Employment firm Adecco posted a 645 increased in second-quarter net profit Friday, largely due to 66 million euros ($90 million) it received from social security rebates given to employers in France.
Total net income in the second quarter rose to 222 million euros ($304 million) from 135 million euros in the same period a year earlier.
It said revenue from ongoing operations rose 5% to 5.3 billion euros ($7.25 billion) in the three months through June, compared with 5.1 billion euros in the year-earlier period.
Adecco Chief Executive Dieter Scheiff said that as in the previous quarter, strong growth in Europe and Asia made up for weaker activity in the United States.
The world's biggest staffing company said its strongest growth in the second quarter came from Nordic countries and Germany, followed by emerging markets and Japan. France Adecco's largest market saw an increase of 3% to 1.8 billion euros ($2.46 billion) from 1.75 billion euros in the second quarter of 2006, while revenues in the United States and Canada dropped 6% to 800 million euros ($1.1 billion).
Adecco said currency fluctuations, particularly the weakness of the US dollar and the Japanese yen, had reduced overall revenues by 2%.
Adecco shares dropped 2.4% in early trading on the Zurich stock exchange Friday.