Saongroup posts €2.6m profit in 2009 after big cut in cost base

SAONGROUP, THE global online recruiter owned by Denis O’Brien and Leslie Buckley, returned to the black in 2009 in spite of a 25 per cent fall in revenues.

Accounts provided to The Irish Timesshow that Saongroup Ltd's turnover declined to €24.9 million last year from €33.3 million in 2008.

This was the result of a curtailment of recruitment spending across the world during the recession.

However, a 35 per cent reduction in its cost base allowed the company to post a pretax profit of €2.6 million in 2009. This compared with a loss of €990,092 in the previous 12-month period.

The online recruiter – whose businesses include Irishjobs.ie – reduced its headcount to 929 from 1,346, while its wage bill declined by 26 per cent to €12.1 million.

Directors’ remuneration fell to €434,108 last year from €624,675 in 2008.

Commenting on the results, Saongroup chief executive Ciarán McCooey said: “Most of our markets were down last year. Ireland and the UK were both tough.”

In spite of the tough global economic backdrop, Saongroup expanded its operation in China by adding three cities to its network. It also added more than 100 regional websites in the UK.

It acquired a business in Panama this year. The company now operates in 17 countries.

Mr McCooey said business had rebounded this year. Revenues were expected to grow by over 20 per cent and it would be “more profitable”, most probably with a double-digit rise to its bottom line.

He said the Irish business was trading well, with growth in the IT, finance and sales areas.

“We would do business with a lot of the multinationals here and they are all hiring at the moment. There are positives out there.

“We would expect our business to be up in all of our markets next year, and that includes Ireland. But it’s hard to know what impact the budget will have.”

An illustration of the company’s return to growth is the fact some pay cuts were reversed this year. The company reduced pay levels by 5-10 per cent in 2009, but has since restored 5 per cent of this to staff.

It has also expanded into nine additional cities in China in 2010.

Online recruitment accounted for €22.4 million of its fees in 2009, while recruitment software provided the balance.

Saongroup does not break out revenues by country, but Europe, the Middle East and Africa represented €19 million of turnover, with the rest of the world supplying the balance.