Baltic Classifieds Group Sees Revenue Significant Double-Digit Rise in Revenue and Profit

The online classifieds operator Baltic Classifieds Group has released its results for the six months that ended October 31st. Highlights of the first half of the company's 2023 financial year include:

• Revenue of €29.8 million, up 19% year-on-year.
• EBITDA of €22.8 million at a 77% margin, up 16%.
• Real Estate revenues grew 18% to stand at €7.3 million.

Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) owns and operates leading online marketplaces in the Baltic countries. The company is headquartered in Lithuania where it owns and operates the leading real estate vertical Aruodas. It also runs 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.

Commenting on BCG's half-yearly performance, company CEO Justinas Šimkus said:

“During the 1st half of the year our business growth was strong. The financial performance was a record high and grew strongly across all four business units. I am incredibly proud of all BCG employees who have helped to achieve the best performance ever.

I was delighted to see that the number of both business and private customers grew in BCG’s biggest business lines of automotive and real estate. C2C performance is of particular note as it grew the most – 26% year over year. The period has also seen strong audience numbers on all our sites.

We successfully implemented pricing and package changes across all our business units, C2C in Spring, and B2C in Autumn. The excellent results provide ongoing momentum for the remainder of this year and moving us into the next financial year."

One reason for the uptick in BCG's profits was the IPO-related expenses incurred in the comparison period last year which saw the company float on the London Stock Exchange. The company introduced price changes in its C2C products in April which contributed to a much improved bottom line despite a 19% drop in regional property transactions.

BCG also updated its pricing for B2C customers in September and October with the results of this change expected in the second half of FY23.

In terms of operational updates on the period, BCG initiated authentication requirements for all agents. The number of real estate agent clients was up 1%, active ads were up 8% while ARPU in the real estate sector was up 20% on the comparison period.