Recruit Holdings Co. Ltd. reported revenue rose 39.8% year over year in its fiscal first quarter ended June 30. The Tokyo-based global staffing firm cited particularly high growth in its “HR technology” segment, which includes Indeed and Glassdoor. HR technology revenue jumped 148.9% amid what the company said was a broad surge in demand for sponsored job advertising. On a US-dollar basis, revenue in the HR technology segment was up 144.5%.

Overall, Recruit noted economic activity in the US and Europe recovered and hiring demand increased as vaccine rollouts progressed.

Revenue by segment

In the HR technology segment, Recruit reported the imbalance between muted job-seeker activity and significant hiring demand resulted in increased competition for talent on Indeed and Glassdoor — in turn, driving revenue.

US revenue in the HR technology segment rose 148.0% year over year while non-US revenue rose 133.6%. The company said Europe and Canada also benefitted from reopening trends. However, Recruit noted that signs emerged in the US of a rebalancing with job-seeker activity trending toward pre-Covid levels at the end of the first quarter. It expects elevated hiring demand will ease at some point during this quarter.

In its staffing segment, Recruit cited increased demand for temporary staff.

Revenue by geography

Guidance

Recruit forecast revenue will be up between 14.6% and 19.0% for the full fiscal year. HR technology segment revenue is expected to increase between 65% and 75% on a US-dollar basis for the full year.

Staffing revenue in Europe, the US and Australia is expected to increase between 15% and 20% for the full year while Japanese staffing revenue is expected to be similar to fiscal year 2020.

Share price and market cap

Shares in Recruit were down 0.67% to ¥5,772 (US$52.20) as of last trade at 3:15 p.m. local time in Tokyo; they were near the upper end of trading in the past year where they traded between ¥3,693 to ¥5,926. The company had a market cap of ¥9.79 trillion (US$88.5 billion).