Chinese online recruitment company 51job Inc. has posted its unaudited financial results for the third quarter of 2009 ended September 30, 2009.

Total revenues increased 5.1% over the third quarter of 2008 to CNY219.6 million, exceeding the company's guidance range of CNY198 million to CNY208 million.

Peter Lui, the company's chief financial officer, is also departing the company, effective immediately, due to personal reasons. Kathleen Chien, chief operating officer and former chief financial officer, will assume responsibility for the company's finance and accounting operations as acting chief financial officer until a replacement is found.

Commenting on the results, Rick Yan, president and CEO of 51job Inc., stated: "We saw an improvement in market conditions in the third quarter as recruitment activity and job openings increased compared to the early part of 2009. The uptick in market demand, coupled with our successful efforts this year to realign our cost structure and drive operating efficiency, resulted in significant margin expansion and allowed us to achieve our most profitable quarter ever. With our strong brand, focus on innovation and proven execution capability, we are confident in our leadership position as the premier HR services provider in China."

Print advertising revenues for the third quarter of 2009 decreased 7.2% to CNY77.1 million compared with CNY83.2 million for the same quarter in 2008. The decrease was primarily due to a lower volume of print advertising pages in 51job Weekly resulting from a decline in market demand, which was largely offset by higher average revenue per page.

Online recruitment services revenues for the third quarter of 2009 were CNY90.1 million, representing a 16.0% increase from CNY77.7 million for the same quarter of the prior year. Other human resource related revenues for the third quarter of 2009 increased 8.6% to CNY52.4 million from CNY48.2 million in the same quarter of 2008 principally due to greater customer demand for human resource outsourcing services, which was partially offset by lower revenues from executive search and training services.

Income from operations for the third quarter of 2009 increased 81.6% to CNY40.1 million from CNY22.1 million for the same quarter of the prior year.

Net income for the third quarter of 2009 increased 27.0% to CNY35.9 million from CNY28.3 million for the same quarter in 2008.