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by Angela Hawksford

Despite yield growth, low job ad volumes in Australia, New Zealand and parts of Southeast Asia dragged down revenue and earnings at Australia-based Seek during the six months to December (H1 FY2025), according to the company’s financial reporting.

Group revenue declined 4% year on year (y-o-y) to AUD536 million ($340 million U.S.) due to a reduction in job ad volume in both Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) and Asia. EBITDA declined 9% to AUD224 million ($142 million U.S.).

The dip in revenue and earnings aside, CEO and MD Ian Narev called the result “uniformly strong,” emphasizing that the company grew its share of job placements to the highest levels since the pandemic.

The company’s “platform unification project,” which was completed last year, also provided efficiencies, Narev added during the company’s earnings call.

“Moving to a simpler, more unified organisational structure meant we could continue high levels of product innovation in priority areas, such as AI and trust, while reducing total expenditure. This led to a significant increase in free cash flow, despite the weaker revenue environment,” he said.

“Revenue for the period was slightly lower due to market volumes,” according to Narev, who adding that “continuing yield growth offset much of the impact.”

The company also revealed that it had agreed to sell part of its shareholding in the HRtech startup Employment Hero to private equity fund KKR.

The Seek Growth Fund, which managed its Employment Hero stake, will receive AUD95 million when the transaction closes next month. Around AUD79 million of this will go to Seek, which will use the funds to reduce its debt. Seek said the Growth Fund will retain a “meaningful” stake in Employment Hero.

The ANZ business reported a 4% y-o-y fall in revenue to AUD416 million, amid a 14% drop in job ads. The New Zealand business was worst affected, with a 26% reduction in job listings — and it is not expected to recover before the end of FY2025. Yield grew 10% across ANZ, driven by variable pricing and greater adoption of depth products.

In Asia, revenue declined 3% y-o-y to AUD120 million, also due to a reduction in job ad volume. However, yield increased 19%, thanks to the rollout of a variable pricing model and the continued uptake of premium and depth listing products.

“Product innovation and sales execution led to placement share gains that enabled us to regain our No. 1 position in Singapore and the Philippines and retain that position in our other Asia markets. Overall market metrics on both sides of the marketplace were strong across the board,” Narev said.

For the rest of FY2025, the company expects job ad volumes to remain weak, but it added that this should be offset by yield growth.

“Labor market conditions vary across our APAC [Asia Pacific] markets. Job ad volumes are relatively stable in Australia, while in Malaysia and some of our emerging markets, there may be moderate increases. However, we expect volumes in New Zealand and Hong Kong to remain weaker,” Narev asserted.

“The operational outcomes of the first half against all of our strategic priorities — placements, yield and operating leverage — give us the confidence and capacity to continue executing against our key strategic initiatives, which will position us well as market conditions improve.”

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