Japanese technical staffing firm BeNext-Yumeshin (2154: JP) announced that it has changed its trade name to Open Up Group.

It comes after the announcement of a business transfer between subsidiaries of its company through an absorption-type company split. The group’s system development business BeNext Solutions Inc. (BNS) was transferred to Open Up System Co., Ltd., (OPS) which is another subsidiary of the company.

Open Up Group also reported revenue today of JPY 80.34 billion (USD 608.6 million) for the first six months ended 31 December 2022, an increase of 7.9% compared with the previous year. Revenue for the second quarter was up by 9.1% to JPY 41.3 billion (312.6 million).

This increase in the group’s H1 revenue is largely attributable to growth in the number of employees in the Machinery, Electronics and IT Software, Construction, and Manufacturing segments combined with consistently high utilisation rates.

On the profit front, profit improved overall in the absence of one-off costs such as PPA (purchase price allocation) amortisation of intangible assets in the previous fiscal year in addition to improvement in hourly rates and higher utilisation rates, all of which offset higher recruiting expenses.

Revenue in the overseas segment (Temporary staffing and contracting for engineering and manufacturing sectors and human resource services, such as paid job introduction, outside of Japan) decreased by 3.8%. The group said demand for human resources in the UK appeared to recover temporarily in the summer; however, toward the end of the year, inflation and interest rate hikes caused economic activity to slow and revenue from temporary staffing for the busy pre-Christmas season was weak. As a result, segment revenue declined.

Looking ahead the group forecasted revenue of JPY 164.00 billion (USD 1.24 billion) for the year ended 30 June 2023.

Open Up Group shares closed on Friday at JPY 1,839 (USD 13.93), down 2.9% on the day. The company has a market cap of JPY 171.06 billion (USD 1.29 billion).