XING AG Increases Revenue by 28 Percent

Course set for further growth

* 25 percent membership increase to 8.75 million worldwide
* 29 percent more members on the domestic German-speaking market
* 25 percent rise in number of paying Premium customers
* Revenue growth of 11 percent in the new "Jobs" section bucks negative market trend

Hamburg, March 30, 2010 - XING AG increased its revenues by 28 percent from €35.3 million in 2008 to €45.1 million in FY 2009. The key growth driver here was an increase in paying Premium customers by 25 percent to 687,000 (550,000 in 2008). Overall, in 2009 XING AG had 8.75 million members worldwide in 2009 (7.00 million in 2008), which equates to an increase of 25 percent on the previous year. In German-speaking countries, member growth accounted for 29 percent of total membership (3.74 million compared to 2.89 million in 2008). On its core international markets, XING AG continued to accelerate membership growth levels. In Turkey, for example, the company acquired 265,000 new members. This corresponds to an increase of 58%, taking the total number to 724,000. In Spain, XING AG succeeded in gaining 239,000 new members - an increase of 25 percent that pushed the total membership number up to 1.19 million.

On top of this, XING also invested heavily in new business areas during FY 2009. These investments also paid off with the e-recruitment segment (job ad posting on www.xing.com) achieving revenue increases of 11 percent, while the market as a whole posted a decline of about 30 percent. After adjustment for one-time revenues in 2008 in the amount of €1.39 million, Advertising returned a 46 percent increase from €1.62 million in 2008 to €2.37 million in 2009.

XING CEO Dr. Stefan Gross-Selbeck commented that "XING AG’s business has developed very strongly again over the last year. In the past we mainly focused on the end-customer business, but now we have expanded operations in the B2B sector which in turn represent a number of completely different challenges for us. We are sure that the investments we have made in these areas will prove to be vital sources of income for XING in the future." This will only really come to the fore once the economy-based job market picks up again.

The company's EBITDA in 2009 was €11.8 million, which was similar to last year's figure of €12.2 million,and equates to an EBITDA margin of 26 percent. In FY 2009, XING AG made considerable investments in recruiting qualified staff, in particular for the new business areas, which led to increased personnel costs amounting to €15.7 million (€8.8 million in 2008). The negative net result of -€1.7 million is largely attributable to one-time impairment losses in the amount of €5.4 million. These losses were due in particular to write-downs for equity participations and acquisitions made by the Executive Board based on the current market environment and XING AG’s strategic alignment in Q4. Following adjustment for one-time effects, the Company produced an overall net result of €3.9 million. CEO Dr. Stefan Gross-Selbeck added that "In 2009, XING set a course for further growth."

About XING
XING is the leading European online business network. Over 8 million members use XING in 16 languages to do business, find jobs, and pursue a career. XING helps members get connected and stay in touch with their contacts with customized networking solutions and services. Members are active on XING because of the real value generated, with XING Jobs, over 34,000 specialized groups, and over 150,000 live networking events a year, organized by members for members. Since the 2006 IPO, the XING AG share has established a solid position for itself on the stock market, the first and to date only Web 2.0 company to do so. XING AG is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, and has local offices based in its key strategic growth markets.
XING. Powering Relationships.

Marc-Sven Kopka

Vice President Corporate Communications
XING AG
Gaensemarkt 43
20354 Hamburg
Germany

+49 40-419131-763
press@xing.com
https://www.xing.com/profile/MarcSven_Kopka

This release was published on openPR.