Viadeo Opens a New Chapter with ViaNext, Its 2016-2018 Strategic Plan

Regulatory News:

Viadeo (Paris:VIAD) (FR0010325241, VIAD, Euronext Paris), the French professional social network, opens a new chapter with ViaNext, its three-year strategic plan to consolidate its position as a key partner for its clients and members on the French job market.

A new leadership team in place since the beginning of 2016 (Françoise Gri, Chairwoman, Renier Lemmens, CEO, and James Rochette, CFO) drives ViaNext. After diversification into different regions and products the company is now refocused exclusively on France, and meeting the needs of its French customers and members in the rapidly evolving market.

ViaNext capitalizes on Viadeo’s core assets:

• Terrific base of some 11 million members and thousands of business customers in France, connected to each other in countless ways;
• Unparalleled responsive and flexible client-centered service, adapting to specific customer needs, whatever their scale, business or location in France;
• Outstanding innovation ability due to short decision lines and agile execution which enable fast development of new features and products.

ViaNext is about a relentless focus on customer ROI and member engagement. The company will drive through three core pillars:

• ViaJob: the network will relentlessly focus on connecting candidates to opportunities. All features and new developments will focus on this Nr 1 objective.
• ViaYou: recognising that people are so more than homogenised CVs and commoditised skill endorsements, Viadeo will enable candidates to showcase their ‘true’ professional personality. A range of innovative tools including video profiles will support ViaYou;
• ViaBiz: Viadeo continues to expand its value added advertising services business, leveraging Viadeo’s vast ‘declarative’ user profiles. Advertisers can use its high-quality multi-criteria databases to effectively target adverts on- as well as off- Viadeo.

Recognising the vibrant potential of the French HRTech ecosystem, Viadeo is launching ViaLab to support its growth strategy. ViaLab will position Viadeo as one of the anchors in this ecosystem. The company is opening its platform to start-ups and other partners to accelerate the bringing to market of new products and services. Additionally, in a strategic partnership with Le Lab RH it is launching an HRTech incubator. ViaLab will welcome its first startup shortly. Vialab will enable Viadeo to channel relevant new products and services from the whole ecosystem to its customers and members.

Together with product and pricing initiatives that will be announced early next week, the company expects ViaNext to accelerate B2B sales while increasing user engagement.

Other initiatives will be announced early next week.

"Our whole team at Viadeo is very enthusiastic about this new chapter. This marks a return to the fundamentals for our business, which aims simply to create demonstrable value for our clients, recruiters, and our members, cementing our position as an essential partner and channel for employment”, concludes Renier Lemmens, Viadeo’s CEO.

Outlook

The ViaNext strategic plan is expected to deliver benefits quickly, with positive EBITDA next year.

Viadeo, with €5.7 million in cash at 31 March 2016, will continue to drive revenue and reduce costs. Its business is expected to start generating cash in 2017.

Next financial date:
2016 first-half earnings on 8 September 2016

About Viadeo
Created in 2005, Viadeo is France's leading professional social network, with close to 11 million members. Viadeo offers businesses, whatever their sector or location, bespoke support thanks to its teams present nationwide, as well as its range of solutions tailored to their specific needs. Lastly, Viadeo offers all French talents the transparency they deserve, connecting them to all the opportunities available through their network. To learn more, visit corporate.viadeo.com.

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