Staffing agency HRNetGroup has reported earnings of $34.6 million, down 3.7% y-o-y. If one-off and other items are excluded, the company’s underlying earnings would have increased by 36.2% y-o-y to $42.6 million.
Revenue in the same period was up 14.2% y-o-y to $314.2 million, with clients from the healthcare, life science segment generating the most revenue.
Clients from the technology sector was another key driver, pushing the proportion of revenue from 13% to 19%, with the growth coming from semiconductor sector hiring in China and Taiwan.
The company plans to pay an interim dividend of 2.13 cents.
Citing its cash balance of $312.7 million, and no bank borrowings, the company believes it is shielded from the impact of rate hikes.
“As a veteran operator of this business for the last 30 years, the group generated strong operating cashflow of $54 million before deploying $20 million of that into working capital for our growing businesses,” the company states.
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“Whilst the macro environment for 2H may be uncertain with inflationary-led fears of a recession, we are inclined to believe that the global “battle for talent” is a longer-term trend that will transcend fluctuations of the market,” says Adeline Sim, the company’s chief corporate officer and executive director.
“Typically we deliver growth above GDP growth rates as we have the benefit of quickly maneuvering to work on pockets of growth opportunities within our sector specializations,” she adds.
HRnetGroup shares closed Aug 11 at 78 cents, unchanged for the day.
