Daily News
View All NewsRecruit’s fiscal Q4 revenue rises 7% fueled by Indeed, staffing revenue up 3%
Recruit Holdings Co. Ltd., one of the world’s largest staffing firms, reported strong growth from its Indeed brand and positive foreign exchange rates fueled revenue in its fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31, 2018.
Revenue rose 7.2% at the Tokyo-based company to ¥556.4 billion, or $5.24 billion in US dollars.
| (¥billions) | Q4 2017 | Q4 2016 | % change | Q4 2017 (US$millions) |
| Revenue | ¥556.4 | ¥518.9 | 7.2% | $5,236 |
| Gross profit | ¥266.6 | ¥239.1 | 11.5% | $2,509 |
| Gross margin | 47.9% | 46.1% | ||
| Profit for the period | ¥23.1 | ¥17.7 | 30.5% | $217 |
Earlier this month the company announced it would acquire jobs website Glassdoor for $1.2 billion, and the site would become part of its “HR Technology” segment that includes jobs website Indeed. Fourth-quarter revenue rose 57.5% in the segment to ¥61.9 billion, or US$582 million.
Growth in HR Technology “was mainly due to a combination of new customer acquisition and expanding spend from existing customers, against the backdrop of a favorable economic environment and strong labor market,” according to the company.
Revenue by segment
| (¥billions) | Q4 2017 | Q4 2016 | % change | Q4 2017 (US$millions) |
| HR Technology (Indeed) | ¥61.9 | ¥39.3 | 57.5% | $582 |
| Media & Solutions | ¥181.2 | ¥175.9 | 3.0% | $1,705 |
| Staffing | ¥319.9 | ¥309.4 | 3.4% | $3,010 |
Fourth-quarter revenue in the company’s staffing division rose 3.4%. Revenue at its Japanese operations grew more quickly than in its overseas segment, some examples of which include Staffmark Holdings in North America, Recruit Global Staffing BV in Europe (renamed from USG People BV in January), and Chandler Macleod Group Limited in Australia.
Staffing revenue by geography
| (¥billions) | Q4 2017 | Q4 2016 | % change | Q4 2017 (US$millions) |
| Staffing (Japan) | ¥128.9 | ¥122.7 | 5.1% | $1,213 |
| Staffing (Overseas) | ¥190.9 | ¥186.6 | 2.3% | $1,796 |
Recruit reported some clients limited their spending because of the challenging business environment in the US.
Full-year revenue
| (¥billions) | FY 2017 | FY 2016 | % change | FY 2017 (US$millions) |
| Revenue | ¥2,173.3 | ¥1,941.9 | 11.9% | $20,451 |
| Gross profit | ¥1,014.2 | ¥890.4 | 13.9% | $9,544 |
| Gross margin | 46.7% | 45.9% | ||
| Profit for the year | ¥152 | ¥137 | 11.0% | $1,433 |
Guidance
For the next fiscal year ending March 31, 2019, the company expects revenue to rise 5.9% mainly due to the HR Technology segment. The forecast includes eight months of revenue from the acquisition of Glassdoor.
Share price and market cap
Shares in recruit fell 2.49% to ¥2,745 at close. The company had a market cap of ¥4.66 trillion.