Historical overview

	2004	2003	2002	2001	2000
Sales
France	2,859	2,782	2,730	2,963	2,812
UK	840	679	721	735	619
USA	495	447	574	820	891
Netherlands	478	486	595	622	683
Rest of Europe	1,273	1,111	1,078	1, 177	1, 169
Rest of World	522	465	456	449	410
	6,467	5,970	6,154	6,766	6,584
Operating income 1)
France	88	78	71	120	111
UK	53	47	48	55	47
USA	21	14	12	40	73
Netherlands	10	11	29	33	32
Rest of Europe	33	15	8	9	21
Rest of World	23	20	17	21	21
	228	185	185	278	305
Special items	23	-	4	- 2	2
Corporate expenses	- 11	- 11	- 11	- 9	- 10
	240	174	178	267	297
Operating margin	3.7%4)	2.9%	2.9%	3.9%	4.5%
Financial income and expense	- 41	- 45	- 55	- 81	- 104
Net income from ordinary operations before goodwill amortisation	125	81	78	121	109
Intangible fixed assets	548	819	1,082	1,308	1,530
Tangible fixed assets	98	116	134	164	163
Financial fixed assets	44	45	45	34	31
Operating working capital 2)	505	478	492	542	517
Group equity	663	826	1,003	1,204	658
Net interest-bearing assets and liabilities	- 491	- 587	- 698	- 775	- 1,509
Cash flow from operating activities	114	134	132	211	43
Net investments in tangible fixed assets	29	30	38	68	67
Depreciation	44	44	51	54	47
Key figures per ordinary share
Net earnings after deduction of preference payments, excluding amortisation of goodwill and extraordinary result	0.73 5)	0.47	0.46	0.84	1.04
(Proposed) payment from reserves	0.20	0.16	0.16	0.26	0.26
Average number of outstanding ordinary shares of € 0.05 (x 1,000)	165,506	163,545	161,324	138,634	101,149
Other information
Average number of full-time equivalents 3)	16,913	15,760	17,389	19,635	18,740
Number of staffing branches	2,245	2,225	2,228	2,269	2,196

1)	Before goodwill amortisation.	4)	Excluding special items, the operating margin is 3.3%.
2)	Operating working capital excludes short-term interest bearing assets and liabilities.	5)	Excluding special items, the net earnings per share after deduction of preference payments, excluding amortisation of goodwill is €0.66.
3)	Including temporary staff included in ‘Cost of Sales’.