Recruit Holdings, the world’s fifth-largest staffing firm, reported revenue fell 4% on a constant currency basis in its fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31. Total revenue was 843.7 billion yen (US$5.58 billion). The Tokyo-based company, which owns Indeed and Glassdoor, noted total job ads on Indeed continued to decline, with revenue at the jobs websites falling 10.1% when measured in US dollars.
“The supply and demand mismatch between job seekers and employers continued to ease, particularly in the US,” according to the company. “Total job postings on Indeed, composed of free and paid postings, declined year over year in the US and many other countries where HR technology operates, while job seeker activity as measured by traffic to, and applies on, Indeed and Glassdoor increased year over year.”
Indeed and Glassdoor comprise the company’s HR technology segment. A majority of revenue in this segment comes from the US, where revenue fell 13.1% year over year. Including US and non-US operations, HR technology revenue fell 10.1% as measured in US dollars.
Earlier this week, Indeed announced layoffs.
Revenue in Recruit’s staffing segment fell 3.4% in constant currency, though revenue outside of Japan fell by 11%. In the US, Recruit’s staffing operations include Staffmark Group and The CSI Cos. Outside the US and Japan, this segment’s businesses include Chandler Macleod Group in Australia and RGF Staffing in Europe.
Recruit’s third operating segment is matching and solutions, where revenue rose 2.5% on a reported basis. The segment includes HR consulting and recruitment in Japan, permanent recruitment in Asia and nonstaffing marketing platforms such as Hot Pepper Beauty, Hot Pepper Gourmet and Suumo, an online real estate website. Rikunabi, a jobs website for graduates, is included in this segment as well as staffing firm Recruit Agent. The company noted revenue from job advertising fell, but placement revenue increased.
On-demand jobs
Recruit also announced on May 14 that a subsidiary is launching a new in Japan website focused on on-demand work in the fall. Its tentative name is Townwork Sukima.
“In Japan, the ongoing labor shortage is a critical social issue, leading to significant changes in employment preferences and business needs,” according to the company. “Some people may prefer to work just a few hours each day or seek a second job in their free time as a new challenge. Particularly in the service industry, businesses are urgently in need of workers, even if only for a few hours.”
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Guidance
For full year 2024, Recruit forecast revenue will range from down 3.4% to up 2.4%.
In the company’s HR technology segment, 2024 revenue is expected to range from flat to an increase of 9.5% on a US dollar basis. Revenue in the US is expected to range from a decrease of 7% to an increase of 5%. Revenue in Japan is expected to increase approximately 70% as the company transfers revenue from matching and solutions because of Indeed Plus, a job distribution platform launched on Jan. 30.
Revenue in matching and solutions is expected to range from a decrease of 7.7% to an increase of 1.8%.
Staffing revenue is expected to increase between 0.1% to 0.9%. However, staffing revenue from Europe, the US and Australia is expected to be down between 2.5% and 4.0%.
Share price
Shares in Recruit were up 0.94% to 7,066 yen (US$45.17) today as of 2 a.m. Eastern time. They set a new high in trading today in Japan when they reached 7,205.00 yen (US$46.05).