(Yicai Global) -- Boss Zhipin, a Chinese online recruitment platform, forecast higher revenue for the first three months of this year as demand increases and despite the ranks of its fee-paying enterprise customers having shrunk last year.

Revenue may climb 9.8 percent to 11.6 percent to between CNY1.25 billion and CNY1.27 billion (USD181.6 million to UDS184.5million) in the quarter ending March 31 from a year earlier, the Beijing-based firm said in an earnings report released yesterday.

“We have witnessed robust user growth and engagement since the beginning of 2023,” said founder Jonathan Zhao. “With the revival in recruitment demand, we are confident in delivering strong returns for our shareholders in the years to come.”

Boss Zhipin may rebound to high growth this year following the lifting of a near 12-month ban on new user sign-ups last June and the waning economic impact of Covid-19, according to Eastmoney Securities.

Chinese regulators opened a cybersecurity investigation into Boss Zhipin in July 2021 to “prevent national data security risks,” during which the company was not allowed to sign up new users. According to Chinese Human Resources Minister Wang Xiaoping, the country’s jobs market was better than expected in the first two months of 2023 and the employment situation will continue to recover. China lifted its strict Covid-19 controls late last year.

Boss Zhipin’s coverage of blue-collar workers and small and mid-sized firms also gives it an advantage over traditional recruiters, Eastmoney Securities said. As of June 30, white and gold-collar users accounted for 54.5 percent of the platform’s jobseekers, blue-collar workers for 29.3 percent, and college students for 16.2 percent, it said.

Last year, Boss Zhipin’s annual revenue rose 5.9 percent to CNY4.5 billion (USD654 million) from 2021. Net income was CNY107.2 million (USD15.5 million), compared with a net loss of CNY1.1 billion a year ago, the earnings report showed.

Corporate clients that pay for its services fell 10 percent to 3.6 million in the 12 months ended Dec. 31 from the year before, according to the report. 

Fourth-quarter revenue remained flat at CNY1.1 billion. The net loss was CNY184.8 million (USD26.8 million), versus a net profit of CNY233.1 million in 2021, dragged down by an 83 percent surge in marketing costs to CNY682.1 million, mainly because of FIFA World Cup campaigns.

Boss Zhipin’s operator Kanzhun also announced that it has begun a new share repurchase program to buy as much as USD150 million of the company's own stock over the next 12 months. Its shares [NASDAQ: BZ] ended little changed in New York at USD17.85 apiece yesterday.

Editor: Martin Kadiev