Seek profit gains 37%

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Seek profit gains 37%

Online employment agency Seek Ltd has lifted full year profit by 37%, and says it's confident of improving profitability further in the current year.

Seek today reported net profit for the 2008 financial year of $76.3 million, up from $55.5 million in the prior year.

Seek shares rebounded from an early loss to end the day 14 cents higher, or 2.8%, at $5.23.

The company declared a final divident of 9.9 cents, making total dividends for 2008 of 18.6 cents, up from 7.7 cents and 13.7 cents respectively. All dividends are fully franked.

Seek reported revenue in 2008 up 33.1% to $211.488 million and earnings per share up 36% from 19.6 cents in
2007 to 26.6 cents in 2008.

Earnings before income tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) lifted 37% from $80.3 million to $109.8 million.
Seek's joint chief executive officer, Paul Bassat, said the company ''remain(s) confident of growing our profitability in the current financial year''.

This would be driven, he said, by a continued migration of consumers from seeking jobs in print media to online, Seek's growing presence in new markets, improved yield and the continued growth of its Learning business''.

''Our focus on key drivers of growth remains consistent resulting in continued strong financial results,'' Mr Bassat said.
''Growth in the Australian and New Zealand employment business has been driven by ongoing migration from print to online, a growing presence in SME, Healthcare, Education and Government markets, improved yield and the introduction of product extensions through Standout & Premium Ads.''

Mr Bassat said a record 52% of job seekers now preferred to search for a job online, more than double the preference for newspapers.

''More than 77% of job seekers' time is now spent on SEEK, and over the past 12 months we have increased job ad volumes by more than our two closest competitors combined.

Seek's other joint ceo, Andrew Bassat, said had developed strong momentum in education and training domestically.
''With increased sales capability and new content partnerships, SEEK Learning had a strong second half, and with continued leverage of the SEEK brand we expect this momentum to continue,'' Paul Bassat said.

He said Seek sought ''to aggressively pursue our strategy to look for other international opportunities''.

AAP

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