The fifth largest staffing company in the world, Japan’s Recruit, said staffing sales grew 10.3% (in U.S. dollars), ending the 2014 fiscal year at $5.66 billion.
Recruit’s international (not including Japan) staffing sales were $2.4 billion, an increase of 12.7% over the year before. The company credited a “moderate expansion trend” in Europe and North America and a favorable exchange rate for the growth.
Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd., which also owns jobs aggregator Indeed.com, released its financial results in Tokyo yesterday. Overall, the conglomerate reported total sales of $10.9 billion.
Indeed came close to doubling its net sales revenue for the 12 months ended March 31, growing from $201.3 million U.S.) to $386.8 million (at the current exchange rate).
Indeed’s revenue puts it in the same league as CareerBuilder, Monster, LinkedIn and Dice, all of which reported significantly larger revenue, but much smaller growth rates. From 2013 to 2014, LinkedIn posted the biggest increase among the top job sites, growing recruitment revenue 47.5%. Indeed’s growth came in at 92.2% (in U.S. dollars).
Recruit attributed Indeed’s growth to the SMB market, noting, “Net sales trended favorably reflecting smooth growth in service use by small and medium-sized clients.”
In the financial report Recruit management said the company’s “long-term vision” is “to become the top provider in the HR Media operations and Staffing operations globally by 2020.” Expansion will be achieved mainly through mergers and acquisitions.
Following its successful October IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Recruit Holdings and its CEO, Masumi Minegishi, detailed a company strategy to focus on the overseas HR services market, and connect it with its “Lifestyle” and “Life Events” operations, which include online sites for real estate, beauty, and wedding services.
The Nikkei Asian Review, quoting Minegishi, said the company’s strategy is to grow overseas, using as much as $850 million (US) of the funds it raised when it went public, and borrowing even more, to acquire companies.
That’s how Recruit first entered the U.S. market. In 2010 it bought the CSI Companies, a Jacksonville, Fl. employment and staffing services firm, then bought Staffmark and Advantage Resourcing International a year later. Last month Recruit bought U.S. specialty staffing firm Attero for $37.8 million.
Recruit also this year bought two Australian staffing firms — Peoplebank and Chandler Macleod – for a combined $290 million.