JOBST ... Dec10

After having seen successes in the Philippines, Singapore and Indonesia, JobStreet Corp Bhd is now eyeing the Vietnam market.

It has operations in several Southeast Asian countries and is currently the market leader in the Philippines, and the No 2 online job recruitment company in Singapore and Indonesia. It also has a sizeable indirect presence in Taiwan. It has not all been smooth sailing for JobStreet in its overseas forays.

It went into India several years ago but has virtually exited the market. In Taiwan, JobStreet has expanded its presence in 2010. The company had raised its stake in Taiwan-listed 104 Corp to 6.76 million shares, or a 20% stake, via the open market. This translates into a total cost of RM64.39 million for investing in the Taiwanese online recruitment services provider. 104 Corp had a market capitalisation of TW$4.1 billion (RM427.7 million) (mid Dec 2010)..

JobStreet saw its net profit for the third quarter (3Q) ended Sept 30 rise 26.6% to RM9.65 million from RM7.62 million a year ago, mainly due to greater economies of scale and a share of profits in associates as well as a jointly-controlled entity, amounting to RM1.4 million.

However, net profit for the quarter increased at a slower rate compared with the 42.3% surge in profit before tax of RM14.87 million from RM10.45 million a year ago because of the higher tax expenses of a subsidiary and the withholding tax expense on dividends received from 104 Corp.

The higher earnings generated was part of the reason the company changed its dividend policy from one third to 50% of its net profit.

The company paid a total dividend of four sen for the nine-month period ended Sept 30, versus 1.5 sen for the same period a year earlier.

It is worth noting that JobStreet’s balance sheet remains very strong due to its high free-cash-flow business. As at Sept 30, the company had RM56.2 million in cash and another RM100.8 million in short-term and long-term investments.

JobStreet’s net assets per share stood at 48 sen as at Sept 30, which is higher than the 40 sen as at Dec 31, 2009.