Chinese online recruitment website 51job.com's (JOBS) unaudited financial results for the first quarter of 2007 ended March 31, 2007 show total revenues increased to RMB200.5 million, in line with the company's guidance.

Rick Yan, president and CEO of 51job, said, "We are pleased with our first quarter performance, especially in light of the late Chinese New Year holiday. The volume of advertisements and customer transactions grew significantly in the post- holiday period, which resulted in record pages of 51job Weekly and record traffic to our website in the first quarter."

Print advertising revenues for the first quarter of 2007 increased 6.5% to RMB113.6 million compared with RMB106.7 million for the same quarter in 2006. The increase was primarily due to a greater volume of advertisements in 51job Weekly which was partially offset by lower average revenue per page. The estimated number of print advertising pages generated in the first quarter of 2007 was 3,974 compared with 3,043 pages in the same quarter in 2006. Average revenue per page in the first quarter of 2007 decreased 18.5% over the same quarter in 2006 mainly due to an increase in revenue contribution from lower priced cities.

Online recruitment services revenues for the first quarter of 2007 were RMB61.6 million, representing a 26.9% growth from RMB48.5 million for the same quarter last year. Executive search revenues for the first quarter of 2007 decreased 23.7% to RMB3.9 million from RMB5.1 million for the same quarter last year due to fewer candidate search assignments.

Gross profit for the first quarter of 2007 was RMB104.5 million, representing an increase of 16.0% from RMB90.1 million for the same quarter last year. Gross margin, which is equal to gross profit divided by net revenues, was 55.2% in the first quarter of 2007 compared with 55.3% in the same quarter in 2006.

Operating expenses for the first quarter of 2007 were RMB62.7 million compared with RMB56.1 million for the same quarter last year. Sales and marketing expenses for the first quarter of 2007 increased 18.1% to RMB33.8 million from RMB28.6 million for the same quarter in 2006 principally as a result of higher employee salary and benefit expenses due to the hiring of additional salespersons, greater advertising and promotion expenses, and higher share-based compensation expense. General and administrative expenses for the first quarter of 2007 were RMB28.9 million compared with RMB27.5 million in the first quarter last year, as higher depreciation expenses, employee salaries and share-based compensation expense were partially offset by lower office rental expenses and professional services fees.

Income from operations for the first quarter of 2007 increased 23.0% to RMB41.8 million from RMB34.0 million for the same quarter last year.

Net income for the first quarter of 2007 increased 21.3% to RMB32.2 million from RMB26.5 million for the same quarter in 2006.

In the first quarter of 2007, 51job recognized total share-based compensation expense of RMB7.4 million compared with RMB5.9 million in the first quarter of 2006.

Excluding share-based compensation expense and foreign currency translation loss which had no impact on the company's cash earnings, non-GAAP adjusted income for the first quarter of 2007 was RMB42.3 million, a 24.4% increase from RMB34.0 million for the first quarter of 2006.

For the second quarter of 2007, based on current market and operating conditions, the company's revenue target is in the estimated range of RMB200 to RMB210 million.