SMG Clears Pricing Probe With Swiss Regulator, Secures Three Years of Certainty

Swiss Marketplace Group has reached an amicable agreement with Switzerland’s Price Supervisor, bringing informal investigations into Ricardo and SMG’s real estate platforms to an end. The deal delivers regulatory certainty for the next three years and removes a key question that has been weighing on the company.

In a brief statement, SMG said the agreement would see changes to pricing structures across both verticals, while stressing that it has “no impact on SMG’s previously announced financial targets, growth and profitability forecasts.”

The Price Supervisor had been examining complaints from advertisers about pricing models on large Swiss digital classifieds platforms. According to the regulator, the probes into Ricardo and property portals such as ImmoScout24.ch mark the first time amicable settlements have been reached in the internet platform sector.

In real estate, the focus was on complexity and limited price transparency. The outcome is a newly defined and standardised “Flex Offer” spanning Homegate.ch, ImmoScout24.ch, Acheter-Louer.ch, ImmoStreet.ch, alle-immobilien.ch and home.ch.

Swiss Marketplace Group (SMG) Assets

Under the Flex Offer, customers receive the services of the “Experienced” package at a clearly defined price, a monthly base fee of CHF 44 plus a per-listing fee of CHF 505 for properties for sale and CHF 370 for rental properties, excluding VAT, with no time limit on listings. The Price Supervisor said the model simplifies cost control and can offer “significant savings potential” versus previous pricing.

At the generalist classifieds platform Ricardo, negotiations centred on success fees. The agreement introduces discounts of 10% across several sales formats, including all auctions starting at CHF 1. Certain large customers with annual revenues of at least CHF 100,000 will also qualify for a 10% reduction. The regulator expects these measures to translate into savings for sellers and higher transaction activity.

Covering the news, Goldman Sachs struck a notably upbeat tone, calling the agreement “a strong positive” that materially de-risks the growth and profitability outlook for around 74% of SMG’s 2025E EBITDA. The bank noted that regulatory risk had been a recurring concern among investors.

Notably absent from the announcement was any update on SMG’s automotive vertical, which remains at an early fact-finding stage with the regulator. For now, at least, the spotlight is firmly off SMG’s two biggest profit engines.

SMG floated on SIX Swiss Exchange in September 2025, pricing its IPO at CHF 46 per share. After an early pop, with the stock closing at CHF 49 on its first trading day, the shares slid sharply into mid-November, bottoming at CHF 28.70, before recovering at the end of the year.