Baltic Classifieds Group Profitable Again in FY22 After Two Tough Years

The Baltic Classifieds Group has announced a return to profitability after two heavily pandemic-affected financial years. The company recently published its report for the 12 months ended April 30th. Highlights of the report include:

• Revenue up 21% year-on-year to €51 million
• Adjusted EBITDA was €39.3 million at a margin of 77%
• Year-end leverage reduced to 1.7x net debt to adjusted EBITDA

Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) is owned by funds managed by the British private equity firm Apax Partners which has historical investments in leading Spanish real estate vertical idealista as well as leading New Zealand horizontal platform TradeMe. BCG  is headquartered in Lithuania where it owns and operates the leading real estate vertical Aruodas as well as the leading players in Estonia (KV.ee and City24.ee) and Latvia (City24.lv). The group also operates the leading autos and jobs portals in the region and a number of adjacent companies.

The 12 months reported on saw BCG go public on the London Stock Exchange and as a result, the company's bottom line took a hit from the €7.4 million outlay. There was also significant expenditure (€16.1 million) on acquisitions during the period as BCG bought out eight companies including Estonian autos vertical Auto24.ee.

Despite the outlay, Group CEO Justinas Šimkus was pleased with the company's financial and operational performance:

“This year has been the busiest and most successful in BCG’s history and a record year in terms of financial performance. I am incredibly proud of all of the employees who have helped to achieve the best performance ever despite living through a 3rd wave of the pandemic and geopolitical tensions."

In his comments to shareholders Šimkus mentioned the price package changes implemented across the group that lead to increased yields across the company's real estate assets (B2C +15%, C2C +22%) as well as autos and jobs:

"We implemented successful pricing and package changes across all of our business units, in C2C at the beginning and the end of the period, and in B2C at the middle of the year. The excellent results achieved this year have provided ongoing momentum moving us into the next financial year."

Having raised some €120 million with its IPO on the London Stock Exchange last year, the company still has plenty of dry powder for acquisitions. Indeed, earlier this month BCG announced an agreement to acquire GetaPro - a services classifieds portal operating in Latvia and Estonia - for €1.6 million in cash.

In terms of outlook, BCG expects 15% revenue growth and the same adjusted EBITDA margins for FY23 despite geopolitical tensions surrounding the region. The company will also be initiating a share buyback program subject to approval at its AGM in the autumn.