Adevinta on Target in Q3 as Core Markets Revenue Grows 12%

The online marketplaces operator Adevinta has released its results for the third quarter of the financial year. Relevant highlights from the company's performance for the three months that ended September 30th include:

• Revenue growth of 12% in core European markets.
• Consolidated EBITDA of €132 million, a 5% year-on-year increase.
• Steady revenue growth in Classifieds (13%) with real estate classifieds revenue up 10% year-on-year.

Recently appointed CEO, Antoine Joteau said of Adevinta's Q3 performance:

“Our third quarter results demonstrate progress against our key strategic and financial objectives. I am proud of our team and our contribution to society in the face of a challenging macroeconomic environment."

Adevinta has made no secret of its desire to pare down and focus on its core, profitable European markets. Over the last few years the company has sold off almost all assets outside these core markets and Q3 saw Adevinta divest from the Mexican classifieds platform Vivanuncios and Gumtree in South Africa and Australia having sold off Belarussian horizontal Kufar and Brazilian jobs vertical InfoJobs in Q2.

The portfolio optimization is intended to allow the company to better focus on its goal of investing in transactional services across its European portfolio. While Adevinta's latest missive made reference to the impact of "higher direct costs from transactional services", it did also note that transactional revenues grew 79% year-on-year to €16m with particularly pleasing increases in France and Germany.

The third quarter also saw Adevinta announce structural changes to its organization. The company is looking to its leadership team to add value across the organization in different verticals and has appointed Heads of Real Estate, Mobility, Re-Commerce and Emerging Verticals:

• Paul Heimann continues his duties as the CEO of eBay Kleinanzeigen while becoming the leader of the new Re-Commerce vertical.
• Román Campa, CEO of Adevinta Spain, will combine his existing responsibilities while taking on a new role as Head of Real Estate & Emerging Verticals.
• Ajay Bhatia, CEO of Mobile.de and already a member of the executive leadership team, will take on the new role of Head of the new Mobility vertical.
• Alexandre Collinet, former deputy GM of leboncoin and most recently responsible for the integration of eBay Classifieds Group into Adevinta, will also join Adevinta’s executive team, in the newly created role of Chief Operations Officer (COO).
• Uvashni Raman (CFO) and Nicki Dexter (People, Communications & Workplace) will continue in their roles.
• Gianpaulo Santorsola (European Markets), Zac Candelario (International Markets) and Alex Alexander (Product & Technology) will leave Adevinta by the end of 2022 .
• Julien Jouhault, currently CTO for Leboncoin, joins the executive leadership team as interim CPTO while the search for a permanent CPTO is conducted.

"We are adapting our organisation to make it even more efficient, with laser sharp focus on bringing more value to our users and clients.

Aligning our operating structures with our strategy increases efficiency and speed, as well as our ability to cater to evolving customer needs with tailored and innovative products and services. It also allows us to capture further opportunities within these vertical areas, and enhances our competitiveness and resilience," commented Joteau.

Adevinta is the Euronext-listed classifieds operator that was spun off from the Norwegian media company Schibsted in 2019. As well as several important autos and jobs verticals, the company operates real estate verticals in Spain (Fotocasa and Habitaclia) and France (A Vendre A Louer) as well as important horizontals in France (Leboncoin), Italy (Subito) and Germany (eBay Kleinanzeigen). Adevinta also has notable joint ventures in Ireland (Daft.ie), Brazil (OLX Brazil) and Austria (Willhaben).

Adevinta confirmed its targets of c. 10% revenue growth and underlying EBITDA between €575-600m for the financial year. The company expects double-digit revenue growth in its core market and an improvement in its EBITDA margin in 2023 despite the inflationary macro-environment.