Despite lower job volumes and slowing economic activity, Seek Ltd. (SEK:ASX) reported Tuesday that revenue rose 10% in its fiscal year ended 30 June to nearly AUD 1.23 billion (USD 810.8 million). The Victoria, Australia-based job board operator forecast fiscal year 2024 revenue range from being down 4% to up 3%.

The revenue growth is in contrast to most other global peers that have recently reported declining revenue. Unlike other long-established job boards, Seek has continued to grow and develop a broad portfolio of businesses despite competition from newer market entrants with job aggregation and social media models.

“Seek has grown revenue and earnings in FY23, with yield improvements coming through increased variable pricing and adoption of depth products,” Seek CEO Ian Narev said in a press release. “This yield performance has more than offset lower job volumes caused by a slowing of economic activity across all markets in FY23, and particularly in the last quarter.”

Narev said while job volumes moderated in fiscal year 2023, the job market remains tight with a low unemployment rate.

“Applications per job ad have recovered to pre-pandemic levels due to increased candidate activity and lower job volumes,” he said. “Our dynamic pricing and suite of depth products have enabled us to respond to this environment and better align price to the value Seek delivers.”

Revenue (in constant currency) rose across most Seek’s segments, which are:

• ANZ — job advertising services in Australia and New Zealand (+6%)
• Seek Asia — job advertising services in six countries across South East Asia and South Korea (+17%)
• Brasil Online — candidate services and job advertising in Brazil (-1.3%)
• OCC — job advertising services in Mexico (+19%)
• Platform support — a portfolio of investments (Jora, Certsy and JobAdder) that relate to the core Seek operating platform (+31%)

Seek’s segments also include portfolio investments and the Seek growth fund comprising investment in high-growth businesses across three themes: education, HR SaaS and contingent labour. The contingent labour investments include Jobandtalent and Sidekicker which both achieved strong year-on-year revenue growth but with growth rates slowing during H2 2023 due to weaker labour markets .

*Adjust net profit after tax, which represents net profit after tax excluding significant items and the Seek Growth Fund. The company deconsolidated the fund on 19 December 2022. Seek recognized a one-off gain of AUD 840 million (USD 555.8 million) on the deconsolidation.

Guidance

Seek forecast full-year 2024 revenue of between approximately AUD 1.18 billion (USD 764.9 million) to AUD 1.26 billion (USD 816.8 million).

It also forecast EBITDA of between AUD 520 million (USD 337.1 million) and AUD 560 (USD 363.0 million). In addition, the company forecast net profit after tax of approximately AUD 220 million (USD 142.6 million) to AUD 260 million (USD 168.5 million).

“Economists are generally forecasting lower levels of economic activity in the markets in which we operate, whilst acknowledging the potential for volatility,” Narev said.

“Our FY24 guidance is based on our best current estimates, though any degree of precision is difficult,” he continued. “In ANZ, we currently expect higher unemployment and a corresponding decline in job ad volumes. In Asia, we expect changes in unemployment to be mixed across the region, leading to similar levels of aggregate paid ad volumes as FY23. Whilst conditions are easing, labour markets remain tight relative to historic benchmarks, so we expect wage growth to persist. That will support ongoing yield growth.”

Share price

Shares in Seek closed down 4.27% to AUD 24.66 (USD 15.99) on Tuesday in Australia; they were 5.73% below their 52-week high.