On August 29th, BOSS Zhipin announced the approval of a new round of share buyback plan, expecting to repurchase up to $0.15 billion worth of shares within the next 12 months. Previously, in March 2024, the company's board of directors had approved a $0.2 billion share buyback plan. This means that the company's buyback plan will expand to $0.35 billion.
Share buybacks are typically seen as a way for companies to convey confidence in the market when they believe their current stock price is undervalued. On the day of the buyback announcement, BOSS Zhipin's US stocks surged nearly 13% during regular trading hours.
In terms of performance, BOSS Zhipin's second-quarter performance showed steady progress, and the management also expressed confidence in the future. In the second quarter, the company's operational efficiency continued to improve, achieving a net income of 0.417 billion yuan under non-general accounting standards, a year-on-year increase of 34.8%. During the same period, revenue reached 1.917 billion yuan, up 28.8% year-on-year. BOSS Zhipin CEO Zhao Peng stated during a conference call: Ensuring annual profits will help everyone maintain confidence in the company.
The growth in net income is mainly due to the scale effect and improved operational efficiency brought about by revenue growth. In the second quarter, despite challenges from the market environment, BOSS Zhipin's active job seekers still achieved year-on-year growth, and the number of paying enterprise clients reached a historical high, growing to 5.9 million. In addition, the revenue structure was further optimized. In the second quarter, BOSS Zhipin's 'Hailuo Preferred' revenue exceeded 40 million yuan, achieving rapid growth compared to the first quarter.
'Hailuo Preferred' is a recruitment service that BOSS Zhipin primarily provides to the blue-collar manufacturing industry. Participants in 'Hailuo Preferred' commit to treat job seekers honestly, and truthfully post job content and salaries. Previously, the blue-collar manufacturing industry has been plagued by lack of transparency and the problem of bad money driving out good money. The breakthrough in 'Hailuo Preferred' revenue to some extent indicates that BOSS Zhipin is on the right track, making a beneficial exploration into entering the blue-collar manufacturing recruitment sector as an internet plus-related recruitment platform.
Public information shows that the scale of China's blue-collar group has reached 0.4 billion. Whether in the blue-collar manufacturing industry or the blue-collar service industry, there is a vast market space. In the second quarter, BOSS Zhipin continued to penetrate into second-tier and below areas and the blue-collar population. User growth has become the core engine, opening up more room for upward growth for the company.
After the release of BOSS Zhipin's Q2 performance, several domestic brokerages issued bullish research reports on the future growth of BOSS Zhipin. Analysts from htsc believe that the company still maintains a leading position in the industry in terms of competitiveness and strong ability to realize income and profits. A research report from China Merchants pointed out that in the long term, user expansion remains an important driver of BOSS Zhipin's income growth. Combined with the company's efforts to reduce costs and increase efficiency, performance is expected to accelerate further release, recommending investors to pay close attention.