Japan’s Recruit shares surge, hit daily limit on guidance hike

Recruit Holdings Inc. (TYO:6098) saw its shares soar by 22.79% to 16,165 yen on Monday, as buy orders outpaced sell orders following the company's announcement that it had raised its full-year outlook. The staffing and human resources services provider had initially forecast a 787 billion yen operating income for the year, but raised that expectation to 945 billion yen. The company also increased its projected revenue for the year to 4.23 trillion yen, up from 4.03 trillion yen.

Recruit cited accelerated monetisation development and operational efficiency in its HR Technology business, particularly the job-search platform Indeed, as the primary drivers behind the forecast upgrades. Indeed's first-quarter revenue surged 33.2% to 455.4 billion yen, while EBITDA+S grew by 80.6% to 215.7 billion yen, representing a significant improvement in the margin - jumping from 35.0% to 47.4%.

The HR Technology segment accounted for a substantial portion of Recruit's first-quarter revenue, which rose by 18.9% to 1.045 trillion yen. Profits attributable to shareholders also increased by 67.5% to 202.6 billion yen. To meet the heightened expectations, Recruit revised its full-year HR Technology revenue forecast up by 10.2% to 1.822 trillion yen, with an anticipated 51.6% increase in EBITDA+S to 834 billion yen.