New Work SE: Recruiting business grows by 7 per cent in first nine months of 2023 amid difficult market environment

Total revenues of €227.4 million at same level as 2022
Recession hampering new B2B business
CEO von Strombeck: “XING’s transition is in full swing”

Hamburg, 9 November 2023 – New Work SE, parent company of XING, kununu, onlyfy by XING and more, today reported its key financial figures for the first nine months of 2023. The current recession is clearly tangible in terms of impact on the company’s new business and total revenues. Nevertheless, the company continues to invest in positioning the XING brand, in turn affecting earnings. Revenues for the first nine months of 2023 totalled €227.4 million, down from €231.3 million in Q3 2022. Meanwhile, pro forma EBITDA shrank by 14 per cent from €80.6 million in Q3 2022 to €68.9 million in Q3 2023, while pro forma net profit was down 18 per cent from €39.3 million in Q3 2022 to €32.4 million in Q3 2023.

Amid a difficult market environment, HR Solutions & Talent Access, New Work SE’s main revenue segment, increased revenues by 7 per cent yoy, up from €151.5 million to €161.4 million. B2C business declined 17 per cent from €67.7 million in Q3 2022 to €56.4 million in Q3 2023. This decrease was expected as a result of transitioning XING from an online business network to a jobs network, and of electing to focus on generating revenues from B2B segments. The smallest segment, Marketing Solutions, felt the effects of a downturn in ad impressions on XING resulting from the new strategic alignment with revenues decreasing by 21 per cent yoy from €12.1 million to €9.6 million for the period under review.

CEO Petra von Strombeck said: There are two main things affecting our business right now. The first is the ongoing recession in Germany, with indicators such as the IMF economic outlook, the ifo Business Climate Index for Germany, and the IAB Labour Market Barometer all trending downward, which is highly tangible in our new customer business. Despite needing to take action to counter the skilled worker shortage, the poor state of the economy has forced many companies to postpone such measures. The second point is that XING, our most well-known brand, is currently in the midst of transitioning to become a jobs network. B2C revenues decreased as planned, but B2B revenues are unable to compensate for this due to the recession. Naturally we’re not happy with this situation and introduced a series of cost-saving measures at the start of the year which are now paying off. So despite this difficult market environment, I can confirm the pro forma EBITDA guidance of €92-100 million as amended back in May.”

The member base of the leading online jobs network in German-speaking countries, XING, continues to grow and reached 22 million during the period under report. The transition to a jobs network became apparent to all members in October with the introduction of a new homepage and navigation which focus on job searches and being found by recruiters. Career interactions is a new reporting KPI consisting of apply intents via postings in XING Jobs, and recruiter replies. During the first nine months of 2023, career interactions exceeded 10 million, indicating growth of more than 50 per cent yoy.

kununu, the leading employer review platform in German-speaking countries, continues to grow and reported its most successful year ever. In the first nine months of 2023, the number of workplace insights grew by 1.7 million to 9.8 million, including some 5.4 million reviews, over 3.3 million salary data points, and around 1.1 million employer culture entries.

In the previous quarter, B2B brand onlyfy by XING focused its attention on the blue-collar segment. During the summer months, onlyfy teamed up with kununu and XING to roll out new offerings geared towards blue-collar jobseekers and recruiters hiring for blue-collar positions. The majority of people of working age in Germany are engaged in manual labour. This is an often-overlooked fact in recruiting circles, even though there is a major shortage of blue-collar workers in many industries. This was also reflected in a forsa study conducted on behalf of onlyfy by XING which showed that 93 per cent of businesses in industry, trade and services are having difficulties filling their vacancies.

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 1,900 people at offices including Berlin, Vienna and Porto. Visit new-work.se and nwx.new-work.se for more information.