PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are calculated in-house from the last 4 quarters (2025Q3–2026Q2) · Dividend yield is based on ₩700 per share · Prices as of the 2026-10-02 close
Saramin has seen four straight years of declining revenue and operating profit, yet net profit surged in 2025 on a large non-operating item, while revenue and operating profit rebounded again in the second quarter of 2026.
Revenue fell from KRW 148.9bn to KRW 121.2bn and operating profit from KRW 40.6bn to KRW 16.8bn over four consecutive years from 2022 to 2025
Owner net profit jumped to KRW 91.9bn in 2025, but KRW 79.3bn of it came in the fourth quarter alone, indicating heavy reliance on a non-operating item
Second-quarter 2026 revenue of KRW 35.2bn and operating profit of KRW 6.4bn rose both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year, signaling a rebound
The domestic hiring market is shifting toward 'long-tail recruiting,' where overall posting volume rises even as small-scale, low-budget hiring spreads
Outsourcing and recruitment consulting together account for nearly half of revenue, partly buffering reliance on advertising revenue
Saramin is an HR-tech company whose core business is a career platform built on two-way job matching between employers and job seekers.
It connects a large pool of job postings and applicant data through an AI matching algorithm, offering personalized job information to seekers and suitable candidate information to hiring companies.
The business has expanded into lifelong career management services covering everything from first employment to retirement, supporting corporate hiring processes through selection and assessment tools, applicant tracking systems (ATS), and recruitment homepage services.
Alongside this, the company operates a recruitment consulting business serving public institutions and corporations, and an outsourcing business centered on staffing dispatch to help clients secure employment flexibility, diversifying its revenue sources.
The most recently confirmed segment revenue mix shows career platform at about 54%, outsourcing at about 24%, and recruitment consulting at about 22% (based on second-quarter 2026 revenue), meaning non-advertising segments make up nearly half of total revenue.
In terms of competitive landscape, Saramin competes with traditional job portals such as JobKorea and Incruit as well as AI-driven HR-tech challengers such as Wanted Lab, with global platforms like LinkedIn also gaining domestic presence.
Its client base spans large corporations, small and medium-sized enterprises, and public institutions, giving it relatively broad diversification across industries and company sizes.
Recent regulatory filings show a series of amended disclosures related to decisions to acquire equity or securities in other companies, suggesting ongoing moves related to business diversification or equity investment.
| Quarter | Revenue | Operating profit | Op. margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025Q2 | ₩31.5B | ₩5B | 15.8% |
| 2025Q3 | ₩30.8B | ₩5.8B | 18.7% |
| 2025Q4 | ₩30.9B | ₩4.1B | 13.1% |
| 2026Q1 | ₩28.3B | ₩4.3B | 15.1% |
| 2026Q2 | ₩35.2B | ₩6.4B | 18.3% |
| Year | Revenue | Operating profit | Net income (parent) | Op. margin | ROE | Debt-to-equity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | ₩148.9B | ₩40.6B | ₩29.3B | 27.3% | 17.0% | 21.8% |
| 2023 | ₩131.5B | ₩25.3B | ₩18.6B | 19.2% | 10.7% | 17.7% |
| 2024 | ₩128.4B | ₩21.3B | ₩12.3B | 16.6% | 6.9% | 16.5% |
| 2025 | ₩121.2B | ₩16.8B | ₩91.9B | 13.8% | 34.4% | 22.4% |
Consolidated basis (financial statements including subsidiaries) · Final figures from DART filings · Net income attributable to owners of the parent · Data as of 2026-08-21
Saramin's annual revenue declined for four consecutive years, from KRW 148.9bn in 2022 to KRW 131.5bn in 2023, KRW 128.4bn in 2024, and KRW 121.2bn in 2025.
Operating profit also steadily contracted from KRW 40.6bn (a 27.3% operating margin) in 2022 to KRW 25.3bn (19.2%) in 2023, KRW 21.3bn (16.6%) in 2024, and KRW 16.8bn (13.8%) in 2025, reflecting continued margin pressure.
Owner net profit fell from KRW 29.3bn in 2022 to KRW 18.6bn in 2023 and KRW 12.3bn in 2024, before jumping sharply to KRW 91.9bn in 2025; quarterly data shows that fourth-quarter 2025 net profit alone reached KRW 79.3bn, accounting for the bulk of the full-year figure.
Operating profit in that same quarter was only KRW 4.1bn, suggesting the net profit surge stemmed from a large non-operating gain rather than core business activity, though the specific nature of this item could not be clearly confirmed from publicly available sources.
As a result, owner's equity expanded sharply to KRW 267.0bn in 2025 from KRW 179.4bn a year earlier.
Looking at the quarterly trend, operating profit slowed from KRW 5.8bn on KRW 30.8bn of revenue in the third quarter of 2025 to KRW 4.1bn on KRW 30.9bn of revenue in the fourth quarter, and further narrowed in the first quarter of 2026 as revenue dropped to KRW 28.3bn and operating profit to KRW 4.3bn.
However, second-quarter 2026 revenue rose more than 24% quarter-on-quarter to KRW 35.2bn, with operating profit up more than 50% to KRW 6.4bn, also improving from the year-earlier quarter's KRW 31.5bn revenue and KRW 5.0bn operating profit, signaling a rebound.
Owner net profit came in at KRW 5.0bn in the first quarter and KRW 6.8bn in the second quarter of 2026, showing a normalization roughly in line with operating profit once the unusual fourth-quarter 2025 spike is excluded.
In the second half of 2026, Korea's hiring market shows a dual trend where overall posting volume is rising even as the quality and scale of individual hiring shrinks.
A JobKorea survey found that among companies with hiring plans for the second half (78.7%), 78.9% intend to hire ten or fewer people, and 74.3% have hiring budgets below KRW 3 million, reflecting the spread of 'long-tail recruiting.' A Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry survey similarly found entry-level-only postings made up just 2.6% of the total, with companies preferring experienced hires far outnumbering those preferring new graduates, entrenching an experience-centered hiring structure.
A Wanted Lab survey found that companies most want to hire employees with four to seven years of experience (49.7%), showing a clear preference for candidates who can be deployed immediately.
At the same time, the youth employment rate has continued to decline and the number of regular employees has turned negative, pointing to broader structural contraction in the labor market itself.
Within this environment, Saramin forms a leading trio alongside traditional job portals JobKorea and Incruit, while facing intensifying competition from AI-driven HR-tech challengers such as Wanted Lab.
In a period of overall contraction in per-posting rates and advertising budgets, platform operators more reliant on advertising-type revenue could face greater revenue pressure, meaning a business structure with a relatively higher share of outsourcing and consulting revenue could act as a buffering factor.
No specific numerical guidance from the company was confirmed, but recently disclosed (and subsequently amended) decisions to acquire equity or securities in other companies represent moves potentially tied to new business lines or affiliate investment, which could affect the business portfolio once finalized.
The improvement in both revenue and operating profit in the second quarter of 2026, following a slowdown in the first quarter, serves as an important reference point for gauging whether a second-half rebound in annual results will follow.
Korea's hiring market has a seasonal pattern in which large-corporation and public-institution second-half open recruitment concentrates in late August through September, meaning posting volume and advertising revenue recognition during this period could influence third-quarter results.
Industry surveys suggest that while overall posting volume in the second half of 2026 could exceed past levels, a structural shift toward small-scale, low-budget hiring is proceeding simultaneously, meaning the direction of total revenue and per-unit revenue could diverge.
The company appears to be continuing diversification through its outsourcing and recruitment consulting businesses to reduce reliance on advertising-type revenue, and whether this segment grows remains a variable that could determine the overall direction of results.
Whether the large non-operating net profit item observed in 2025 was a one-time occurrence or whether similar items could recur is something that will need to be confirmed through subsequent quarterly disclosures.
Saramin's net profit steadily contracted from 2022 through 2024 before rebounding sharply in 2025 on the back of a large non-operating gain, an unusual pattern.
Because of this, judging the recent profit level from annual figures alone requires distinguishing between profit recovery driven by core operations and profit growth driven by a one-off item.
The company's shares trade at a discount to net asset value, meaning the market has not fully tracked the scale of owner's equity that expanded substantially following the large net profit increase.
On the dividend front, the company is confirmed to have maintained a cash dividend policy, and given the step-down in operating margin over recent years, whether dividends continue at a similar level may depend on the extent of profit recovery from core operations.
With several years of declining revenue and operating profit coexisting with the rebound signal seen in the second quarter of 2026, how the market weighs these two trends could shape differing assessments.
PER, EPS, PBR and BPS are all calculated in-house (the same method as Naver and Toss) · Dividend yield = cash dividend per share from DART filings (supplemented by KRX) ÷ current price · As of 2026-08-21
Second-quarter 2026 revenue of KRW 35.2bn and operating profit of KRW 6.4bn improved markedly from the prior quarter's KRW 28.3bn revenue and KRW 4.3bn operating profit. Compared with the year-earlier quarter's KRW 31.5bn revenue and KRW 5.0bn operating profit, both metrics also rose, confirming a rebound signal.
Whether this trend continues into the third quarter and beyond is a key variable for gauging future earnings direction.
Owner's equity expanded sharply to KRW 267.0bn in 2025 from KRW 179.4bn a year earlier, while the debt ratio remained low at 22.4%. This supports financial flexibility that could be used for future business investment or shareholder returns.
Recent disclosures related to acquiring equity stakes in other companies could also be interpreted as moves leveraging this capital capacity.
Beyond the career platform, outsourcing and recruitment consulting together account for nearly half of revenue, giving the business a structure that could buffer against contraction in job-posting advertising revenue.
The recruitment consulting business serving public institutions and corporations captures a client base with relatively lower budget volatility.
The staffing-dispatch-centered outsourcing business is tied to corporate demand for employment flexibility, which could sustain a certain level of demand even during a hiring market contraction.
Revenue fell from KRW 148.9bn in 2022 to KRW 121.2bn in 2025, while operating profit fell from KRW 40.6bn to KRW 16.8bn over the same period, marking four consecutive years of decline. The operating margin also nearly halved, from 27.3% to 13.8%, showing that profitability pressure has been structurally persistent. Whether the second-quarter 2026 rebound can reverse this multi-year downtrend remains unconfirmed.
Of the KRW 91.9bn in owner net profit in 2025, KRW 79.3bn occurred in the fourth quarter alone, accounting for the bulk of the annual figure, while operating profit in that same quarter was only KRW 4.1bn.
This suggests the net profit surge stemmed from a large non-operating factor rather than improvement in core business, and the specific nature of this item could not be clearly confirmed from public sources.
The fact that net profit in the first and second quarters of 2026 returned to levels similar to operating profit shows this factor did not recur.
A JobKorea survey found that 78.9% of companies with second-half hiring plans intend to hire ten or fewer people and 74.3% plan budgets below KRW 3 million, indicating the spread of 'long-tail recruiting.' This trend could negatively affect per-posting advertising rates or total hiring-related spending even as the number of postings rises.
Platform operators more reliant on advertising-type revenue could be more heavily affected by this structural shift.
Signals of structural contraction in Korea's labor market are emerging, including a continued decline in the youth employment rate and a shift to a decrease in the number of regular employees.
The entrenchment of experience-centered hiring, with entry-level-only postings making up just 2.6% of the total, could also affect the business environment for job platforms. If this trend persists, total hiring-related spending could stagnate or shrink.
Competition is intensifying as traditional rivals such as JobKorea and Incruit, along with AI-driven HR-tech challengers such as Wanted Lab, upgrade their recruitment matching services. The expanding domestic presence of global platforms is also a variable that could affect the competitive landscape over the long term.
Competitors have continued launching new AI-powered recruiting agent services, accelerating the pace of technology-based competition.
If a non-operating gain significantly larger than operating profit, as seen in the fourth quarter of 2025, is reflected in net profit again, it could become difficult to judge the qualitative sustainability of annual results.
If such an item does not recur in future quarters, net profit could revert toward the level of operating profit, whereas a recurrence of similar items could increase earnings volatility. Investors need to examine the gap between net profit and operating profit when interpreting annual and quarterly results.
Check whether the revenue and operating profit rebound seen in the second quarter continues in the (preliminary) third-quarter 2026 earnings release.
Monitor how posting volume and advertising revenue recognition during the second-half peak recruiting season for large corporations and public institutions show up in third-quarter results.
Check whether the finalized details and purpose of the equity/securities acquisition decisions disclosed in July-August become clearer through follow-up filings.
Use subsequent quarterly data to confirm how the 'long-tail recruiting' spread identified in industry surveys from JobKorea and Wanted Lab affects actual advertising revenue metrics.
Saramin experienced structural pressure with four consecutive years of declining revenue and operating profit from 2022 through 2025, but recorded an unusual 2025 result in which net profit surged on a large non-operating gain.
Excluding this gain, which was concentrated in the fourth quarter of 2025, net profit in the first and second quarters of 2026 normalized to levels similar to operating profit, and in particular the second quarter showed improvement in both revenue and operating profit versus both the prior quarter and the year-earlier quarter, signaling a rebound.
In terms of business structure, outsourcing and recruitment consulting together account for nearly half of revenue alongside the career platform, partly buffering reliance on advertising revenue.
However, Korea's hiring market continues to reshape toward a 'long-tail recruiting' structure where overall posting volume rises even as small-scale, low-budget hiring spreads, an environment that could continue to weigh on advertising-type revenue.
Financially, owner's equity expanded substantially in 2025 and the debt ratio remained low, indicating room for financial stability.
Overall, three factors are operating simultaneously: a multi-year decline in results, a recent quarterly rebound signal, and industry structural change, making it necessary to confirm through future quarterly disclosures which trend proves more dominant.
Report written 2026-09-05 · Data as of 2026-09-04
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