StepStone Announces a Solid Start to Q3

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--StepStone (OSE:STP), a leading global provider of total talent solutions, today announced that Q3 is progressing in line with its expectations. Solutions continued to report a steady flow of new and renewal customers in all territories. Meanwhile, StepStone’s online business is exiting the slower holiday months of July and August and entering September, a key indicator for demand over the coming months. Progress has been underpinned by the company’s European leadership position in the growing market for software solutions for talent attraction and development.

Colin Tenwick, CEO of StepStone, commented: “We have been encouraged by our progress over the summer period. We continue to invest in developing market leading capabilities by capitalising on our expertise across Online and Solutions. In addition, our global up-selling strategy is continuing to achieve some notable successes.”

• During the summer months of July and August Solutions contracted with 30 new customers and up-sold to 50 existing customers
• New and renewing customers during Q3 include Group 4 (Belgium), Lidl (Austria), Camden Council (UK), Deutsche Telekom, Deutsche Post and ThyssenKrupp (Germany), Movenpick (Switzerland), McDonald’s (France), and Deloitte (Denmark)
• Increasing demand in emerging markets in Eastern Europe and Asia, has led to StepStone signing contracts with Roca (Russia), Mobile TeleSystems (Ukraine), Japanese Tobacco International, ICBC (China) and Neo Derm (Hong Kong)
• Continued growth in the US, driven by successful up-selling to StepStone’s multinational customer base. Customers secured during the quarter include Schering-Plough, Case New Holland and Gerber
• StepStone became the number one job board in Germany in terms of traffic entering Q3, with the highest number of unique visitors, almost 1.4 million visitors during July (source: Nielsen)
• A significant combined Online / Solutions contract with Aviva, the global insurance group. This will see StepStone provide a branded internal jobs board, developed by its Online business, which will interface with Aviva’s existing implementation of StepStone’s e-recruitment solution
• Growing online business in France, following the acquisition of Les Villages Emploi (LVE), a network of niche job boards.

Tenwick continued: “We are pleased with the progress to date in the third quarter. We continue to acquire new customers, upsell to existing customers and strengthen our position in the growing market for software solutions. We also continue to increase market share in a number of the Online markets in which we operate.

“Customer contracting patterns over the final months of a year have traditionally been a good indicator of expectation for the coming year and we will watch their development closely. At this stage of the quarter the market is moving as expected and the company continues to deliver in line with its plans.”

StepStone will announce its results for Q3 2008 on 23 October.

About StepStone

StepStone was founded in Norway in 1996 and pioneered the development of online recruitment. Today, StepStone is a leading global provider of Total Talent Solutions, ranging from careers websites to on-demand software for e-recruitment and talent management. StepStone’s portfolio of Total Talent Solutions ranges from recruitment through on-boarding, training, career and succession planning, performance management and more. In addition, StepStone is Europe’s number two operator of careers websites (based on ComScore data). Covering 13 European countries, its portfolio of online properties allows recruiters to source candidates quickly and effectively through individually focused campaigns.

Thousands of organisations, including Amey, Aviva, AXA BMW, British Airways, Fiat, Royal Bank of Scotland and Xerox use StepStone's products and services to help them find, recruit, retain and develop qualified staff globally. StepStone is the only European-headquartered vendor to be recognised as a ‘leader’ by Gartner, Inc’s "Magic Quadrant for E-Recruitment Software, 2008” report and has also been awarded the highest rating for Employee Performance Software by Bersin and Associates.

For more information see: www.stepstone.com