Recruitment business driving growth as NEW WORK SE revenues and EBITDA rise during first quarter of 2022

• Total revenues increase by 12 per cent
• B2B E-Recruiting segment grows by 26 percent
• kununu continues to lead the market

Hamburg, 5 May 2022 – NEW WORK SE (formerly XING SE) today published its figures for the first quarter of 2022. Pro forma revenues for Q1 2022 came in at €75.9 million, up 12 per cent from €68.0 million in Q1 2021, while pro forma EBITDA for the period grew by 3 per cent to €25.5 million (Q1 2021: €24.9 million). The contrast between the moderate increase in EBITDA and high revenue growth is largely attributable to seasonal differences in marketing expenditure. Pro forma net profit for Q1 2022 rose to €12.4 million, equating to a 3 per cent increase over Q1 2021 (€12.0 million).

As expected, revenues for the NEW WORK SE B2C segment decreased by 7 per cent from €24.8 million in Q1 2021 to €23.1 million in Q1 2022. There are two reasons for this: first, the recovering labour market is dampening demand for Premium membership, and second, the change of strategy introduced at the end of 2021 sees monetisation efforts shifted over to the B2B E-Recruiting segment. Correspondingly, the B2B segment and its recruiting solutions reported €47.9 million in revenues during Q1 2022, an increase of 26 per cent over the €38.1 million generated in Q1 2021. Revenues for the smallest segment, B2B Marketing Solutions & Events, decreased by 4 per cent yoy to €5.0 million as a result of the pandemic restrictions.

Talent in high demand and willing to switch jobs

Petra von Strombeck, CEO at NEW WORK SE, said: “Companies in German-speaking countries currently have a mountain of vacancies to fill and are searching hard for new hires. This situation is driving demand for our recruitment solutions and underpins our decision to shift monetisation efforts over to our B2B segment. Our B2C brands are also doing really well by focussing on individual guidance to help people find a job that suits their circumstances, which is what more and more people are calling for nowadays.”

During the period under review, kununu saw its workplace insights (reviews, culture and salary data) grow by 1.7 million since Q1 2021 to a total of 6.8 million, in turn further consolidating its position as the leading employer review platform in German-speaking countries. XING membership also continued to grow with the leading online business network in German-speaking countries welcoming around 1.4 million new members in the last 12 month, taking total membership to 20.7 million as of the end of Q1 2022.

Subsidiary Honeypot, which specialises in IT specialist recruitment, saw a return to positive growth after its revenues declined in 2020. Switching from a transactional to subscription-based monetisation model has enabled Honeypot to get back on track and post a low three-digit growth rate in Q1 2022.

“Our brands are in an excellent position to help companies find talent and to match members with the right employers for them. Competition for talent is really starting to heat up, with employees imposing increasing demands of their employers and voting with their feet if they feel that’s what’s needed to make a positive change in their life”, Petra von Strombeck continued.

At the start of 2022, XING E-Recruiting partnered with forsa, a leading German market research and opinion polling company, to carry out a representative study of the labour market in German-speaking countries. The results show that 37 per cent of Germans (up 4 per cent over 2021) are open to job offers in 2022 or are even already looking for a new role.

Lack of skilled workers offers positive market environment for NEW WORK SE

As well as surveying workers, forsa also asked 300 HR decision-makers about the current recruiting situation. The survey shows that every second company in Germany and two-thirds of companies in Austria are faced with hiring problems. More than half of the companies surveyed stated that they now face greater hiring challenges than before the pandemic. In line with this trend, a new B2B product will be rolled out in autumn to support customers even more comprehensively in their recruitment activities.

Forecasts for 2022 as a whole remain unchanged, and the NEW WORK SE Executive Board still estimates a pro forma EBITDA of €104 million for FY 2022.

About NEW WORK SE

The NEW WORK SE Group builds upon the XING SE success story by offering brands, products and services that foster a more fulfilling world of work. Founded by Lars Hinrichs as the OpenBC professional network, the company was renamed XING in 2006. In 2019, the company was renamed again to New Work SE as a reflection of its commitment to a better working world and to bring all of its business activities under the umbrella of New Work. The company has been listed on the stock exchange since 2006. NEW WORK SE is a central leadership and management holding, serving as a service department for its subsidiaries. The Group is headquartered in Hamburg and currently employs 1,900 people at offices including Munich, Vienna and Porto. Visit https://new-work.se and https://nwx.new-work.se/ for more information.