I'll begin with a brief overview of the quarter and the full year, including how we're seeing conditions evolve across markets and what that means for our execution. Jack will then walk through the detailed financial results and our guidance for the first quarter of 2026. Slide 2 of our earnings release presentation further identifies forward-looking statements made in this call and factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially and information regarding reconciliation of non-GAAP measures. In the fourth quarter, we delivered reported revenues of $4.7 billion, which represented Organic Constant Currency growth of 2%.

System-wide revenue, which includes our expanding franchise revenue base, was $5.1 billion. Adjusted EBITDA margin of 2.1% reflects improving demand trends across core markets as well as P&L leverage. Though we faced strong headwinds during the first half of 2025, reflected in our full-year results, we are encouraged by our fourth quarter performance, which demonstrated sequential improvement through year-end. As we move through the fourth quarter, revenue trends strengthened in several key markets.

Markets such as Italy and Spain stabilized earlier and began to inflect, with Italy standing out as a clear outperformer on both growth and margin. Against this backdrop, our priorities remain clear: execute with rigor, maintain cost discipline, and leverage our digitization advantage to position the business to generate operating leverage as demand improves. To that end, our diversified multi-brand portfolio continues to perform well in a selective demand environment and plays a critical role in earnings durability. Manpower addresses in-demand, AI-resilient skills at scale, supporting clients from entry-level to specialized roles in growth sectors and has grown for three consecutive quarters, with six quarters in the US.

What went well
  • Reported revenue of $4.7 billion grew 2% on an organic constant currency basis, favorable to the midpoint guidance of flat, marking a clear shift to stabilization led by enterprise demand.
  • The Manpower brand grew 5% organic constant currency, a sequential improvement from 3% in Q3, its third consecutive quarter of growth and sixth in the U.S.
  • Southern Europe flipped to 1% constant currency growth following 13 consecutive quarters of revenue declines, with Italy up 7% and OUP margin of 6.7%.
  • Northern Europe delivered positive operating profit for the first time in five quarters, reflecting cost actions, and SG&A as adjusted was down 4% in constant currency.
  • Adjusted EPS of $0.92 came in $0.09 above the guidance midpoint of $0.83, and the AI Recruiter Toolkit scaled to more than 12 markets, driving a 7% increase in placement rates.
What went wrong
  • Gross profit margin came in just below guidance at 16.3%, driven by lower permanent recruitment in Europe (a 30 basis point decline).
  • The Experis brand declined 6% organic constant currency, and the Talent Solutions brand declined 4% as RPO experienced lower demand in select U.S. client programs.
  • Adjusted EBITDA of $100 million was down 2% in constant currency year over year, and full-year adjusted EBITDA of $337 million fell 20% in constant currency.
  • Full-year adjusted EPS of $2.97 decreased 38% in constant currency, and Germany revenue declined 22% on a days adjusted constant currency basis.

Guidance Changes

MetricPeriodCurrent guidance
U.S. business revenueQ1 2026increased rate of revenue decline (lowered due to anniversarying very strong prior-year healthcare IT project volumes; ex-healthcare IT the trend is largely in line with Q4)
France revenue trendQ1 2026similar sequential rate of trend improvement (reiterated improving trajectory after four consecutive months of improvement)
Italy revenue growthQ1 2026similar constant currency growth trend (reiterated strong performance)
U.K. revenue trendQ1 2026improved rate of decline (reiterated ongoing stabilization)
EBITDA marginfull year 2026focus on expanding EBITDA margin year over year (raised ambition as 2026 seen as potential inflection point)

Performance Breakdown

MetricYoYNote
Total revenue (organic constant currency) +2% stabilization led by enterprise demand with improving trends in France and ongoing strength in Italy
Manpower brand (organic constant currency) +5% sequential improvement from 3% in Q3, strong U.S. and France assignments
Experis brand (organic constant currency) -6% improved from 7% decline in Q3 as rate of decline narrowed
Talent Solutions brand (organic constant currency) -4% improved from 8% decline in Q3; RPO lower demand offset by MSP growth and slight Right Management growth
Adjusted EBITDA -2% constant currency margin held flat at 2.1% despite lower gross margin, aided by 4% SG&A reduction
Adjusted EPS $0.92 $0.09 above guidance midpoint on improved operational performance and lower interest expense
Full-year adjusted EBITDA -20% constant currency first-half headwinds weighed on the full year at $337 million
Full-year adjusted EPS -38% constant currency full-year adjusted EPS of $2.97 reflecting the downturn earlier in 2025
Southern Europe revenue (constant currency) +1% flipped to growth after 13 consecutive quarters of declines

Earnings Call Themes & Trends

TopicPrevious mentionCurrent periodTrend
Stabilization and path to inflectionQ3: crossed back to growth after 11 quarters of declines, cautious optimismQ4: clear shift to stabilization; 2026 seen as potential inflection point with a path to sustainable organic growth and margin expansion
Transformation and cost disciplineQ3: back-office global business services progressing, front-office preparation underwayQ4: front-office transformation program being planned for North America, funded through ongoing cost management, carved out as a separate line
AI deploymentQ3: Sophie AI driving ~30% of new client revenue from AI-rated probability across 14 marketsQ4: AI Recruiter Toolkit scaled to 12+ markets with 7% placement rate lift; agentic AI coding assistants scaling across Experis U.S.
Strategy and market insight workQ3: modernizing Experis, standardizing processesQ4: comprehensive strategy evaluation surfacing two themes, flexibility and how AI shapes workforce composition, informing where to play and how to win

More on ManpowerGroup Inc.

Reported 2026-01-29 · figures from the ManpowerGroup Inc. Q4 2025 earnings call.

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