XING AG results for H1/2010 confirm positive growth strategy

• Total revenues rise by 20 percent to €25.86 million
• EBITDA of €3.74 million in Q2 is highest quarterly operative result in the company’s history
• 9.63 million members worldwide with 4.07 million members in German-speaking countries

Hamburg, August 11, 2010 – XING AG’s figures at the end of the first half of 2010 reflect and confirm the positive growth strategy it has developed and implemented. Total revenues for the first six months of the year rose by 20 percent from €21.54 million in H1/2009 to €25.86 million in H1/2010. Revenues from XING’s core business of paying Premium Members grew by 18 percent to €20.59 million. E-Recruiting income for the period rose by 34 percent from €2.23 million to €2.99 million, while Advertising revenues saw a 50 percent increase from €1.10 million to €1.65 million.

Stefan Gross-Selbeck, CEO at XING AG, said that “We were able to present excellent figures for the first half of 2010. From an operative perspective, the second quarter was the most successful in the company’s history with our strategy of tapping into new sources of income already bearing fruit. The increased growth we generated in our new income channels - E-Recruiting and Advertising - played a major part in the positive figures for the first half of 2010 along with our efforts to focus even more on the customer and develop our core features to improve customer benefit. Within the scope of this, we made improvements to our Premium Membership product and, in particular, to our Basic Membership. This had a direct impact on our membership figures with Q2 returning the highest growth levels achieved in the last 15 months.” To quantify this, 460,000 people signed up to XING as new members in Q2 with global membership for H1/2010 rising by 880,000 to 9.63 million.
In XING’s domestic market, i.e. German-speaking countries, the platform had 4.07 million members (an increase of 20 percent), while growth in the Company’s core international markets - Turkey and Spain – accelerated even further. Turkey enjoyed a 64 percent increase in member growth, taking overall figures to 908,000, while Spain reported a 40 percent rise to 1.42 million as of the end of June. During the first half of 2010, 31,000 people chose to upgrade to a Premium Membership, taking overall figures to 718,000 worldwide. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 20 percent, which was in line with revenues and equates to a total of €7.04 million, while XING’s operative result of €3.74 million for Q2 2010 was the highest ever in the company’s history. The 27 percent EBITDA margin for H1/2010 was the same as last year, although Q2 2010 actually produced a five percent increase over Q2 2009, taking the margin up to 28 percent. Profits also improved during the first half of 2010, growing from €2.18 million in H1/2009 to €2.60 million in H1/2010. The free cash flow for this period rose in turn to €11.07 million (compared to €-7.04 million in 2009).

^{1) including other operating income} About XING
XING.com is the social network for business professionals. Millions of members use the platform to do business and promote their career. XING makes networking and professional contact management simple, with made-to-measure networking functions and services. The XING community is highly active with members meeting, exchanging views in more than 40,000 specialist groups, and getting together at networking events to share their contacts, skills and expertise. The XING business network is based on trust -  It boosts members’ career prospects while acting as a recruiting portal for both companies looking to fill vacancies and qualified professionals interested in a new challenge.  XING is the only network in the world to offer full SSL encryption.  The platform is operated by XING AG, a listed company with headquarters in Hamburg and offices in Barcelona and Istanbul. Please visit www.xing.com for more information.