NEW WORK SE: B2B segment generates double-digit growth in Q1 despite weak market

• Reluctancy among employers affecting jobs market as a whole 

• XING’s evolution into a jobs network continues 

• kununu reports largest-ever workplace insights growth 
   

Hamburg, 3 May 2023 – Today, NEW WORK SE, parent company of, for instance, jobs network XING and the leading employer review portal in German-speaking countries, kununu, published its financial figures for the first quarter of 2023. During the period under review, total revenues increased mildly by 2 per cent from €74.6 million in Q1 2022 to €75.9 million in Q1 2023. This mild growth at Group level is linked to the planned decline in B2C revenues as a result of pivoting the XING brand to become a jobs network. Meanwhile, the slower pace of growth seen in the HR Solutions & Talent Access segment in Q1 is due to a general sense of reluctancy among employers to invest in digital recruiting solutions amid an uncertain market, resulting in a 30 per cent decrease in pro forma adjusted EBITDA to €17.9 million (Q1 2022: €25.7 million) and a 27 per cent downturn in pro forma net profit to €9.2 million (Q1 2022: €12.6 million).  

The HR Solutions & Talent Access segment is NEW WORK SE’s largest and most important source of revenue. During the period under review, revenues for the segment grew by 11 per cent to €53.3 million, which was lower than expected and attributable to the current market situation. As planned and expected, the B2C segment saw revenues drop by 15 per cent to €19.5 million as a result of pivoting the XING brand to become a jobs network. Revenues in the B2B Marketing Solutions segment also reported a 13 per cent decline in revenues from €3.6 million in Q1 2022 to €3.1 million in Q1 2023, which reflects online advertising spending in general in Germany during the first few months of 2023.  

CEO von Strombeck: “Clear deceleration on the German labour market” 

Petra von Strombeck, CEO at NEW WORK SE, said: “We know that demographic change is set to exacerbate the lack of skilled workers in many industries over the coming years. Having said that, we’re currently seeing a clear deceleration on the German labour market as many companies have a dampened outlook. This dip isn’t just something we’re hearing from studies and surveys, we’ve been experiencing it every day since the start of this year. Naturally, companies expecting economic downturn are less likely to need recruiting products”. According to a survey by management consultancy Ernst & Young, almost 60 per cent of German companies queried said that they expect business to slow down in 2023, with more than a third planning to restructure their business or decrease their work force (EY CEO Survey, 01/23 in German). “We’re currently pivoting the XING brand to become a jobs network, which has led to a planned decrease in revenues. By contrast, our HR business continues to generate double-digit growth amid a weak market. The lack of skilled workers is set to remain a key challenge for businesses in German-speaking countries, so we’re continuing to invest in our strategy as we expect to see growth once the economy picks up again.”, Petra von Strombeck added.  

Executive Board decides to continue investing in strategy and adjusts forecast 

The jobs market and demand for digital recruiting solutions have declined since the forecast issued in the 2022 financial report. The NEW WORK SE Executive Board has decided to continue investing in its long-term strategy, which is why it has adjusted its forecast. In the report, it forecast single-digit percentage growth with a pro forma EBITDA of between €108 million and €111 million, whereas now it anticipates a pro forma EBITDA range of €92 million to €100 million for FY 2023. In addition, the pro forma revenues forecast for 2023 are expected to remain at the same level as 2022. 

XING repositioning ongoing, onlyfy by XING delivers update to B2B customers    

At the start of the year, XING appointed Thomas Kindler as Managing Director. Since then, the brand has embarked on one of the largest advertising campaigns in its history to raise awareness for XING’s repositioning as a jobs network. XING has also made XING Jobs available to non-members for the first time. With some 1.4 million vacancies on offer, XING Jobs offers the largest selection of openings in German-speaking countries that users can filter to find the right job for them. During the period under review, XING membership grew to 21.7 million. In addition, kununu, the leading employer review platform in German-speaking countries, received some 710,000 new workplace insights from employees, which is the largest quarterly increase in the company’s history. This takes the total workplace insights to 8.8 million, consisting of around 5 million reviews and over 2.9 million salary data points.  

Following its launch in September 2022, B2B brand onlyfy by XING released its first ever update to the onlyfy one talent acquisition platform in Q1 2023. The update offers onlyfy one Job Ads customers greater efficiency and usability for their recruiting activities, while employers automatically receive matching recommendations from among over 21.7 million XING members after posting a vacancy. This gives employers the opportunity to get in touch with talented prospective candidates directly, along with the option to create targeted social media campaigns for greater job ad reach. 

 

About NEW WORK SE

The NEW WORK SE Group strives towards a better working world. With strong brands such as XING, kununu and onlyfy by XING, and the largest talent pool in German-speaking countries, it claims the spot of recruiting partner Nr. 1 in these countries. By bringing candidates and companies together, it guides talents to a more fulfilling working life while simultaneously helping companies to greater success by winning the right talent. The Group has been listed on the Frankfurt stock exchange since 2006, has its headquarters in Hamburg and currently employs around 2,000 people at offices including Berlin, Vienna and Porto. Visit http://www.new-work.se and https://nwx.new-work.se/for more information.