Recruit Holdings reported revenue fell 6.2% in its fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30. Revenue in Recruit’s “HR Technology” segment, which includes Indeed and Glassdoor, fell 3.1%. And staffing operations revenue at the Tokyo-based company, which ranks among the largest staffing firms in the world, fell 6.0% with Japanese staffing operations seeing a smaller decline than staffing businesses outside of Japan.

Covid-19 had a broad impact on business, Recruit reported. But it cited sequential improvement.

Revenue in the company’s HR Technology segment fell 3.1% year over year and was down 2.3% in US dollar terms. The revenue decline was primarily caused by decreased demand for sponsored job advertising, candidate sourcing and screening solutions, and employer branding products. Still, the company noted a rebound in HR Technology revenue during the second quarter was led by US operations.

Revenue by segment

Japan staffing revenue was down just 0.7%. However, overseas staffing operations fell by 10.2%; the decrease was 11.9% excluding the impact of currency. Staffing outside of Japan decreased amid a decline in demand from enterprise clients for temporary staff under continued restrictions on business operations and uncertainty about the future.

Staffing revenue

Share price and market cap

Shares in Recruit closed at ¥4,690 (US$44.80) today in Tokyo; shares were were 4.40% below their 52-week high set on Nov. 10. The company had a market cap of ¥8.23 trillion (US$78.61 billion).