Boardroom Moves, Flat Profit Sees Seek Sold Off

Shares in recruitment group Seek sold off on a basket of news yesterday: no dividend + new CEO and Chairman + flat earnings = shares down 7%.
Read MoreShares in recruitment group Seek sold off on a basket of news yesterday: no dividend + new CEO and Chairman + flat earnings = shares down 7%.
Read MoreSeek’s announcement in early November on phasing out job ad templates will help the company lift depth penetration, suggests UBS, and reminds the broker of the strategy followed by REA Group ((REA)) and Domain Holdings Australia ((DHG)).
Read MoreOnline recruitment group Seek was another leading company (like IAG last Friday and Downer EDI, also yesterday) to confirm previously announced write-downs, losses, and impairments, and no final dividend.
Read MoreOnline jobs group, Seek has made the early decision to drop its final dividend for the 2019-20 financial year to allow it to build up its financial reserves for the coming financial year.
Read MoreSeek has guided to FY20 being slightly ahead of Credit Suisse’s estimates, expecting operating earnings (EBITDA) of $410m.
Read MoreInvestors treated the shares of Seek, the jobs group, nicely yesterday despite the company signaling a big round of asset impairments, an after-tax loss and casting doubt on the final dividend for the 2019-20 financial year.
Read MoreThe company has signalled the upcoming changes to contract structure, effective July 1. Concessions will cease and recruiters/corporates on subscriptions will transfer back to minimum dollar commitments.
Read MoreSeek was another company yesterday to withdraw its earnings guidance and postpone the payment of dividends because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read MoreOnline jobs listing provider Seek has slashed its interim dividend after warning about the potential fallout from the coronavirus crisis which is worsening outside of China.
Read MoreFY19 earnings were in line with expectations. First time guidance for FY20 is for revenue growth of 15-18%, ahead of Morgan Stanley’s forecasts.
Read MoreOnline jobs listing and employment services group sprang a major surprise on investors yesterday by revealing plans to rejig its dividend payout policy that could very well see the company reward shareholders with smaller payments in coming years.
Read MoreFor some odd reason shares in online employment services group Seek rose yesterday, despite the company warning of a possible dip in full-year earnings because it was stepping up investment in early-stage ventures.
Read MoreAfter the latest ANZ job advertising series and UBS proprietary data, the broker concludes that FY19 guidance, which indicates a net profit of around $200m, should be secure. This view is held despite the softening macro conditions and the slowing in domestic job growth.
Read MoreCiti expects depth revenue growth to accelerate but not completely offset slower volume growth in the core business. The broker upgrades estimates for earnings per share by 3-5% in FY19-21.
Read MoreIn this week’s video insight Stuart takes a look at Seek’s (ASX:SEK) full year results. In the 2018 year, Seek reported 24.4 per cent revenue growth. This was a strong result driven by an acceleration in revenue growth in the Australasian, Chinese and Asian businesses.
Read MoreSeek is spending more next year and Citi analysts point out management’s updated guidance for FY19 effectively translates into a -13% downgrade for consensus forecasts.
Read MoreWhile Online jobs site Seek told the market yesterday that expects to report full-year earnings and revenue at the top end of its guidance range – despite revealing three significant items totalling $142 million – investors just didn’t believe the positive spin and sent the shares down 9% at one stage.
Read MoreSEEK has launched new pricing for advertising and database products which will yield an average price rise of 4.5%, with rises skewed to premium products. Morgans says the figures suggest the company could outpace in FY19 but refrains from upgrading a week out from the FY18 results.
Read MoreAs Citi analysts point out, ANZ Employment will contribute 55% of group EBITDA in FY18 and has benefited from four years of strong volume growth. The analysts also emphasise there is a cyclical element.
Read MoreThe launch of Google For Jobs is expected in Australia shortly. Morgans believes that ultimately Seek has the power to see off the threat from Google, but initially there may be a drag on short term earnings.
Read MoreAustralia’s employment cycle is a driver of earnings growth, despite the company’s continued investment in Asia, Citi notes.
Read MoreAustralian job classifieds website business Seek has lifted dividend one cent a share to 24 cents a share after reporting perkier interim results yesterday for the first half of 2017-18.
Read MoreThe company has lifted FY18 guidance to 13% growth in operating earnings, primarily because of a better performance in the domestic online business. The company is also encouraged by the results in Asia and in online education services.
Read MoreThose hard to please investors were up to it again yesterday selling off shares in jobs group, Seek, despite an improved earnings guidance upgrade at yesterday’s annual meeting
Read MoreThe company is purchasing a further 30% stake in Online Education Services, taking its stake to 80% from 50%. The transaction is expected to be accretive to cash earnings per share in FY18.
Read MoreSeek is a high quality business that has been a core part of our portfolio for a few years. We like Seek for a number of reasons. These include its dominant market position and its ability to pull the pricing power lever. The company lived up to our expectations when it recently delivered its HY17 results.
Read MoreCredit Suisse expects the company to reiterate its guidance for FY17 net profit of $215-220m. The broker reduces FY18 profit estimates by-4.8% to $226m because of lower Seek Learning forecasts and currency moves.
Read MoreSeek Learning has ceased Vocational Education & Training operations in anticipation of negative regulatory reforms, it was revealed at the company’s AGM. The asset will be written down.
Read MoreOn line jobs and education group, SEEK (SEK) has reaffirmed its full-year profit guidance, but says it expects its struggling education arm will damage those results to the tune of a $24 million blob of red ink.
Read MoreOnline jobs group, SEEK is looking at a 10% boost to earnings this financial year after reporting its strongest domestic full-year revenue growth in five years in the year to June.
Read MoreInvestors didn’t take kindly to the update and news of a move deeper into the Brazil and Asian labour markets yesterday from jobs website group, Seek.
Read MoreZhaopin’s costs more than offset its strong revenue growth in the March quarter, causing earnings to decline 12% yet Morgans believes the strategy of building the dominant jobs portal is paying off.
Read MoreThe stockmarket listing of education business IDP and strong revenue growth across its Australian and international businesses have contributed to an apparent surge in the first-half profit for recruitment group, SEEK (SEK).
Read MoreAs you may already be aware the employment job board provider Seek (ASX: SEK) is held in both The Montgomery Fund and Montgomery [Private] Fund.
Read MoreWhen was the last time you applied for a job on SEEK? The Australian job portal was visited more than 35 million times on average per month in 2015. SEEK’s international websites received even more than 340 million clicks. Having been in the business for 18 years, SEEK has established itself as the domestic market leader for online job employment. As a reward for doing things differently, SEEK Ltd was also named the 14th most innovative growth company by Forbes. However, I’ve been asked many times if SEEK’s stock is currently in buy territory or if there are better opportunities elsewhere. In order to answers this let us dig deeper into the company’s profile:
Read MoreZhaopin revenue in the first quarter grew 18%, slightly ahead of guidance. The broker awaits a full trading update at the AGM.
Read MoreSEEK reported its 2015 financial year results on 19 August. While the result itself was in line with the reduced market forecasts following the trading update in late June, the outlook statement caused a significant reduction in forward estimates.
Read MoreAs the largest online job boards in China, you would expect management of Zhaopin and 51Job to have keen awareness of the Chinese economy. Yet like most commentators on China’s prospects, the view from the top is quite divergent.
Read MoreSEEK Limited (ASX: SEK) this week released a trading update that contained some disappointing news. SEEK’s learning division has not performed as well as hoped in the second half of 2015, and SEEK now expects the second half of 2015 Net Profit After Tax to be broadly in line with the first half of 2015 – some 10 per cent short of what was implied by broker consensus.
Read MoreSeek (SEK) has learned a hard lesson from its online vocational education business as technology issues at a major supplier have caused it to downgrade earnings forecasts for FY15. Seek now expects the second half to be in line with the first, having previously expected moderate growth. Furthermore, the company has also moderated its outlook for FY16, stating it expects to make aggressive re-investment in its brands.
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