Japanese recruitment firm Artner Co Ltd (2163: JP) reported full year revenue today of JPY 8.10 billion (USD 68.6 million), an increase of 12.9% compared to last year.

Artner provides employment recruitment services across Japan offering permanent, temporary, and contract staffing services. In addition, Artner is also involved in the provision of mechanical design, electrical and electronic design, software, and chemical and bio-based research and development services.

The group said the need for engineers related to autonomous driving and semiconductors were more active than in the previous fiscal year. The unit price of engineers decreased slightly from the same period of the previous year. The number of engineers and the occupancy rate exceeded the same period of the previous year. The number of technicians increased from the same period of the previous year due to the progress of the assignment of engineers ahead of schedule. Man-hours exceeded the same period of the previous year. In the contract business, the number of employees assigned to order-receiving projects increased due to ‘aggressive business development’.

Artner also said it invested in infrastructure such as IT and increased staff due to the increase in engineers.

SG&A expenses decreased and cost of sales increased due to the progress of assignment of unassigned persons. The group added that by promoting the teleworking of staff in sales activities, expenses such as travel expenses, transportation expenses, meeting expenses, etc. have decreased.

Looking ahead the company forecasted revenue of JPY 8.79 billion (USD 74.48 million) for the year ended January 2023.

Shares in Artner closed at JPY 873.00 (USD 7.40), up 1.75% on the day and 7.03% below its 52-week high of JPY 939.00 (USD 7.96), set on 5 January 2022. The company has a market cap of JPY 9.12 billion (USD 77.28 million).