profit from every £100 of sales.
£0£100
Hays
£0.57-2.31% today
-3.3% in 1 year
1-year low £0.301-year high £0.77
Trading in the middle of its range for the past year.
The essentials
Four questions every investor asks, answered in one line each.
more sales each year, on average, 2021 to 2024.
0%20% a year
It has no yearly profit to compare the price with.
CheapExpensive
of earnings would pay off all its debt.
No debt5 years
Money in, money out
What Hays sold, what it kept, and what it did with the cash.
Sales went from £5.65 billion in 2021 to £6.95 billion in 2024, with -£4.90 million of profit last year.
SalesProfit
Hays handed back more cash to shareholders than it generated last year.
£83M
Free cash flow 2024£72M
Bought back its own shares£12M
Paid as dividends£83M
Cash vs. debt£161M vs. £283M
Hays vs. similar companies
How it compares with the largest companies in its industry.
| Company | Profit from £100 of sales | Sales growth a year | Price per £1 of profit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hays | No profit yet | ||
 Robert Half International | 32.3× · Expensive | ||
 Korn Ferry | 14.9× · Cheap | ||
 TriNet Group | 19.5× · Fair price | ||
 ManpowerGroup | No profit yet |
AI analysis
An AI analyst reads Hays's last five years, its segments, earnings, insiders and peers, and writes the bull case, the bear case and what the price expects.
Run the AI analysisFull statementsIncome, balance sheet and cash flow, year by year
Income statement
| In millions of GBP | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5,648 | 6,589 | 7,583 | 6,949 | |
| 918 | 1,189 | 1,295 | 1,114 | |
| 97 | 217 | 200 | 70 | |
| 163 | 275 | 267 | 95 | |
| 62 | 154 | 138 | -5 | |
| – | 0.09 | 0.09 | -0.00 | |
| 16.3% | 18.1% | 17.1% | 16.0% | |
| 1.7% | 3.3% | 2.6% | 1.0% | |
| 1.1% | 2.3% | 1.8% | -0.1% |
Balance sheet
| In millions of GBP | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total assets | 1,874 | 2,077 | 1,904 | 1,817 |
| Cash | 411 | 296 | 146 | 161 |
| Total debt | 201 | 185 | 200 | 283 |
| Total liabilities | 1,002 | 1,281 | 1,234 | 1,260 |
| 872 | 796 | 670 | 558 | |
| – | 1,692 | 1,624 | 1,600 | |
| 6.7% | 16.1% | 17.2% | 2.5% | |
| 7.1% | 19.4% | 20.6% | -0.9% |
Cash flow
| In millions of GBP | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 172 | 166 | 96 | |
| 19 | 24 | 29 | 23 | |
| -13 | 147 | 137 | 72 | |
| Dividends paid | – | 186 | 165 | 83 |
| – | 38 | 76 | 12 | |
| 9 | 11 | 12 | 8 |
Valuation
- –
- –
- –
- 1.0×
- 0.1×
- 12.4×
- 10.8×
- 8.1%
- -0.5%
- 9.3%
Profitability
- 16.0%
- 1.0%
- -0.1%
- –
- 2.5%
- 10.6%
- –
- –
- –
- –
Growth
- +7.2%
- –
- –
- –
- −1.8%
Financial health
- 1.3×
- 0.51
- –
- 2.1×
- 1.30
- –
- –
How it ranks in Industrials
Each dot is where the company stands among every company over $300M in the sector. Further right is better.
Bottom 14%of 978
Bottom 8%of 985
Top 50%of 984
Top 19%of 987
9.3%of the share price, paid each year
On $1,000 invested$93a year at today's yield, before tax
–per share
Raised–not every year
How safe it looks
: 115.1%
News
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Our insider feed has not updated since May 26, 2026. Trades filed after that are not listed yet.
No insider trades on file.
The seven classic investing rulebooks
0/7Passes 0 of 7. Each bar is how well the company fits that investor's published rules, from 0 to 100; 60 or more counts as a pass.
Warren Buffett
35No pass
Benjamin Graham
50No pass
Philip Fisher
34No pass
Peter Lynch
42No pass
Joel Greenblatt
0No pass
Charlie Munger
31No pass
Terry Smith
26No pass
Questions about Hays
Is Hays a good stock to buy?
A business with weak numbers that is not profitable yet. 0 of the 7 famous investors' published rulebooks we apply pass it. Whether it suits you depends on your goals and the price you pay; invest-like never tells anyone to buy or sell. The AI analysis lays out the case for and against. Read the Hays AI analysis
What does Hays do?
Hays plc engages in the provision of professional and skilled recruitment services in Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and internationally. It is in Staffing & Employment Services, based in London, United Kingdom, with 9,100 employees.
Does Hays pay a dividend?
Yes. At today's price the dividend is 9.3% a year. In 2024 it paid out £83.3 million in dividends.
Is Hays stock halal?
Questionable. Hays sits in a grey zone: its debt is 32% of its market value, between 30% and 33%. How we check
How has Hays stock done over the past year?
Down 3.3% over the past twelve months, to £0.57. It traded between £0.30 and £0.77 and is 25.7% below its high.
Who are Hays's competitors?
The largest listed companies in the same industry are Robert Half International, Korn Ferry, TriNet Group and ManpowerGroup. The peers table on this page compares their profit, growth and price with Hays's.
Prices: daily closes to Nov 13, 2026. Fundamentals: company reports via invest-like data.