerGroup, plus professional-staffing peers PageGroup, Robert Half, and Robert Walters. Randstad claims roughly $27.6bn annual revenue and ManpowerGroup claims about $18bn, both far larger than Hays' £6.6bn FY25 revenue (30 June 2025), per each company's own reported figures.

Hays plc is an independent, publicly traded company on the London Stock Exchange (ticker HAS), with no parent company. Its largest disclosed shareholder is Silchester International Investors at roughly 17.6%, alongside Man Group, Columbia Threadneedle, Fidelity, and Schroders, as reported in early 2026.

Is Hays plc's revenue declining?

Yes, for three consecutive fiscal years: group revenue fell from £7,583m in FY23 to £6,949m in FY24 to £6,607m in FY25 (year ended 30 June 2025). Net fees kept falling into FY26, down between 5% and 10% year on year across all four quarters through June 2026.

Job boards and HR platforms · United Kingdom

Hays plc

hays.com ↗

UK-based global staffing and recruitment agency placing permanent and contract workers.

Protection under test

Assessed 22 July 2026 · Evidence as of 22 July 2026

Something worth protecting exists and is being tested right now.

On the recordSince 22 July 2026 · Checkable from late August 2026 · Every call on the record Checkpoint: FY26 full-year results and new CEO Mark Dearnley's first strategy statement

The call

Hays is cutting costs and leaning on enterprise contracts while its core screening-and-matching business keeps shrinking every quarter.

Hays finds and places temporary and permanent workers for employers. The company's main business, screening resumes and matching candidates to job openings, is exactly what AI chatbots do cheaply and instantly, and rivals like Randstad and Adecco plus new AI-first startups can copy this instantly. Its only real strength is lock-in with big enterprise clients who use its managed services, but that segment is too small to offset the collapse in low-skill recruitment fees. The deciding factor will be whether new CEO Mark Dearnley announces a real AI product that Hays owns, or just announces more cost-cutting, which would prove the company is just shrinking, not adapting.

Why

AI pressure: Generative AI / LLM-based screening and matching tools. AI does CV screening, longlisting and keyword matching natively and cheaply, hitting Hays' core fee-generating funnel step. Could AI do the core job? Yes, likely.

Bigger players: Randstad, Adecco, ManpowerGroup. Same fragmented market, same cost pressures, no rival blocked by anything Hays has that they lack. Could a giant copy it? Yes, easily.

What protects it. Workflow lock-in with large enterprise clients through MSP and RPO contracts, which grew 8% in FY25 even as core fees fell.

What would change this call

FY26 full-year results (~late Aug 2026) show net fees still declining YoY. Confirms structural erosion rather than a cyclical dip in the core recruitment business.
CEO Mark Dearnley announces a shipped AI/data product material to FY27 revenue. Would show Hays building a real moat instead of just cutting costs.
Consultant headcount falls despite 'broadly stable' guidance while £45m savings target is pursued. Indicates cost-cutting is the main lever, not productivity gains from AI adoption.

Key numbers

Revenue fell to £6.61bn, third straight annual decline (2025-06-30)
Net fees down 5% YoY in Q4 FY26, easing from -10% in Q2 (2026-06-30)
Enterprise Solutions net fees grew 8% in FY25 (2025-06-30)

Named risks

Three consecutive years of revenue decline with net fees falling every quarter through FY26. Severity: high
Core contingent recruitment screening/matching business highly exposed to AI automation. Severity: high
Leadership instability after abrupt CEO resignation, new permanent CEO since May 2026. Severity: medium
Execution risk on £45m FY29 structural savings target amid ongoing headcount cuts. Severity: medium
Macroeconomic and geopolitical exposure including Middle East operations. Severity: low

Rivals, as read in July 2026

Rival	Direction	Evidence
Randstad	contesting	Randstad claims ~$27.6bn annual revenue vs Hays' £6.6bn FY25 revenue (own reported figures, 2025-06-30)
ManpowerGroup	contesting	ManpowerGroup claims ~$18bn revenue and 2,200+ offices in 75 countries (own reported figures, 2025-12)
PageGroup, Robert Half, Robert Walters	contesting	Peer professional-staffing firms competing in same specialist white-collar recruitment segments
Generative AI tools	gaining on	Over half of employers report increased applications via gen-AI use, reshaping recruitment funnel, Nov 2025

Questions people ask

Is Hays plc profitable in 2026?: Yes but weakly. Hays FY25 pre-exceptional operating profit was £45.6m, down about 57% year on year, as of 30 June 2025. FY26 has continued to weaken, with H1 FY26 pre-exceptional PBT down 30% to £13.4m, though Q4 FY26 guidance lifted profit toward the top of a £37-46m consensus range by July 2026.
Is Hays plc doing layoffs?: Yes. Hays has cut consultant headcount by 37% from its early-2023 peak, standing at 5,759 consultants by end of H1 FY26 (31 December 2025), down 15% year on year. By Q4 FY26 (30 June 2026) consultant headcount was still down 12% year on year amid an ongoing £45m FY29 cost-savings program.
Could AI replace Hays plc's recruitment business?: Partially. Hays' own November 2025 research found over half of employers see more applications and a third of jobseekers use generative AI to apply, showing AI already reshapes CV screening and candidate matching, the core of Hays' contingency business. Enterprise MSP/RPO contracts remain more insulated due to workflow lock-in.
Who are Hays plc's biggest competitors?: Hays competes with global staffing giants Randstad, Adecco Group, and ManpowerGroup, plus professional-staffing peers PageGroup, Robert Half, and Robert Walters. Randstad claims roughly $27.6bn annual revenue and ManpowerGroup claims about $18bn, both far larger than Hays' £6.6bn FY25 revenue (30 June 2025), per each company's own reported figures.
Who owns Hays plc?: Hays plc is an independent, publicly traded company on the London Stock Exchange (ticker HAS), with no parent company. Its largest disclosed shareholder is Silchester International Investors at roughly 17.6%, alongside Man Group, Columbia Threadneedle, Fidelity, and Schroders, as reported in early 2026.
Is Hays plc's revenue declining?: Yes, for three consecutive fiscal years: group revenue fell from £7,583m in FY23 to £6,949m in FY24 to £6,607m in FY25 (year ended 30 June 2025). Net fees kept falling into FY26, down between 5% and 10% year on year across all four quarters through June 2026.

Timeline

2026-07-10Q4 FY26 update: like-for-like net fees down 5% YoY, profit guidance lifted on cost cuts
2026-05-18Mark Dearnley confirmed as permanent CEO after serving as interim
2026-03-31Q3 FY26 net fees down 8% YoY; cumulative structural savings reach £95m
2026-02-28CEO Dirk Hahn abruptly resigns after 28 years at Hays
2025-12-31H1 FY26 net fees down 9% to £453.3m; pre-exceptional PBT down 30% to £13.4m
2025-09-30Q1 FY26 like-for-like net fees fall 8% year on year
2025-06-30FY25 results: revenue £6.6bn, operating profit £45.6m down ~57%, net cash £74.4m
2024-12-31Hays completes £370m pension buy-in with Pension Insurance Corporation
2024-07-29Hays signs multi-year global tech outsourcing deal with Cognizant, framed as AI-ready platform build

Revision history

22 July 2026

First assessed. Protection under test. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.

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