Online jobs website business and education services provider Seek says it expects to post earnings growth in 2011/12, provided the jobless rate stays below six per cent.
Seek operates three main businesses – the Australia and New Zealand jobs listings website, an education unit that offers teaching courses and student recruitment and an international arm that holds Seek’s interests in offshore ventures.
The jobs listings business was forecast to post growth in both revenue and earnings before interest tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) in the current year “so long as the unemployment rate does not exceed six per cent”.
The guidance was included in a slide presentation prepared for shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting in Melbourne on Monday.
Seek’s job ads business in Australia and New Zealand generated the bulk of the company’s earnings.
“We expect to continue to benefit from our leadership position and the structural migration of employment advertising from print to online,” Seek chairman Robert Watson said in prepared remarks.
“Despite global economic uncertainty, we expect the domestic employment business will continue to grow during 2012.”
The presentation said Seek expected year-on-year growth in job ads, but that growth rates had continued to soften.
The company was “positioned well for growth when market conditions improve, reflecting its strong market position”.
Elsewhere, Seek said its international ventures Zhaopin, JobsDB, Brasil Online and OCC were forecast to, in aggregate, record underlying revenue and EBITDA “significantly higher” in 2011/12, despite ongoing investment for growth opportunities”.
There would also be a continuation of robust growth in JobStreet.
“Our international investments are less susceptible to the macro-economic environment, due to the rapid growth in internet penetration and the nature of the labour markets in which they operate,” Mr Watson said.
“We therefore anticipate sustained improvement in results from these businesses.”
In education, Seek said revenue and EBITDA for its Seek Learning and THINK arms would be higher than in 2010/11.
Meanwhile, IDP, a provider of English language testing and enrolment services to international students, was expected to post net profit after tax “broadly in line with” 2010/11.
Its Swinburne Online joint venture business was also tipped to “incur losses in its first full year of operation”.
Seek closed up seven cents at $6.05.
Meanwhile, Seek founder and former joint chief executive Paul Bassat had been appointed to the board of the Australian Football League (AFL), effective February 2012, a statement from the AFL Commission said on Monday.
