Renrui Human Resources Technology Holdings Ltd. (6919:HKG), a staffing firm based in Chengdu, China, announced Friday that it expects revenue for the year ended 31 December 2022 to be down from last year, and the company plans to report a loss amid China’s efforts to fight Covid-19.

Renrui expects 2022 revenue to be down between 19.8% and 28.3% year over year to between RMB 3,400 million (USD 490.9 million) and RMB 3,800 million (USD 548.7 million), according to preliminary numbers.

The company also expects a loss attributable to equity holders of between RMB 5.0 million (USD 721,910) and RMB 13.0 million (USD 1.9 million) for 2022. That compares to profit attributable to equity holders of the company in 2021 of approximately RMB 102 million (USD 16.0 million).

China’s measures to combat Covid-19 impacted results by causing a decline labor demand and making it more difficult for the group to serve customers. However, Renrui noted the measures have been gradually relaxed over the year.

Final annual results for the year ended 31 December 2022 are expected to be published by the end of March.

Share price and market cap

Shares in Renrui closed up 2.64% to HKD 4.27 (USD 0.55) on Monday in Hong Kong; they were 9.49% above their 52-week low, according to FT.com. The company had a market cap of HKD 651.87 million (USD 83.7 million million).