Report of the Board of Management

Our results for 2007 have been the best Vedior has ever achieved. As well as record highs in sales, gross profit and operating income, we also made great strides towards achieving our stated financial objectives.

Growth in traditional staffing in most of our markets, along with the continuing progress of our education, engineering/technical, accounting/finance, legal, interim management and telebusiness sectors have led to outstanding increases in operating income. Operating income for the Group increased 24% organically to €369 million. The operating margin (operating income excluding non recurring items as a percentage of sales) was 4.4%, up from 3.8% in 2006.

The development of our permanent placement activities resulted in high levels of growth throughout the year in many countries, most notably France, the Netherlands and India. Overall, the demand for permanent placement led to a 28% increase in fees to €331million. Permanent placement now represents 3.9% of Group sales and 20.3% of gross profit.

In almost all of our geographies, we saw strong increases in operating income in 2007, with the best performances coming from a number of our European markets (France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain) as well as from Canada, Australia and Latin America. In the USA, a weaker economy resulted in a 9% decline in operating income although the ongoing demand for professional/executive staffing contributed stable sales growth.

Improvement in operational efficiencies resulted in an increase in our conversion ratio for the year (operating income excluding non recurring items divided by gross profit), from 20.3% to 22.6%. Gross profit was €1,633 million in 2007 compared to €1,429 million in 2006, an organic increase of 12%. Gross profit increased in all our major regions with the highest growth coming from Canada, Australia and Spain. The Group’s gross margin was 19.4%, up from 18.7% in 2006.

As a percentage of sales, total costs were 15.0%, up slightly from 14.9% in 2006. Currency effects decreased both sales and operating income by 1%. The average tax rate for the Group was 32% (excluding non-recurring items) compared to 31% in 2006. Cash flow from operating activities increased to €260 million in 2007 from €206 million in 2006.

France

France is Vedior’s largest market responsible for 33% of Group operating income and 40% of sales. In the French market, we are predominantly a provider of traditional staffing services under the Vediorbis brand as well as a number of smaller regional brands such as Selpro and Atoll. Professional/executive staffing is also provided in France, representing 13% of French sales primarily derived through the Expectra and L’Appel Medical brands.

Operating income organically grew by 17% in France while sales increased organically by 8% with the strongest growth being experienced in the first half of the year. Professional/executive staffing sales grew 13% organically with the healthcare, accounting/finance and engineering sectors providing the strongest performance.

In Q1 2007, the social security authority in France issued additional guidance on the calculation of certain social security charges relating to temporary workers, with retroactive effect from 1 January 2006. This benefit subsequently ceased on 30 September 2007. The impact of this recalculation added €70 million in operating income and €100 million in gross profit for the full year 2007.

The provision of permanent placement in France by staffing companies has only been legally permissible since 2005 and during 2007 Vedior has successfully increased permanent placement sales by 98% to a total of €28 million derived mainly through the Vediorbis Search and Expectra brands.

United Kingdom

The UK is responsible for 18% of Group operating income and 13% of sales.

In the UK, 82% of sales are derived through professional/executive staffing. Our UK business is highly diverse and covers a number of different sectors, each serviced by different brands. Engineering staffing is now our largest sector in the UK in terms of sales followed by traditional, IT and healthcare, although the education staffing sector is also very important given its relatively high levels of profitability. Traditional staffing in the UK is provided primarily through our Select Appointments brand. In March, Select was awarded the Best Franchise Recruitment Team of the Year at the UK Annual Franchise Marketing Awards. In September, Select launched a hospitality division, Select Hospitality, nationally in seven locations.

During 2007, UK operating income increased by12% on an organic basis while sales grew organically by 6%. Our engineering sales grew by 26% organically while accounting/finance achieved organic growth of 27%. Our market leading education brands continued to show a marked improvement in sales and operating income over the prior year and our healthcare businesses entered a period of recovery following a number of difficult years. Sales in our traditional staffing business were flat compared to 2006.

Netherlands

The Netherlands is responsible for 7% of Group operating income and 7% of sales. In the Dutch market, 73% of our sales are derived from traditional staffing, mostly through the Vedior and Dactylo brands. Vedior targets large and middle-sized clients in the white collar segment while Dactylo provides mainly blue collar labour to small and medium clients.

IT and accounting/finance staffing are our most significant professional executive sectors although we also provide services in the engineering, healthcare, legal and interim management sectors.

Operating income grew organically by 40% as a result of our focus on improving profitability in this market while sales increased organically by 2%. Traditional staffing showed an overall organic decrease of 2% with our white collar brands experiencing stronger demand than blue collar brands. Professional/executive staffing sales grew organically by 15% with growth in engineering and accounting/finance staffing proving to be the most compelling.

Belgium

Belgium is responsible for 6% of Group operating income and sales. Like the Dutch market, Belgium is predominantly traditional in nature, with 11% of our sales coming from professional/executive sectors. Traditional staffing is provided through the national Vedior brand, which focuses mainly on the supply of blue collar labour and the smaller, regional Atoll brand.

Engineering is our largest professional/executive sector in the Belgian market provided under the Expectra brand.

Off of a 10% organic increase in sales, we achieved a healthy 21% increase in operating income. Traditional staffing sales improved organically by 11% and professional/executive by 5%. We saw good organic increases in sales in both the accounting/finance and healthcare sectors and while engineering sales declined by 10% organically, we did achieve a strong increase in profitability.

Spain

Spain is responsible for 4% of Group operating income and 5% of sales. 58% of our Spanish sales come from traditional staffi ng provided through the Laborman and Select Recursos Humanos brands.

IT, engineering and accounting/finance, are our largest professional/executive sectors in Spain.

On an organic basis, operating income in Spain increased by 50% while sales grew 12%. Traditional sales grew organically by 8% while professional/executive staffing grew even faster at 19% with good improvements across all the professional/executive sectors.

Other Europe

Other European markets represent 9% of Group operating income and 10% of sales. The most important markets in this region are Portugal, Italy, Germany and Switzerland although Vedior also has a growing presence in the emerging markets of Central/Eastern Europe. 69% of sales in this region are derived through traditional staffing, mainly under the Vedior brands while, in Portugal, both the Vedior and Select brands are represented.

Professional/executive sectors also feature strongly with teleservices, IT, healthcare, accounting/finance and engineering/technical each contributing towards specialist sales.

During 2007, operating income increased by 70% organically while sales increased by 15% with the best performances coming from Germany, Portugal, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Greece.

In looking at the market sectors within this region we achieved 14% organic growth in traditional staffing and 16% in professional/executive. Sales in engineering, accounting/finance and healthcare each grew in excess of 20%.

United States

The USA is responsible for 10% of Group operating income and 8% of sales and, here, 83% of sales are derived from higher-margin professional/executive staffing.

IT is our largest USA sector and our leading brand in this market is Sapphire although, in Q4 2007, we also acquired B2B Workforce, a provider of eBusiness enterprise applications personnel and consulting services.

Accounting/finance is another important USA sector and Vedior has a national network represented by the Accountants Inc., Acsys and AccountPros brands. Other important USA professional/executive staffing sectors are healthcare and engineering.

The USA market enjoyed a positive start to the year but became more difficult during the course of 2007. Overall, operating income declined organically by 9% although sales did increase organically by 3%. IT staffing sales were stable on an organic basis while accounting/finance, engineering and healthcare staffing all grew. Traditional staffing sales declined by 4% over the prior year.

Australia & New Zealand

Australia and New Zealand are responsible for 7% of Group operating income and 5% of sales. Sales in these markets are mostly derived from professional/executive staffing although we also have a significant traditional staffing presence, under the Select Appointments brand, which is responsible for 47% of Australian and New Zealand sales.

Vedior has a diverse mix of professional/executive business in this market covering IT, accounting/finance, healthcare, education, legal and teleservices sectors.

On an organic basis, operating income increased by 30% and sales by 10%. Both professional/executive and traditional staffing sectors achieved sales growth of 10% with the strongest growth coming from the education staffing sector.

Canada

Canada is responsible for 4% of Group operating income and 3% of sales. Within this market, 91% of sales are derived from professional/executive staffing and, more specifically, from the IT and engineering sectors under the CNC Global and ATS Reliance brands respectively.

On an organic basis, operating income increased by 42% and sales by 16%.

Latin America, Asia, Middle East & Africa

Vedior has a growing presence in some of the world’s newer and fastest-growing staffing markets. These markets represent 2% of Group operating income and 3% of sales.

For Vedior, Latin America is the most significant region in this category in terms of sales followed by India. We also operate in Japan and some smaller Asian markets as well as, increasingly, a number of territories in the Middle East.

On an organic basis, operating income increased by 50% and sales by 33% with the strongest growth coming from India and Latin America.

Within this region, 49% of sales are derived from professional/executive staffing and covering all our main specialist categories. Within Japan, healthcare staffing is provided by our Supernurse brand, Legal staffing is provided in Hong Kong and mainland China by Hughes Castell, in India Ma Foi is a provider of professional/executive personnel while, in Argentina and the Middle East, we provide engineering staffing services primarily to the petrochemical industry. Professional/executive staffing sales increased by 38% with good performances across all our specialist sectors.

Traditional staffing is responsible for 51% of sales in this region with the largest market being Latin America. Our traditional staffing sales increased by 28% organically.