In the first quarter revenue was $4.9 billion, up 1% year-over-year in constant currency.
On a reported basis, we recorded an operating profit for the quarter of $98 million.
Excluding restructuring charges in the prior year, operating profit was up 8% in constant currency, marking a significant sequential improvement from the operating profit decline of 24% in the fourth quarter.
Operating profit margin was 2%, up 120 basis points from the prior year on a reported basis, and after excluding restructuring charges in the prior year operating profit margin increased 10 basis points.
Earnings per diluted share was $1.11.
Excluding restructuring charges in the prior year period, this reflects a constant currency increase of 28%.
Our survey of 42,000 employers in 43 countries noted positive net employment trends across the majority of markets, a markedly different and improved outlook compared to the same time last year.
77% of employers anticipate returns to pre-pandemic hiring levels before the end of 2021, which is also a significant improvement from previous quarter surveys.
Our operating profit was $98 million representing an increase of 161% or 146% on a constant currency basis.
Excluding restructuring charges in the prior year, operating profit increased 14% or 8% on a constant currency basis.
This resulted in an operating profit margin of 2%, which was 50 basis points above the high end of our guidance.
Breaking our revenue trend down into a bit more detail, after adjusting for the positive impact of currency of about 6%, our constant currency revenue increased 1%.
After considering net dispositions and fewer billing days, the organic days adjusted revenue increase was 2%.
This represented a significant improvement from the fourth quarter revenue decline of 6.5% on a similar basis.
Earnings per share was $1.11, which significantly exceeded our guidance range.
Walking from our guidance mid-point, our results included improved operational performance of $0.42, slightly lower than expected foreign currency exchange rates, which had a negative impact of $0.01, a slightly better than expected effective tax rate that added $0.01 and a lower weighted average share count from share repurchases that also added $0.01.
Looking at our gross profit margin in detail, our gross margin came in at 15.6%.
Underlying staffing margin contributed to a 10 basis point reduction.
A lower contribution from permanent recruitment also contributed 10 basis points of GP margin reduction, which was offset by a higher mix of MSP gross profit on very strong growth in the quarter.
During the quarter, the Manpower brand comprised 63% of gross profit, our Experis professional business comprised 21% and Talent Solutions brand comprised 16%.
During the quarter, our Manpower brand reported an organic constant currency gross profit growth of 2%.
This was a significant improvement from the 11% decline in the fourth quarter.
Gross profit in our Experis brand declined 6% year-over-year during the quarter on an organic constant currency basis, which represented an improvement from the 14% decline in the fourth quarter.
Organic gross profit increased 6% in constant currency year-over-year, which is an improvement from the 1% growth in the fourth quarter.
Our Right Management business continues to see a run-off in previous outplacement activity as recovery strengthens and experienced a reduction in gross profit of about 1% year-over-year.
Our SG&A expense in the quarter was $670 million and represented a 2% decline on a reported basis from the prior year.
Currency changes reflected an increase of $35 million.
The remaining underlying decrease was driven by $1 million from net dispositions and $2 million of operational cost reductions.
SG&A expenses as a percentage of revenue represented 13.6% in the first quarter reflecting first quarter seasonality in revenues.
The Americas segment comprised 20% of consolidated revenue.
Revenue in the quarter was $1 billion, an increase of 1% in constant currency.
OUP was $44 million.
Excluding restructuring costs in the prior year, OUP increased 52% in constant currency and OUP margin increased 150 basis points to 4.4%.
The U.S. is the largest country in the Americas segment, comprising 61% of segment revenues.
Revenue in the U.S. was $609 million, representing a flat trend compared to the prior year.
Adjusting for franchise acquisitions and days, this represented a 1% increase, which is an improvement from the 5% decline in the fourth quarter.
Excluding restructuring charges in the prior year, OUP for our U.S. business increased 122% year-over-year to $29 million in the quarter.
OUP margin was 4.8%.
Within the U.S., the Manpower brand comprised 35% of gross profit in the quarter.
Revenue for the Manpower brand in the U.S. increased 7% when adjusted for days and franchise acquisitions, which represents a significant improvement from the 2% decline in the fourth quarter.
The Experis brand in the U.S. comprised 29% of gross profit in the quarter.
Within Experis in the U.S., IT skills comprised approximately 80% of revenues.
Experis U.S. revenues declined 11% on a days-adjusted basis during the quarter, representing an improvement from the 14% decline in the fourth quarter.
Talent Solutions in the U.S. contributed 36% of gross profit and experienced revenue growth of 6% in the quarter.
Provided there are no significant business restrictions impacting our clients across the U.S., in the second quarter, we expect ongoing underlying improvement and revenue growth for the U.S. in the range of 23% to 27% year-over-year.
Our Mexico operation experienced a revenue decline of 4% in constant currency in the quarter, representing an improvement from the 6% decline in the fourth quarter.
Mexico represented between 2.5% and 3% of our global revenues in 2020.
Revenue in Canada increased 3% in days-adjusted constant currency during the quarter.
This represented an improvement from the fourth quarter days-adjusted revenue decline of 10%.
Revenues in the Other Countries within Americas increased 9% in constant currency reflecting improvement from the 4% increase in the fourth quarter.
Southern Europe revenue comprised 44% of consolidated revenue in the quarter.
Revenue in Southern Europe came in at $2.2 billion, crossing over to growth of 2% in constant currency.
OUP equaled $73 million.
Excluding restructuring costs in the prior year, OUP increased 2% in constant currency and OUP margin was flat at 3.4%.
France revenue comprised 55% of the Southern Europe segment in the quarter and increased 1% in days-adjusted constant currency.
This reflects a days-adjusted constant currency decline of about 9% to 10% in January and February and growth of 27% in March as we began to anniversary the onset of the pandemic.
OUP was $43 million in the quarter and OUP margin was 3.6%.
We are estimating a year-over-year constant currency increase in revenues in the range of 68% to 72% in the second quarter overall, as we anniversary the bottom of the pandemic.
Comparing estimated second quarter revenues to pre-crisis levels in constant currency, this represents an 11% decline compared to 2019 levels in the second quarter using the midpoint of our guidance.
Revenue in Italy equaled $403 million in the quarter, reflecting an increase of 14% in days-adjusted constant currency, which was a significant improvement from the 3% growth in the fourth quarter.
Excluding restructuring costs in the prior year, OUP increased 13% year-over-year in constant currency to $19 million and OUP margin was flat to the prior year.
We estimate that Italy will continue to perform very well in the second quarter with year-over-year revenue growth in the range of 42% to 46%.
Revenue in Spain increased 5% in days-adjusted constant currency from the prior year.
Revenue in Switzerland increased 7% in days-adjusted constant currency from the prior year in the quarter.
This represents a significant improvement from the 14% decrease in the fourth quarter.
Our Northern Europe segment comprised 23% of consolidated revenue in the quarter.
Revenue declined 2% in constant currency to $1.1 billion, representing a significant improvement from the 11% decline in the fourth quarter driven by all major markets.
Excluding restructuring costs in the prior year, OUP decreased 14% in constant currency and OUP margin decreased 10 basis points to 0.4%.
Our largest market in Northern Europe segment is the U.K., which represented 38% of segment revenue in the quarter.
During the quarter, U.K. revenues grew 6% in days-adjusted constant currency, which represented a significant improvement from the 7% decline in the fourth quarter.
We expect growth in the 30% to 35% constant currency range year-over-year in the second quarter, which also reflects significant new customer activity.
In Germany, revenues declined 16% in days-adjusted constant currency in the first quarter, which represented a significant improvement from the 31% decline in the fourth quarter on the same basis.
In the Nordics, revenues declined 1% in days-adjusted constant currency, representing an improvement from the 6% decline on the same basis from the fourth quarter.
Revenue in the Netherlands decreased 4% in days-adjusted constant currency, representing an improvement from the 12% decline on the same basis in the fourth quarter.
Belgium experienced a days-adjusted revenue decline of 14% in constant currency during the quarter, which also reflects improvement from the 25% decline on the same basis from the fourth quarter.
Revenue increased 18% in constant currency, which represents ongoing improvement from the fourth quarter increase of 9% in constant currency.
The Asia Pacific Middle East segment comprises 13% of total company revenue.
In the quarter, revenue was flat in constant currency to $627 million.
OUP was $19 million.
Excluding restructuring costs in the prior year, OUP decreased 7% in constant currency and OUP margin decreased 30 basis points to 3%.
Revenue growth in Japan was up 6% in days-adjusted constant currency, which represents a slight improvement from the 5% growth rate in the fourth quarter.
This represented an improvement from the 2% decline on the same basis in the fourth quarter.
Revenue in Other Markets in Asia Pacific Middle East declined 7% in constant currency, which was equal to the rate of revenue decline in the fourth quarter.
As we previously disclosed, we remain the largest shareholder and record our approximate 37% share of earnings below operating profit.
In 2020, the company successfully managed an extremely challenging environment and recorded year-over-year revenue growth of 6%, which included 28% staffing revenue growth in Mainland China and achieved an increase in profits attributable to owners.
During the first quarter, free cash flow equaled $128 million compared to $172 million in the prior year quarter, reflecting more significant accounts receivable declines in the prior year quarter.
At quarter end, days sales outstanding decreased year-over-year by almost four days to 56 days.
Capital expenditures represented $13 million during the quarter.
During the first quarter, we purchased 1.1 million shares of stock for $100 million.
As of March 31st, we have 2.2 million shares remaining for repurchase under the 6 million share program approved in August of 2019.
Our balance sheet was strong at quarter-end with cash of $1.52 billion and total debt of $1.08 billion representing a net cash position of $440 million.
Our debt ratios at quarter end reflect total gross debt to trailing 12 months adjusted EBITDA of 2.33 and total debt to total capitalization at 31%.
In addition, our revolving credit facility for $600 million remained unused.
On that basis, we are forecasting earnings per share for the second quarter to be in the range of $1.36 to $1.44, which includes a favorable impact from foreign currency of $0.10 per share.
Our constant currency revenue guidance growth range is between 27% and 31%.
The midpoint of our constant currency guidance is 29%.
A slight increase in billing days in the second quarter is partially offset by the slight impact of net dispositions, and as a result, our outlook for organic days adjusted revenue growth is also 29% at the midpoint.
Adding the context with comparisons to pre-crisis activity levels, this would represent a second quarter organic constant currency decline in the range of minus 4% to minus 6% compared to 2019 revenues.
We expect our operating profit margin during the second quarter to be up 180 basis points at the midpoint compared to the prior year.
We estimate that the effective tax rate in the second quarter will be 34%.
Based on improved earnings mix, we are now estimating the full-year effective tax rate will be approximately 34%, a 1% improvement from our previous estimate of 35%.
As usual, our guidance does not incorporate restructuring charges or additional share repurchases and we estimate our weighted average shares to be 55.4 million.
Our France and Norway businesses achieved the global Platinum Award level placing us in the top 1% of all companies assessed.
We now have platinum, gold and silver EcoVadis ratings in more than 20 countries.

Summary:
In the first quarter revenue was $4.9 billion, up 1% year-over-year in constant currency.
Earnings per diluted share was $1.11.
Earnings per share was $1.11, which significantly exceeded our guidance range.
During the first quarter, we purchased 1.1 million shares of stock for $100 million.
On that basis, we are forecasting earnings per share for the second quarter to be in the range of $1.36 to $1.44, which includes a favorable impact from foreign currency of $0.10 per share.