XING posts unchecked revenue growth in Q1 2014

•    Revenues increase by 16 percent to €22.8 m compared to previous year
•    Premium Club revenue growth doubles compared to previous year
•    The highest quarterly growth in five years sees 242,000 new members

Hamburg, 6 May 2014 – XING, the leading social network for business professionals in the German-speaking countries (D-A-CH: Germany, Austria and Switzerland), has posted unchecked revenue growth in Q1 of this year. Total revenues have therefore climbed by 16 percent to €22.8 m (2013: €19.6 m). This means that XING has considerably increased its organic growth compared to Q1 2013 (7 percent). The main drivers were the Network/Premium Club and e-Recruiting segments.

Premium Club growth rate doubles compared to previous year
Revamping offers to our Premium members in Q4 of the previous year provided a key impetus for boosting growth in this segment. Consequently, the Premium Club grew by 8 percent to €13.91 m (€12.93 m) in Q1 of this year. As a result, XING doubled the growth rate of the largest source of revenue in just 12 months (Q1 2013: 4 percent).

The second major revenue driver for XING AG is the e-Recruiting segment. At €7.0 m, XING achieved 33 percent more here than in the previous year (2013: €5.2 m). The Events segment, which has been strategically integrated more closely with XING as “XING EVENTS” since the end of the previous year, also grew by 34 percent to €1.4 m (2013: €1.1 m).
 

Thomas Vollmoeller, CEO of XING AG: "Our revenues are growing for all sources of revenue. We are especially pleased that our comprehensive revamping of the Premium product at the end of last year is bearing fruit. We have not only managed to double the growth rate of the Premium Club compared to the previous year, but also to welcome the highest number in four years of Premium members in one quarter." In Q1 this year, XING gained 15,800 new paying D-A-CH members.

The highest quarterly growth in five years sees 242,000 new D-A-CH members
In total, 242,000 new members registered on the XING platform in its core region (D-A-CH) in the reporting period. This is the best performance in the past five years, and means that by the end of March this year, XING had 7.17 m members. Since rebranding the event platform “amiando” into “XING EVENTS” and integrating it more deeply with the XING platform, XING now measures the growth of XING EVENTS “users” and reports them separately. In Q1 2014, the company gained an additional 81,000 XING EVENTS users who are not simultaneously XING members.

As budgeted, EBITDA was lower at €4.0 m than the previous year (2013: €5.3 m). This is due firstly to the non-operational earn-out expense of €0.5 m in connection with the kununu acquisition. Secondly, a TV campaign was run in Q1 that significantly increased marketing expenditure to €3.8 m (Q1 2013: €1.2 m). In the first campaign in three years, XING used stories to show how XING helps people achieve a better work-life balance. Vollmoeller: “Digitisation is changing how we live and work. New opportunities are emerging, values are changing. We want to establish ourselves as our members' partner in this change process, to help them to maximise their new flexibility and freedom. We emphasised this aim with our TV campaign.” On 1 May, XING also launched a topic portal at

https://spielraum.xing.com/ where people can find exclusive articles as well as tips and tricks for changes in the world of work.   About XING
XING is the social network for business professionals. Around 14 million members worldwide – over 7 million of whom are based in German-speaking countries – use XING to boost their business, job, and career. XING is a platform where professionals from all kinds of different industries can meet up, find jobs, colleagues, new assignments, cooperation partners, experts and generate business ideas. Members can meet and exchange views in over 50,000 specialist groups, while also getting together at networking events. The platform is operated by XING AG, which was founded in Hamburg, Germany, in 2003, has been publicly listed since 2006, and listed on the TecDAX since September 2011. In December 2010, XING acquired amiando AG, a Munich-based company and Europe’s leading provider of online event management and ticketing. The acquisition of kununu GmbH, the leading platform for employer reviews in German-speaking countries, allows XING to extend its position as the social recruiting market leader. Please visit www.xing.com for more information.