Adevinta, the international classifieds offshoot of Norwegian media giant Scibsted, has today released its Q2 results and they paint a picture of a business not nearly as negatively impacted by Covid-19 as many would have expected at the lowest point of the pandemic. Some of the salient points of this morning’s announcement are:
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Revenue was down 16% year on year. With classifieds revenue down 12% and advertising revenues down 32%
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EBITDA margin flat year on year
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Back to positive growth again in French market
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Leverage ratio of 0.6 times net interest-bearing debt over EBITDA
Commenting on the results, Adevinta CEO Rolv Erik Ryssdal said:
“In recent months, Covid-19 has upended the daily lives of citizens and economies across the world. As anticipated, our Q2 performance was impacted negatively. Nonetheless, we have seen strong improvements throughout the quarter in all segments. We are now back to pre-covid levels and above last year’s level in terms of traffic and leads in most markets. We have even reached record high traffic in some countries like France and Austria. Our financial performance has recovered faster than expected, especially in France where we posted positive organic growth in June.”
The company owns, among others, Leboncoin in France, Habitaclia and Fotocasa in Spain, Schpock in Germany, market-leading portal Fincaraíz in Colombia as well as having 50% stakes in both Daft.ie and OLX Brazil. Adevinta also acquired leading French automotive marketing company Argus Group in September of 2019 and is in the process of acquiring Grupo Zap which owns and operates the property portal Vivareal in Brazil.
Apart from the numbers, today’s press release highlights the strong financial position the company is in, with an untapped revolving cash reserve of €400M, as well as the investment the company has made in the research and deployment of technology over the last quarter. Ryssdal also pointed to what the company sees as increasingly favourable consumer behaviour as the digitisation of transactions accelerates and trust becomes even more important:
“Consumer behaviour is changing at an accelerated pace. The demand for more convenience and transparency, as well as the shift toward more sustainable consumption, has amplified the role of trusted online marketplaces. As a leading player in our market and a highly trusted business partner, we have helped our clients to restart their activities. This puts us in an even better position for the years to come.”
Adevinta’s share price has seen a steady recovery after the impact of the global pandemic drove it down to under $7 Dollars from a high over $12 Dollars in January.
Source: Google
