Highlights:
- SEEK’s shares were trading higher today (17 November).
- The company expects to deliver revenue of AU$1.25 billion to AU$1.30 billion in financial year 2023.
Online employment classifieds operator Seek Ltd (ASX:SEK) on Thursday (17 November 2022) shared a trading update for the financial year 2023 (FY23) and has also affirmed its guidance.
Meanwhile, SEEK shares were trading 1.77% higher at AU$21.78 per share at 11:47 AM AEDT with a market capitalisation of AU$7.59 billion. With this, the share price increased by 8.26% in a month and in a year, it has dropped by 38.35%.
Details of the trading update
In the trading update, the company said that market conditions were positive following the high candidate engagement and low unemployment. As reported in the ASX filing, SEEK Asia’s revenue is ahead of expectations. Australia and New Zealand job ad volumes have weakened below the June/July levels. Some improvement is reported in applications per ad.
SEEK informed the market that platform unification is moving as per the plan, and costs are also in line with its expectations.
For the continuing operations, the company expects to achieve the net profit after tax (NPAT), EBITDA and revenue guidance for FY23.
SEEK confirms FY23 guidance
The company expects to report revenue of AU$1.25 billion to AU$1.30 billion from continued operations during FY23. The expected range of EBITDA is AU$560 million to AU$590 million. NPAT is anticipated to be in the range of AU$250 million to AU$270 million.
The forecast assumes that candidate availability, changes in hiring statement, forex and economic conditions remains challenging.
Key highlights of AGM 2022
Today, SEEK released the trading update along with the CEO’s (Ian Narev) address during the annual general meeting (AGM) 2022.
In FY22, revenue grew by 47% and EBITDA by 53% over the previous corresponding period. NPAT from continuing operations grew by 81%, and from discontinuing operations, it increased by 156%.
According to ASX announcements, the platform unification program is progressing well, and a large chunk of work is expected to be undertaken in FY23. The aim of platform unification is to create a single unified platform by the end of 2024. SEEK shared that the incremental investment required over three years is AU$1180 million.