1st half-year 2023: Business with HR solutions of NEW WORK SE grows by 8 percent despite recession

• Pro forma total turnover at previous year's level in difficult market environment
• CEO Petra von Strombeck: "We continue to invest in the implementation of our strategy."
• Forecast for the 2023 financial year confirmed

Hamburg, August 14, 2023 – NEW WORK SE among others, parent company of the jobs network XING and the employer review platform kununu,  today presents its key financial figures for the first half of 2023. The recession in which the German economy finds itself has had a significant impact on the Group's revenue development. As a result, pro-forma total revenues of €151.7 million are on par with the previous year (€152.6 million), pro-forma EBITDA is €40.8 million (previous year: €53.5 million) and pro-forma net income is €18.1 million (€24.3 million).  Despite the challenging market environment, NEW WORK SE confirms its forecast for the 2023 financial year, which was adjusted in May, with pro forma revenue at the previous year's level and pro forma EBITDA in the corridor between € 92 million and € 100 million.

The strongest segment in terms of revenue, HR Solutions & Talent Access, was able to increase its revenues by eight per cent to € 107.1 million (€ 98.9 million) in the first half of 2023 despite the significant deterioration in the economic situation since the beginning of the year. The number of B2B subscription customers increased by 810 corporate customers to 14,489 compared to the previous year. As expected, revenue in the B2C segment fell in the reporting period by -16 percent to € 38.2 million (previous year: € 45.5 million). The decline is mainly due to a reduced number of paid memberships of the XING brand, which is an expected effect of the strategic realignment of the jobs network, which will in future focus fully on expanding access to talent. Revenues in the B2B Marketing Solutions segment decreased by 21 percent to € 6.5 million. The revenue development reflects the downward trend in the development of advertising revenues in Germany since the beginning of the year.

CEO Petra von Strombeck: "We continue to invest in the implementation of our strategy."

Petra von Strombeck, CEO of NEW WORK SE: "The German economy is in recession. The demand for skilled workers is still high, so we have been able to achieve pleasing growth in B2B business, which is considerable compared to the market. However, companies are much more hesitant to buy our solutions for recruiting skilled workers than many had predicted, as some of them are currently setting other priorities. We recognized this early on and reacted immediately by adjusting our forecast and taking countermeasures. Nevertheless, it is inevitable that the development of the market will be reflected in our revenue development. We are continuing the transformation of XING into a jobs network at full speed and are continuing to invest in our strategy in order to be the No. 1 recruiting partner for our corporate customers, even in these times. Because the shortage of skilled workers remains one of the biggest challenges facing the local economy – and we can provide a remedy."

To this end, the B2B brand onlyfy by XING has now presented another update to its talent acquisition platform onlyfy one. Since its introduction in September last year, customers who post job ads via the platform have benefited from strong efficiency and more convenience in recruiting. Thanks to the integration of external channels, the job ads are not only published on the largest jobs network XING in the German-speaking region, but are also automatically published on up to 900 other job boards of high-reach recruiting and social media channels.

Since the summer, advertisements placed via onlyfy one have also been published on the employer rating portal kununu. In this way, talents can not only find out about a vacant position, but also gain authentic insights into the company at the same time. The advertisements are explicitly aimed at target groups from a wide range of age and occupational groups: from managers and knowledge workers to employees in industry, production, logistics and the skilled trades to health and care professions. In order to make it easier for companies to find candidates from areas beyond office work, a new offer was also created with the "onlyfy one job ad essential", which is intended to specifically address job seekers from the segment.

As far as access to talent is concerned, the kununu and XING brands play a central role. The attractiveness of the kununu platform is largely due to the authentic insights and assessments of employers in the D-A-CH region that are available here. Thanks to targeted marketing activities, the number of so-called "Workplace Insights", consisting of employer ratings, salaries and information on employer culture, increased significantly by 2.1 million. This is the largest growth in the history of kununu.

The XING brand is undergoing a transformation to mark its twentieth anniversary, in line with the company's strategic realignment. Under the new management of long-time industry expert Thomas Kindler, XING is focusing fully on the topic of jobs. In doing so, the platform continues to build on its particular strengths. Not only does XING have the most jobs advertisements of all providers in the D-A-C-H region, but – in contrast to the usual matching of vacancies and CVs of other providers – it can match personal preferences with corporate cultures for a large number of jobs. In this way, XING ensures that more and more members find the job that fits their life – or that they are found by one of the more than 20,000 recruiters who actively search for talent on the platform.

In June this year, the company organised NWX23. This is the leading event on the topic of "The Future of Work" in the German-speaking world. A wide range of speakers and experts inspired the audience at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. In addition, a first-time job festival by XING attracted young talent, while onlyfy by XING had an exclusive offer for recruiters. Finally, the kununu brand offered program items that focused on the topics of transparency and employer branding. In this way, NEW WORK SE was able to underline the competence of its brands for the topic "Future of Work" with the highest reach so far.

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.