FAST NEWS: Kanzhun surges on strong profit, share repurchase plan

The latest: Kanzhun Ltd. (BZ.US; 2076.HK), operator of the Boss Zhipin recruitment app, reported a net profit of 1.1 billion yuan ($153 million) for 2023, far ahead of its 107 million yuan profit in 2022. Its adjusted net profit for the year, which excludes share-based compensation expenses, rose 170% to 2.16 billion yuan.

Looking up: The company’s pool of average monthly active users surged 47.7% to 42.3 million last year, fueling a 31.9% revenue increase to 5.95 billion yuan, as growth in the job market resumed post-pandemic, including a big increase in blue-collar jobs business.

Take Note: The company’s annual cost of revenues and R&D expenses rose by 40.4% and 30.5% to 1.06 billion yuan and 1.54 billion yuan, respectively, due to higher server and payment processing costs, as well as higher technology investment.

Digging Deeper: Kanzhun operates Boss Zhipin, one of China’s top recruitment platforms, and went public in New York in 2021 and made a second listing in Hong Kong a year later. The company bet on the Qatar World Cup as a major promotional opportunity in 2022, significantly raising its brand awareness to capitalize on China’s post-pandemic rebound. Concurrently with its release of the latest results, Kanzhun also announced a new program to buy back up to $200 million of its shares over 12 months starting March 20.

Market Reaction: Kanzhun’s Hong Kong shares jumped when the market opened on Wednesday and closed up 20.8% at HK$78.50 by the midday break, a 52-week high.

Translation by A. Au

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