ONLINE RECRUITER Saongroup, which is owned by Irish businessmen Denis O’Brien and Leslie Buckley, expects its business in China to make a maiden profit in 2012.
This emerged yesterday in the latest accounts for Saongroup Ltd.
The company plans to double to 100 the number of cities in China where it is represented to give it a national presence.
“The investment in our core China businesses to date has proven very successful and overall market conditions in China remain very favourable,” the directors’ report states. “The strong growth in our core China businesses is expected to see it achieve overall profitability in 2012.”
Saongroup began trading in China in 2006. It expanded from eight to 20 cities there in 2010 and will have 50 by the end of this year.
In a statement with the accounts, Saongroup chief executive Ciaran McCooey described China as a market with “enormous potential” for the firm, with 460 million, or 33 per cent of the population, using the internet.
No figures are published by Saongroup for its China division.
However, the accounts show its “developing businesses” recorded a 33 per cent rise in revenue to €8.4 million last year, while the operating loss almost halved to €1.2 million.
Saongroup is also expanding in Central America. It acquired Estascontratado.com in Panama last year and now operates in five markets in the region.
Revenue from “established businesses” – including Ireland where it operates as IrishJobs.ie – rose by 9 per cent to €20.3 million but the operating profit declined to €4.3 million from €5.5 million in 2009. Overall, the group’s pretax profit rose to €2.8 million last year from €2.6 million in 2009.
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