Following Adecco S.A.'s (BBB+/Stable/--) release of the company's first-quarter 2002 earnings, Standard&Poor's left unchanged its ratings and outlook on the Switzerland-based group, despite currently challenging market conditions. While Adecco's revenues fell by 11% in the first quarter, resulting in a sharp deterioration of its EBIT margin (3.1%, versus 4.1% in first-quarter 2001), recent encouraging signs of pricing and volume recoveries in the company's key French and U.S. markets suggest that the personnel-services market has reached a low point, and should improve significantly in the second half of 2002. Standard&Poor's expects the company to generate EBITDA above Swiss franc (SFr) 1.3 billion ($789.7 million) in 2002, with lease-adjusted measures of EBITDA to net interest of about 6
