LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Jefferies has cut its recommendations on Hays and Ashtead Group, following a review of Europe's business and employment services sector.

In a note published on Thursday, the investment bank said: "We continue to believe earnings momentum and market positioning will remain a key driver of relative performance for the second half of 2025."

It upgraded Denmark's ISS to 'buy' from 'hold', noting that improving commercial momentum could drive organic growth up to 5-6% in 2026, while the outlook for free cashflow generation remained "strong".

Zurich-based Adecco was upgraded to 'hold' from 'underperform', "reflecting our more constructive view on the temp volumes following the improving momentum over the last few months, together with business development and cost initiatives".

In contrast, Ashtead was downgraded to 'hold' from 'buy'. "Ashtead's shares have rallied strongly and re-rated on improving US construction outlook sentiment, but near-term earnings momentum we think remains muted," Jefferies said.

Hays was also cut to 'hold' from a previous 'buy' rating. Jefferies argued: "We expect earnings momentum to remain negative on the back of continued headwinds on perm and as we anticipate further downgrades."

Overall, Jefferies flagged Bureau Veritas, Intertek, Elis, Compass, Experian and ISS as its preferred stocks in the sector.

Its least preferred are Bunzl, Securitas, Sodexo, Eurofins and Mitie.

As at 1215 BST, London-listed Hays and Ashtead were down 2% at 57.75p and off 1% at 5,360.19p respectively.

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