Our Financials

The Power of The House of HR? Our Powerhouses

Imagine a geopolitical rollercoaster. Tariffs are reshaping global and local economies.

Regulatory shifts. And at the same time, AI is accelerating at the speed of light.  

Now combine that with 10 PowerHouses within one House of HR, each specialized in scarce talent or a specific market. 

Close to their customers, close to their candidates, and built to perform in the most volatile of times. House of HR truly is one of a kind.  

Performance in 2025 

Sales of 2025 landed +0,1% above those of 2024.  A modest increase, especially after Q1 2025, which showed a decrease of -1,3%. We slowly gained momentum, mainly driven by volumes in Specialized Talent Solutions and supported by pricing at most Powerhouses.  

NFI%, down 70 bps from 2024, remained strong at 26,1%, supported by pricing. This decrease was driven by two main factors:

First, the business mix. In 2025, our business mix continued to evolve. We experienced stronger growth in retail and weaker growth in construction, with gross margins traditionally higher in construction. Additionally, Specialized Talent Solutions, which operates at a lower NFI% than Engineering and Consulting, began to show volume growth throughout the year. 

Due to the freelance transition in the Netherlands, the net income from agent freelance sales, recorded at 100 NFI%, was reduced and replaced by secondment sales, which mechanically affected the NFI%.

Second, lower productivity. Higher sickness rates and more people on the bench weighed on performance. As the economic cycle improves, we expect the business mix to rebalance, especially as volumes in Engineering and Consulting start to pick up. At the same time, we have strengthened operational steering on bench and sickness, and believe these measures will pay off.

To further improve the care ratio and to unlock operating leverage, a significant cost program focused on the non-sales organization has been implemented as of H2 2025.  Internal FTEs were reduced to 5.245 in 2025, down from 5.597 in 2024.

The €19 million in cost savings gained traction in the second half of the year and offset approximately 80% of the NFI decline, leading to an EBITDA of €343,9 million, down 1,4% compared to 2024.

Our Financial Position

In April 2025, we closed the acquisition of Pro Industry by House of Covebo in the Netherlands.  A unique boutique, specializing in skilled blue-collar process operators and truck drivers. Pro Industry invested in its own Academy over the past years to train these scarce profiles.

A bold move to do an acquisition in a year like that?
 

Sure. But it was a well-considered choice. Given their specialized business, Pro Industry’s proven growth track record, and management’s reinvestment, the leverage ratio was not expected to increase as a result of the acquisition.

Leverage ratio lands close to 2024 at 6,3 times EBITDA. Our ambition to bring the leverage down to a maximum of 5,5 times remains.

Net debt amounts to €2,159 million as of December 31, 2025, compared to €2,053 million as of December 31, 2024. Available liquidity amounts to €327 million, comprising €127 million in cash and €200 million in available RCF.

What’s on the finance agenda for 2026?

With our finance teams, we focus on two clear tracks: Driving performance and Future-Proof Finance.

Driving performance means: making a real impact through strong analysis and insights to effectively support EBITDA growth, generate and free up cash, and deleverage our balance sheet.

A few examples? Across all local and group finance teams, we continue to execute the cost program we initiated in H2 2025. At the same time, teams are driving initiatives to further improve efficiency, especially in the back office, by simplifying processes, making better use of digital tools, and introducing AI where it truly adds value.

We are also exploring ways to lower lease costs for buildings and fleet, which helps reduce lease-related debt on our balance sheet. Lastly, the finance teams are actively focused on lowering DSO to free up more liquidity. 

As for ‘Future-Proof Finance’, we have defined a clear view of what ‘Good Finance’ looks like, and what it takes to move towards ‘Best Finance’: unerring, efficient, automated, and with great data quality that frees up time, so we can focus on what really matters – driving performance and creating value for House of HR. 

Happy Rebels in Finance? 

We create a culture where Happy Rebels can thrive. Daring, driven team members, ready to make an impact every day, by staying close to the business, supporting our PowerHouses and Boutiques, and helping them perform better. 

We stand out as Rebels.  

Leen Geirnaerdt 
 

CFO House of HR