SThree Past Earnings Performance
Past criteria checks 2/6
SThree has been growing earnings at an average annual rate of 1%, while the Professional Services industry saw earnings growing at 9.6% annually. Revenues have been growing at an average rate of 2.4% per year. SThree's return on equity is 7.5%, and it has net margins of 1.4%.
Key information
0.97%
Earnings growth rate
1.09%
EPS growth rate
| Professional Services Industry Growth | 12.81% |
| Revenue growth rate | 2.44% |
| Return on equity | 7.52% |
| Net Margin | 1.36% |
| Next Earnings Update | 21 Jul 2026 |
Recent past performance updates
Recent updates
Narrative Update • Jun 14
STEM: CFO Transition And Margin Outlook Will Support Future Upside Potential
Analysts have nudged their price target on SThree slightly higher to £3.00, reflecting tweaks to their assumptions on discount rate, revenue growth, profit margin and future P/E that leave their overall fair value view broadly unchanged. What's in the News SThree plc announced that Chief Financial Officer Andrew Beach plans to step down from the CFO role and the Board at the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting on 29 April 2026.
New Narrative • Jun 04
Every Staffing Stock Is Being Sold. SThree Is the Only One That Benefits From the Thing Killing the Others
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ STHREE PLC (LSE: STEM) — INVESTMENT THESIS The market is confusing a cyclical trough with structural decline ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Current price: 165p | Price target: 490p | Upside: +197% Bear case floor: 280p | Bull case: 720p Analysis date: June 2026 | Horizon: 24–36 months ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ KEY METRICS AT A GLANCE ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Net Fees FY25: £323m Net Cash: £68m Contract (recurring): 84% Normalised EPS: ~40p STEM market share: ~2% Normalised EV/EBITDA: 1.8x Operating countries: 11 P/E on norm. earnings: 4.1x ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ I.
Narrative Update • May 31
STEM: CFO Transition And Stable Margins Will Support Future Upside
Analysts have made a small upward revision to their price target for SThree to £2.41. This reflects modest tweaks to assumptions around the discount rate, revenue growth, profit margins and future P/E expectations.Narrative Update • May 15
STEM: CFO Transition And Stable Margins Will Support Future Upside
Analysts have trimmed their price target on SThree from £2.49 to £2.41 as updated assumptions for discount rate, revenue growth, profit margin and future P/E feed through to a slightly lower fair value estimate. What's in the News SThree plc announced that Chief Financial Officer Andrew Beach plans to step down from the CFO role and from the Board at the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting on 29 April 2026, after nearly five years with the company (Key Developments).Narrative Update • Apr 29
STEM: Share Buyback And Margin Outlook Will Support Future Upside Potential
Analysts have nudged their price target on SThree higher to £3.00, reflecting updated assumptions around discount rates, modestly stronger revenue growth and slightly improved profit margins, while keeping the fair value estimate unchanged at £3.00. What's in the News SThree plans a leadership change, as CFO Andrew Beach is set to step down from the Board at the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting on 29 April 2026, and remain in the business until the half year results announcement on 21 July 2026 to support the transition (Key Developments).Narrative Update • Apr 15
STEM: Share Buyback And Margin Outlook Will Support Future Upside Potential
Analysts have trimmed their price target on SThree to £3.00, citing updated assumptions around a slightly higher discount rate, more conservative revenue growth, and modestly better profit margin and future P/E expectations. What's in the News SThree plans a share repurchase program of up to £20 million, with shares to be cancelled and the aim of returning surplus capital to shareholders while keeping flexibility to invest in the Group's strategy (Key Developments).Narrative Update • Apr 01
STEM: Share Buyback And Stable Margins Will Support Future Upside
Analysts have trimmed their price target for SThree to £15.57 from £16.39, reflecting slightly higher assumed risk, a marginally different revenue growth outlook, and a small adjustment to the expected future P/E multiple. What's in the News SThree plans to repurchase up to £20 million of its shares under a buyback program, with repurchases running until no later than November 30, 2026, and all repurchased shares to be cancelled (company announcement).Narrative Update • Mar 18
STEM: Share Buyback Programme Will Support Bullish Long Term Outlook
Analysts have trimmed their price targets on SThree by £1.24 per share. This reflects slightly adjusted assumptions around discount rates, revenue growth, profit margins and a lower future P/E multiple.Narrative Update • Mar 04
STEM: Share Repurchase Programme Will Support Bullish Long Term Outlook
Analysts have made a modest trim to their price target on SThree to £3.00, reflecting slightly higher assumed discount rates and small tweaks to long term growth, margin and future P/E assumptions. What's in the News On January 27, 2026, SThree plc announced that its Board of Directors would consider a share repurchase program of up to £20 million of its shares, indicating early discussions around returning surplus capital to shareholders (Key Developments).Narrative Update • Feb 17
STEM: Share Buyback And Higher Future P/E Will Support Bullish Outlook
Analysts have raised their price target on SThree to £18.83 from £14.08. The change is mainly linked to updated assumptions around revenue growth, profit margins and a higher future P/E multiple.Analysis Article • Feb 12
SThree (LON:STEM) Has Announced A Dividend Of £0.092
The board of SThree plc ( LON:STEM ) has announced that it will pay a dividend on the 12th of June, with investors...Narrative Update • Feb 03
STEM: Higher Future P/E Multiple Will Support Margins And Share Upside
Analysts have raised their price target on SThree to reflect updated assumptions for revenue growth, profit margins and a higher future P/E multiple. The new valuation framework is now anchored around a fair value of £2.49 per share.Analysis Article • Jan 29
SThree plc (LON:STEM) Just Reported Earnings, And Analysts Cut Their Target Price
Investors in SThree plc ( LON:STEM ) had a good week, as its shares rose 4.8% to close at UK£1.91 following the release...Narrative Update • Jan 20
STEM: Higher Required Return Will Still Support More Optimistic Future P/E
Analysts have nudged their price target on SThree slightly higher to reflect a modestly increased future P/E assumption of 14.08x, with only marginal tweaks to the discount rate, revenue growth, and profit margin inputs guiding this recalibration. Valuation Changes Future P/E was raised from 11.93x to 14.08x, indicating a higher valuation multiple applied to projected earnings.Narrative Update • Jan 05
STEM: Higher Required Return Will Still Support Attractive Future P/E
Analysts have trimmed their price target on SThree from £4.50 to £3.00, reflecting a higher discount rate, more moderate revenue growth assumptions, and a lower future P/E of 11.93x, partly offset by slightly stronger profit margin expectations. Valuation Changes Fair Value: reduced from £4.50 to £3.00, a cut of one third in the implied valuation per share.Analysis Article • Dec 19
A Look At The Intrinsic Value Of SThree plc (LON:STEM)
Key Insights Using the 2 Stage Free Cash Flow to Equity, SThree fair value estimate is UK£1.66 With UK£1.86 share...
Narrative Update • Dec 17
STEM: Future Earnings Compression Signals Bearish Outlook Despite Stronger Revenue Prospects
Analysts have raised their price target on SThree by approximately £1.55, citing stronger expected revenue growth, improved long term profit margins, and a lower projected future P/E multiple. Together, these factors enhance the company’s risk adjusted return profile despite a slightly higher discount rate.Narrative Update • Dec 03
STEM: Future Earnings Multiple Should Support Resilient Margins And Upside Potential
Analysts have modestly raised their price target on SThree to reflect a slightly higher assumed future earnings multiple and a marginally increased discount rate. This results in a small upward revision in the company’s estimated equity value by several pence per share.Narrative Update • Nov 19
STEM: Revenue Growth May Recover as Profit Margins Show Resilience
Analysts have lowered their price target for SThree from £3.04 to £2.49. They cite reduced revenue growth projections and a slight decrease in expected profit margins as key factors behind the revision.Analysis Article • Oct 28
SThree (LON:STEM) Is Paying Out A Dividend Of £0.051
The board of SThree plc ( LON:STEM ) has announced that it will pay a dividend on the 12th of December, with investors...Narrative Update • Sep 17
Digital Transformation Will Unlock Future STEM Talent Opportunities
The downward revision in SThree’s consensus analyst price target from £3.60 to £3.04 primarily reflects reduced expectations for revenue growth and earnings multiples. What's in the News SThree plc reaffirmed earnings guidance for fiscal year 2025, expecting performance in line with previously announced £25.0 million PBT guidance.Analysis Article • Sep 17
Investors Don't See Light At End Of SThree plc's (LON:STEM) Tunnel And Push Stock Down 32%
To the annoyance of some shareholders, SThree plc ( LON:STEM ) shares are down a considerable 32% in the last month...Analysis Article • Aug 01
SThree (LON:STEM) Is Paying Out A Dividend Of £0.051
The board of SThree plc ( LON:STEM ) has announced that it will pay a dividend on the 12th of December, with investors...Analysis Article • Apr 22
Shareholders May Be More Conservative With SThree plc's (LON:STEM) CEO Compensation For Now
Key Insights SThree's Annual General Meeting to take place on 29th of April Salary of UK£510.9k is part of CEO Timo...Analysis Article • Mar 24
SThree's (LON:STEM) Dividend Will Be £0.092
SThree plc's ( LON:STEM ) investors are due to receive a payment of £0.092 per share on 6th of June. The dividend yield...Analysis Article • Mar 06
SThree (LON:STEM) Has Announced A Dividend Of £0.092
SThree plc's ( LON:STEM ) investors are due to receive a payment of £0.092 per share on 6th of June. However, the...Analysis Article • Jan 31
SThree (LON:STEM) Is Due To Pay A Dividend Of £0.092
The board of SThree plc ( LON:STEM ) has announced that it will pay a dividend on the 6th of June, with investors...Analysis Article • Dec 17
SThree plc's (LON:STEM) 25% Dip In Price Shows Sentiment Is Matching Earnings
Unfortunately for some shareholders, the SThree plc ( LON:STEM ) share price has dived 25% in the last thirty days...Analysis Article • Jul 26
SThree's (LON:STEM) Dividend Will Be £0.051
SThree plc ( LON:STEM ) has announced that it will pay a dividend of £0.051 per share on the 6th of December. This...Analysis Article • Apr 25
SThree (LON:STEM) Is Paying Out A Larger Dividend Than Last Year
SThree plc ( LON:STEM ) will increase its dividend from last year's comparable payment on the 7th of June to £0.116...Analysis Article • Apr 04
SThree (LON:STEM) Is Paying Out A Larger Dividend Than Last Year
SThree plc's ( LON:STEM ) dividend will be increasing from last year's payment of the same period to £0.116 on 7th of...Analysis Article • Feb 22
SThree's (LON:STEM) Dividend Will Be Increased To £0.116
SThree plc ( LON:STEM ) has announced that it will be increasing its dividend from last year's comparable payment on...Analysis Article • Feb 02
SThree (LON:STEM) Is Increasing Its Dividend To £0.116
SThree plc ( LON:STEM ) has announced that it will be increasing its dividend from last year's comparable payment on...Revenue & Expenses Breakdown
Revenue & Expenses Breakdown
How SThree makes and spends money. Based on latest reported earnings, on an LTM basis.
Earnings and Revenue History
| Date | Revenue | Earnings | G+A Expenses | R&D Expenses |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 Nov 25 | 1,302 | 18 | 278 | 0 |
| 31 Aug 25 | 1,340 | 23 | 281 | 1 |
| 31 May 25 | 1,378 | 29 | 284 | 2 |
| 28 Feb 25 | 1,436 | 39 | 286 | 2 |
| 30 Nov 24 | 1,493 | 50 | 287 | 2 |
| 31 Aug 24 | 1,547 | 53 | 294 | 1 |
| 31 May 24 | 1,601 | 56 | 302 | 0 |
| 29 Feb 24 | 1,632 | 56 | 310 | 0 |
| 30 Nov 23 | 1,663 | 56 | 318 | 0 |
| 31 Aug 23 | 1,678 | 53 | 329 | 0 |
| 31 May 23 | 1,692 | 50 | 340 | 0 |
| 28 Feb 23 | 1,666 | 52 | 334 | 0 |
| 30 Nov 22 | 1,639 | 54 | 328 | 0 |
| 31 Aug 22 | 1,564 | 55 | 306 | 0 |
| 31 May 22 | 1,488 | 55 | 285 | 0 |
| 28 Feb 22 | 1,409 | 49 | 279 | 0 |
| 30 Nov 21 | 1,331 | 42 | 274 | 0 |
| 31 Aug 21 | 1,276 | 36 | 264 | 0 |
| 31 May 21 | 1,222 | 30 | 255 | 0 |
| 28 Feb 21 | 1,212 | 24 | 255 | 0 |
| 30 Nov 20 | 1,203 | 19 | 254 | 0 |
| 31 May 20 | 1,267 | 33 | 266 | 0 |
| 29 Feb 20 | 1,296 | 37 | 268 | 0 |
| 30 Nov 19 | 1,325 | 41 | 270 | 0 |
| 31 Aug 19 | 1,335 | 40 | 274 | 0 |
| 31 May 19 | 1,325 | 38 | 272 | 0 |
| 28 Feb 19 | 1,292 | 36 | 267 | 0 |
| 30 Nov 18 | 1,258 | 34 | 261 | 0 |
| 31 Aug 18 | 1,219 | 30 | 256 | 0 |
| 31 May 18 | 1,180 | 26 | 250 | 0 |
| 28 Feb 18 | 1,147 | 27 | 244 | 0 |
| 30 Nov 17 | 1,115 | 28 | 237 | 0 |
| 31 Aug 17 | 1,076 | 30 | 230 | 0 |
| 31 May 17 | 1,037 | 32 | 222 | 0 |
| 28 Feb 17 | 999 | 30 | 217 | 0 |
| 30 Nov 16 | 960 | 27 | 212 | 0 |
| 31 Aug 16 | 924 | 27 | 204 | 0 |
| 31 May 16 | 889 | 26 | 197 | 0 |
| 29 Feb 16 | 869 | 27 | 193 | 0 |
| 30 Nov 15 | 849 | 27 | 189 | 0 |
| 31 Aug 15 | 829 | 23 | 188 | 0 |
Quality Earnings: STEM has high quality earnings.
Growing Profit Margin: STEM's current net profit margins (1.4%) are lower than last year (3.3%).
Free Cash Flow vs Earnings Analysis
Past Earnings Growth Analysis
Earnings Trend: STEM's earnings have grown by 1% per year over the past 5 years.
Accelerating Growth: STEM's has had negative earnings growth over the past year, so it can't be compared to its 5-year average.
Earnings vs Industry: STEM had negative earnings growth (-64.4%) over the past year, making it difficult to compare to the Professional Services industry average (11.8%).
Return on Equity
High ROE: STEM's Return on Equity (7.5%) is considered low.
Return on Assets
Return on Capital Employed
Discover strong past performing companies
Company Analysis and Financial Data Status
| Data | Last Updated (UTC time) |
|---|---|
| Company Analysis | 2026/06/16 07:12 |
| End of Day Share Price | 2026/06/16 00:00 |
| Earnings | 2025/11/30 |
| Annual Earnings | 2025/11/30 |
Data Sources
The data used in our company analysis is from S&P Global Market Intelligence LLC. The following data is used in our analysis model to generate this report. Data is normalised which can introduce a delay from the source being available.
| Package | Data | Timeframe | Example US Source * |
|---|---|---|---|
| Company Financials | 10 years |
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| Analyst Consensus Estimates | +3 years |
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| Market Prices | 30 years |
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| Ownership | 10 years |
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| Management | 10 years |
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| Key Developments | 10 years |
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* Example for US securities, for non-US equivalent regulatory forms and sources are used.
Unless specified all financial data is based on a yearly period but updated quarterly. This is known as Trailing Twelve Month (TTM) or Last Twelve Month (LTM) Data. Learn more.
Analysis Model and Snowflake
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Industry and Sector Metrics
Our industry and section metrics are calculated every 6 hours by Simply Wall St, details of our process are available on Github.
Analyst Sources
SThree plc is covered by 13 analysts. 3 of those analysts submitted the estimates of revenue or earnings used as inputs to our report. Analysts submissions are updated throughout the day.
| Analyst | Institution |
|---|---|
| James Bayliss | Berenberg |
| James Gilbert | Canaccord Genuity |
| Steven Woolf | Deutsche Bank |