Yandex Classifieds Records Almost Doubles YoY Revenue Increase in Q1 Results

The Russian search giant and online classified operator Yandex has released a report on its activities for the first quarter of the financial year. Relevant highlights of the company's operations for the three months ended 31st of March include:

• Classifieds revenues increased by 84% in Q1 2023 compared with Q1 2022
• Classifieds EBITDA losses of ₽117m
• Total Classifieds revenues reach ₽4.4Bn
• Revenue increases driven by higher demand for Yandex Rentals
• Company-wide revenues hit ₽163Bn

Yandex is best known as the operator of Russia's most popular search engine. The company also owns and operates a number of online classifieds assets which it reports under the Yandex.Classifieds segment. The sites include real estate portal Yandex Realty and Yandex Rent as well as autos portal Auto.ru.

In the real estate sector, Yandex Realty competes with Cian (which is dominant in the large markets of Moscow and St Petersburg) and the horizontal player Avito (which is strongest in rural Russia).

In Q1 Yandex's classifieds assets increased year-on-year revenues by 84% despite the ongoing economic disruption caused by the war in Ukraine. The company's report highlighted improved performance in its travel and rental assets.

The growth in revenue was offset by an EBITDA loss of ₽117m for the segment which was attributed to an adverse impact in service revenue in Yandex's auto classifieds as well as continuing long-term investment.