The Group’s diversification and acquisition strategies pay off with strong contributions from non-core businesses

Workforce Holdings Limited (“Workforce”) (JSE: WKF), has announced strong financial results for its financial year to 31 December 2015, with the Group’s diversification and acquisition strategies coming to fruition.

Highlights

• Revenue increased by 8.1% to R1.9 billion
• Basic earnings per share increased by 30% to 34.1 cents per share
• Profit for the year increased by 30% to R77 million
• Workforce acquired Prisma Training Solutions, expanding its training and consulting business to the mining sector

Workforce is the holding company of 25 brands, each designated to one of five major business segments, namely: Staffing and Recruitment, Training and Consulting, Financial Services and Lifestyle products, Employee Health Management, and Process Outsourcing.

Overview

“Our progress financially, operationally and structurally has been more than satisfactory, and needs to be viewed in the context of the challenging environment in which we operate,” said Ronny Katz, Workforce Holdings interim CEO.

On a macro level, the economy continued to be constrained, affected by both local and international issues. Locally, the economy endured a fall-off in production in most industries resulting in a reduced rate of employment in the commodity sectors, as well as in the wholesale, retail and production sectors, negatively impacting business activities. Notwithstanding these adverse pressures, the group saw increased turnover and activity in all of its operating divisions.

The implementation of the various labour law amendments brought about stability to the industry as Workforce Holdings’ clients and its own businesses became clear on the terms of the legislation, and were then able to respond positively to the revised legislative frameworks.

“We are really beginning to reap the reward of our diversification strategy with strong contributions from non-core entities, and our aggressive acquisition strategy has yielded success with the purchase of Prisma Training Solutions and the Quyn Group of companies,” Katz added.

“Above all, we are proud to have provided over 33 000 people with employment, accompanied by training and skills development, healthcare and wellness products, and financial and lifestyle benefits traditionally only available to permanent employees.”

Financial overview

“We are pleased with the group’s financial performance, particularly in the second half of 2015, where we saw an increase of 12.4% in turnover compared to the last six months of 2014,” said Willie van Wyk, Workforce Financial Director.

“This is primarily attributable to dissipating uncertainty in the market around new labour legislation, strong performances in our white collar recruitment businesses, and improved performance of our staffing, financial, lifestyle and process outsourcing businesses. We are confident that our performance in the year ahead will continue to be robust and are well positioned to derive benefit from our diversified business portfolio,” adds van Wyk.

Looking ahead

“We are encouraged by the manner in which each of our subsidiaries is advancing its business growth and profitability. We believe we will have an increased contribution from each of the diversifications as well as from the core business and the acquisitions we have made, in the year ahead. However, we are realistic that this may be tempered by the clear reduction in economic activity in the country resulting from various internal and external factors which could impact our core business,” said Katz. “As we currently stand, we anticipate the 2016 financial year to show growth consistent with the past year.”

For the SENS announcement and detailed financial results please visit www.workforce.co.za.

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https://www.workforce.co.za/images/Group.PressRelease.16.03.17.pdf