Norwegian classifieds business Schibsted Media Group has released its Q4 2016 report announcing a EBITDA ex. Investment phase of NOK 682 million, a growth of 9 percent.
Schibsted owns a number of property portals and classifieds marketplaces including Fotocasa and Avito and operates in over 30 countries worldwide.
The group’s CEO Rolv Erik Ryssdal said the company continues to grow.
“With a good Q4 2016, Schibsted concluded a year with steady progress according to our strategic plan. We have continued to strengthen our position as a global leader in Online classifieds and to build world class digital media houses based on strong ecosystems in Scandinavia”, CEO Rolv Erik Ryssdal says.
“In Online Classifieds, our strongest growth engine Leboncoin.fr has continued to grow rapidly. Leboncoin.fr has during 2016 built a significant revenue base in real estate, and initiated in Q4 monetisation of the attractive recruitment vertical. The results so far are promising. In the relatively mature Scandinavian markets, the positive trends continued, whereas our operations in Spain have during 2016 struggled to maintain the high growth rates from 2015”, Ryssdal says.
“Within our Other Developed markets, Italy, Austria and Ireland, have seen steady high-growth rates during 2016. It is reassuring to conclude that they in total have established themselves with positive EBITDA for the year as a whole”, Rolv Erik Ryssdal says.
- Highlights of Q4 2016
(Figures in brackets refer to corresponding quarter in 2015.) - EBITDA ex. Investment phase of NOK 682 million, a growth of 9 percent.
- Online classifieds pro forma revenue growth of 16 percent, adjusted for currency fluctuations.
- Total Online classifieds EBITDA ex. Investment phase grew 17 percent to NOK 618 million
- Continued positive high growth for Developed phase Online Classifieds
- 23 percent revenue growth and increased margins in France. Monetization of the jobs vertical started in Q4 2016, and progresses as planned
- Sustained growth in Norway
- 9 percent revenue growth in Spain. Good trend in jobs and cars, whereas real estate is sluggish, and display advertising continues to grow slowly
- 22 percent revenue growth and positive EBITDA in Other Developed phase operations, driven by continued good development in Italy, Austria and Ireland
- Online Classifieds Investment phase continues positive trend
- Further revenue growth acceleration to 79 percent
- OLX Brazil progressing well with rapid revenue growth and reduced expenses.
- Reduced EBITDA losses in emerging markets
- Significant investments and rapid growth in UK and Germany for native app Shpock, reaching a total of 35 million app downloads
