Adecco Group announced on Tuesday that revenue growth shrunk to 2% in the three months to the end of September.

Falling from 4% in the previous three months, the staffing giant said the fall was amid economic uncertainty that is affecting hiring.

Despite the slowing in revenue, the group managed to beat third-quarter expectations for net profit.

Adeco posted a net profit of €270 million, beating the analysts’ estimate of €221 million.

Alain Dehaze, the chief executive, said in a statement: “As we communicated during our September investor seminar, trading in Q3 2018 was challenging, with growth slowing in a number of European markets. Against this backdrop, overall the Group delivered a solid performance. Organic revenue growth was 2%, including improved performances in Japan and Rest of World, and another quarter of significant outperformance in France, our largest market.”

“Our businesses responded decisively to the slowdown in market growth, making the appropriate cost adjustments to protect our margin. And while ongoing strategic investments and the transformation of our German business impacted the headline EBITA margin, we made good progress in improving underlying profitability.”

“GrowTogether is now scaling up and delivering real results in the markets where it is most progressed, such as the US, UK and France. We will deliver the €50 million productivity savings target in 2018, on the way to €250 million in 2020. And as we do so, we are further differentiating our solutions, building a digitally-enabled offering that will support future growth.”

“As the Group’s digital transformation builds momentum, it is the passion and commitment of our colleagues around the world that is making it a reality. Creating a positive and inspiring work environment is vital to our success. I am therefore delighted to report that the Adecco Group ranked in the top five ‘World’s Best Workplaces’, for the second year running, according to the recently published 2018 Great Place to Work survey,” he added.