Robert Half Narrows Revenue Decline as Talent Solutions Recovers
Second-quarter revenue increased sequentially to $1.336 billion.
Robert Half Inc. (RHI), the professional staffing and consulting-services company, narrowed its year-over-year revenue decline for a fourth consecutive quarter as its talent-solutions business extended a gradual recovery.
The improvement marked a turn from the steeper declines of late 2024. Reported revenue fell 2.4% from a year earlier, compared with declines of 3.8% in the first quarter, 5.8% in the fourth quarter of 2024 and 7.5% in the third quarter.
Second-quarter revenue rose 2.8% from the first quarter, though it remained below $1.370 billion a year earlier. Net income rebounded to $26.3 million, or $0.26 a share, from $14 million, or $0.14 a share, in the preceding quarter. Profit was still 36% below the year-earlier period, when Robert Half earned $41.0 million, or $0.41 a share.
Talent solutions recorded its third consecutive quarter of adjusted sequential revenue growth, building on its first increase in more than three years in the fourth quarter of 2024. Adjusted contract-talent revenue declined 2.1% from a year earlier, improving from a 6.8% drop in the first quarter, while permanent-placement revenue swung to 2.5% growth from a 4.7% decline.
Technology led the contract-talent improvement, with adjusted revenue rising 2.3% after declining 0.3% in the first quarter. Finance and accounting fell 1.3%, a narrower decline than the prior quarter’s 6.3%, while administrative and customer support improved to a 6.9% drop from 11.8%.
Protiviti moved in the opposite direction. Adjusted global revenue declined 5.0%, widening from a 3.8% decrease in the first quarter, and reported revenue fell 4.9% to $471.0 million. International Protiviti revenue shifted to a 3.1% adjusted decline after growing 8.1% in the preceding quarter.
That weakness weighed on profitability. Adjusted gross margin contracted 90 basis points to 37.2%, driven by a 380-basis-point decline in Protiviti’s margin to 18.5%, while talent solutions’ margin expanded 30 basis points to 47.4%. Adjusted operating margin fell to 2.9% from 4.3%, and adjusted operating income declined 35% to $38.6 million.
Robert Half made no open-market share repurchases during the first half of 2025, compared with 1.128 million shares a year earlier. With talent solutions gaining traction and Protiviti weakening, the company’s recovery remained uneven across its two principal businesses.