Online employment brand Seek has posted a profit increase of 35% to $131.7 million, another affirmation of the strength of the digital classifieds market.
In addition to its profit increase, Seek reported in its full year financial results a year-on-year revenue growth of 29% to $442.3 million. Its earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation was $193.6 million, an increase of 43%.
It will pay out a final dividend of 9 cents per share, fully franked on 16 October.
Seek chief executive Andrew Bassat said: “This was another record full year result despite far from buoyant conditions in all our markers. This was achieved due to a solid growth in the Employment business, strong result by Zhaopin and improving performance in the Education business.
“While online classifieds have captured 84% of all job ads, 42% of job ad spend still resides in print which augurs well for future online revenue growth. We expect Seek to be a beneficiary of this ongoing structural migration given its market leadership.
“Weak macroeconomic conditions may persist in the short-term. However, as shown during the GFC our business is quite resilient to external shocks. Irrespective of conditions, our focus is to continue attracting all job seekers, all job ads and develop products and services that assist both advertisers and job seekers.”
Seek's results follow a encouraging trajectory for the online classifieds market. Last week, REA Group, operator of realestate.com.au, reported a profit increase of 29% while CarSales reported a 23% growth.
According to the most recent IAB/PricewaterhouseCoopers online ad spend report, classifieds account for 20.5% of the $3 billion online ad market.
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