Schibsted Revenues Down Slightly YoY in Q1 Filings

Schibsted, the Norwegian conglomerate that operates marketplaces in the Nordics, Europe and Latin America, has released its Q1 2024 numbers as it waits for a significant cash injection once it sells its stake as part of the Adevinta takeover.

Highlights include:

• Group revenues were steady, decreasing 1% year-on-year to NOK 3.79 billion ($344 million)
• Q1 EBITDA of NOK 454 million ($41 million) at a margin of 12%
• Nordics Classifieds revenues rise by 6% YoY, to NOK 1.37 million ($125.3k)
• Average Revenue Per Ad (ARPA) for real estate was the fastest growing vertical, up 17% YoY to NOK 2929 ($266)
• Schibsted's stake in Adevinta is worth NOK 40 billion ($3.6 billion),

Re: its real estate segment performance, Schibsted commented:

"The Real Estate vertical is primarily driven by Norway which stands for almost 80 per cent of the revenues in the quarter. The vertical experienced strong growth in classifieds revenues in the quarter, driven by an exceptionally strong ARPA development in Norway, while volume development showed a softer trend."

Vend Real Estate / Horizontal Classifieds Assets

Kristin Skogen Lund, CEO at Schibsted, said:

"Operationally, our financial performance in Q1 was negatively affected by the continued volatile macroeconomic environment and the structural changes in the company. Underlying Group revenues decreased by 1 per cent to NOK 3,794 million compared to the same period last year. EBITDA ended at NOK 454 million, up 7 per cent due to News Media.

"Nordic Marketplaces saw a solid, double-digit increase in average revenue per ad, ARPA, across most verticals, and transactional revenues continued to grow well. This resulted in an underlying growth of 9 per cent in Classifieds revenues despite the volatile macroeconomic environment."

"While we are happy with and proud of our achievements over the last few months related to the aforementioned transformational transactions, we acknowledge that the cost development needs to be addressed in Nordic Marketplaces, and Schibsted Marketplaces as the remaining company."

Schibsted is a major stakeholder in the under-offer Adevinta, with Lund commenting:

"We were pleased to see that the Adevinta offer, which values our current stake at approximately NOK 40 billion, received all required regulatory approvals which leads to an expected settlement of the transaction on 29 May 2024."

Schibsted announced its intention to sell its news media business in December 2023, with a deal set to be concluded in the first half of 2024.