MAN
#Yes, we tend to be slightly more involved in the manufacturing side than our competitors.
We are, as you correctly point out, not involved on the construction side.
So we tend to skew a little bit more industrial than what the market is and what our major competitors are.
In terms of Northern Europe, I guess what I would say is that the UK came in ---+ we were a bit cautious on the UK.
I would say the UK came in close to as we expected.
As I mentioned earlier, when we look at the Nordics, that came in slightly better than we would have expected.
And Holland and Belgium continue to outperform.
So we saw very strong growth there.
And Germany had very good results as well, and you saw the organic growth of 7% in Germany.
And that was driven by an increase in our Proservia business during the third quarter as well.
So I would say that those were the main drivers of the Northern Europe performance.
Remember there that we have the anniversary of the 7S acquisition in Germany at the beginning of September.
So we will have that drop off, and that will be part of our organic growth in the fourth quarter.
So <UNK>, just to be clear, <UNK> made the point, which I think is important one ---+ in Northern Europe there is some slight acceleration, on an organic constant currency basis, into the fourth quarter.
It's just, you have this acquisition that we're lapping that makes it look like maybe the growth rate comes down.
But in fact, at the midpoint of our guidance, we are anticipating the underlying growth to pick up just a hair.
I would be happy to talk about that.
I would start by saying, in terms of capital allocation strategy, our strategy has not changed.
So we continue to look at share repurchases as a good mechanism to return cash to our shareholders.
You certainly saw that in the third quarter.
Now with that being said, as we've talked about it in the past, we continue to do that opportunistically.
So we don't have a set amount.
We do have the authorization, and when we think that there is opportunity, we will continue to do that in terms of share repurchases.
On the acquisition side, in line with our previous strategy, which is unchanged, is, we will continue to look at good bolt-on acquisitions in the solutions and the professional, the experienced side, the IT-focused side, of our business.
And that's really what you've seen this year in terms of the ones that you referenced.
I would say, that will continue to be our focus, is on those good bolt-on acquisitions that are a good cultural fit for the organization overall.
And from that perspective, we will continue with that strategy.
Yes, overall, <UNK>, I would say that pricing remains rational.
And as we have talked about in previous quarters, of course you know that in France, we took share almost three years in a row, and then in the last two or three quarters, we were slightly behind market.
So really what you can see us doing in France is carefully and slowly adjust to new market pricing.
And that's to get a little bit closer to market, and I think that's exactly what we have seen.
Although we are still probably slightly behind, we're comfortable that we are making some progress there that is showing up in the numbers.
But overall, I would say that pricing is rational.
And that, of course, means that it's competitive in many places.
The slow-growth environment that we are having gives us the upside in terms of companies wanting to have more agility and flexibility.
And that drives the demand for our services and solutions.
Now it also means that companies are doing what we're doing, which is, making sure they're very careful with their costs.
And clearly that is why our market is and always has been very competitive.
So we're always balancing volume versus price decisions.
And we are very committed to a disciplined pricing approach, where we really look at the profitability on a client-by-client basis when we make a decision to engage with our services.
Well, we think digitization is, of course, a very important part of our strategy.
The new world of technology, however, gives us a great opportunity to participate in that technology in a very different way from what we've had to do in the past.
Which is essentially, develop and/or own significant technology initiatives ourselves.
But we feel that we can get the best-of-breed technology solutions into our operations by partnering with technology partners all across the world, and really benefit from those technologies.
And clearly we're also looking at new areas where we can evolve our service offerings and create more value as we go on, and as the value creation in our value chain evolves over time.
But we primarily believe that leveraging the technology evolution that is out there in the market is a preferable strategy to trying to be a technology company and keep pace with the investments that you would have to do to stay at market.
And that would be our view.
Our value comes from analyzing and gathering insights from all of the data that we have.
And that, of course, is a tremendous asset that we do have and that we own.
But in terms of the tools that give us that insight, we are just interested in getting the best that's out there in the market.
I think the corporate expense level, <UNK>, in the third quarter will generally trend in line towards the fourth quarter.
We did have some adjustments to incentives and other items that were part of on the third quarter, and we anticipate that there will be some part of that activity into the fourth quarter as well.
And in terms of the other items impacting that line, I think that will generally trend into the fourth quarter as well.
Well, we're definitely gaining share in the Belgium, Netherlands and in Germany.
If you recall, we were slightly behind market in the Netherlands after applying some strong price discipline in 2015.
So the team in the Netherlands have really done a good job in getting back to market, and now executing extremely well.
Which is really also the explanation to our out-performance in Germany, as well as in Belgium.
And Germany, of course, comes on the heels of a good growth also in the third quarter of 2015.
So our comps were quite tough in a market that isn't growing that much.
So we're pleased with our progress there.
And a lot of it has to do with our positioning in the market.
And as you know, with the 7S acquisitions, we now have Germany being a very big operation in the Company.
It will be north of $1 billion, and it's a very good operation.
And we think we still have further upside, because it's one of those markets where other margins are better.
So we're pleased both with our improved positioning in Germany, as well as, of course, with the excellent execution by the German team.
Well, we feel really good about where we are in Europe and the improved performance in Northern Europe, but also the opportunity that we still believe is there in Southern Europe.
Because if you look at the penetration rates across Europe, on average they are probably still 15% to 20% below prior cyclety.
So we still have upside opportunity there.
Emerging markets, with the growing populations, are still good.
So I would say, overall, based on our footprint, we're optimistic within the context of a slow-growth environment.
So that means it can be uneven.
It will, as I mentioned in my prepared remarks, require very disciplined execution, great price discipline and really running the business well.
And that's what we're looking forward to do into the fourth quarter.
Then, of course, really carrying on into next year as well, building on the foundation we have laid.
This is the last question.
Yes, sure.
We saw some good progress in Italy during the third quarter.
And as <UNK> mentioned in his prepared remarks, we actually, in September, looked positive, as far as our growth.
Which has really been slightly more ---+ a faster recovery than we would have anticipated.
And we hope that we continue, and believe that we will continue to see that also in the fourth quarter.
We knew we were behind market, we knew the gap that we had, and the team is executing very well.
And as you can see from our results, not only executing well on making up the gap, but also managing at the same time, despite a top line that dropped, improving our profitability in margin terms, of course, but also in absolute terms.
So the team is doing a great job addressing that gap.
And we are, of course, looking forward to seeing that continue into the fourth quarter and beyond, so we get to market.
Well, I would say, we are very confident that our operating margins are something that we're going to achieve.
And as we've talked about in the past and as <UNK> mentioned earlier during our call, what we need to do that is, of course, getting our revenue and our growth trajectory up to mid single-digits, so that we get some good leverage and we continue to improve our operating margins.
As a relates to specific targets on cost efficiency and productivity, I would say it's really something that we're going to ---+ have worked on very hard in the past, as you've seen from our results, and we will continue to work on very hard.
Because we know that this is something that we will keep needing to make progress on ---+ getting better productivity, leveraging technology, improving our processes, developing our recruitment centers.
So there's really a whole host of activities that we are engaged in that are going to continue to improve our efficiency.
So with that, I would like to thank all of you for participating in our third-quarter earnings call, and we look forward to speaking with you again at our fourth-quarter earnings call.
Thanks, everyone.
