Adevinta ASA (ADE) – Adevinta reports a solid start to the year, with strong financial performance in Q1

• Total revenues¹ up 6% at €200m
• EBITDA¹ up 33% yoy to €57m
• Successful delivery of product roadmap
• Further progress ahead of the eBay Classifieds Group acquisition

Oslo, 5 May 2021 - Adevinta ASA (ADE) (“Adevinta” or “the Company”) reported a solid start to 2021 with revenues¹ up 6% compared to the same period last year, or up 7% excluding impacts of disposal, acquisitions and forex, demonstrating further performance improvement despite the challenging environment.

Online classifieds revenues improved 8% (of which 5% is attributable to transactional services) compared to Q1 2020, when the Group saw strong performance until the Covid crisis started.

Display advertising revenues increased 2% year-on-year. Disposals in Global Markets and the Grupo Zap acquisition had a 1-point positive impact on revenue growth, whilst changes in exchange rate contributed negatively with 1.7 points.

Gross operating profit (EBITDA) including JVs increased 33% compared to Q1 2020. Revenue growth in the verticals, a lower level of one-off costs and favorable phasing of marketing expenses offset the ramp-up in personnel costs and transactional services.

Rolv Erik Ryssdal, CEO, commented: “As we continue to navigate through the uncertainty of the Covid pandemic, our focus has remained on keeping our people safe and on supporting our communities, users and customers.

“We had a solid start to 2021, with 7% organic revenue growth despite having to deal with the next wave of the virus and associated lockdown measures in our key markets.

“Revenue from our online classifieds accelerated in the quarter, with an increased contribution from transactional services, primarily in France. Our EBITDA margin, up 5.8 points year-on-year, reflected the performance of the classifieds business and also benefited from lower administrative costs and favorable phasing of expenses, with marketing campaigns being delayed until later in the year.

“We saw further enhancement of our product offering and user experience as well as strong acceleration in the deployment of transactional solutions across our portfolio.

“We also made further progress on the regulatory front ahead of our expected acquisition of eBay Classifieds Group, and we continue to target closing the transaction during the second quarter.

“We remain excited about the long term growth potential of our business, and we are approaching the short term uncertainty with even more confidence after a full year of successful managing through the crisis.”

Q1 2021 Highlights

Solid revenue performance despite challenging environment

• Total revenues¹ up 6% at €200m
• Organic growth² of 7% yoy
• Online classifieds revenues¹ up 8% yoy (of which 5% from transactional services)
• Display advertising revenues¹ up 2% yoy

EBITDA¹ up 33% yoy to €57m

• Top line growth
• Lower administrative costs and one-off items
• Favorable phasing of marketing expenses
• Partially offset by increase in transactional costs due to the ramp-up of the service

Successful delivery of product roadmap

• Additional features and reinforced safety in transactional solutions
• Further improvement to image recognition models available for all integrated marketplaces
• Deployment of bundled products in multi-platform markets
  
  

Further progress ahead of the eBay Classifieds Group acquisition

• Good progress on operational integration planning
• Upfront buyer for Shpock identified - public consultation launched on April 27
• Closing expected in Q2 subject to regulatory approvals
  
  

Report on second-hand effect³

• 19.1 million tonnes of CO2 emissions potentially saved by our users
• Equivalent to yearly emissions of 2.1 million Europeans

Key financial numbers

Alternative performance measures (APM) used in this press release are described and presented in the Definitions and Reconciliations section at the end of the Q1 2021 interim report.

Invitation to the presentation of the Q1 2021 results

You are cordially invited to participate in the presentation of Adevinta ASA’s Q1 2021 results on Wednesday 5 May 2021.

Presentation of the Quarterly Results
Time: 5 May 2021 at 08:30 CEST

The company will conduct the presentation as a live audio webcast and conference call, including a Q&A session. CEO Rolv Erik Ryssdal and CFO Uvashni Raman will present. The whole management team of Adevinta will participate in the Q&A session.

The webcast will be available on www.adevinta.com/ir and on this link: https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/io3jwiq5. Participants are also invited to ask questions using the dial-in numbers below.

Dial-in details:
Norway: +47 23 96 0 264
UK: +44 (0) 207 192 8000
USA: +1 631 510 74 95

Confirmation code: 4375475

A recording of the presentation will be available on our website shortly after the live webcast has ended.

-End-

Media contacts
Mélodie Laroche
Corporate Communications
T: +33 (0) 6 84 30 52 76
melodie.laroche@adevinta.com

Edelman Smithfield
Adevinta@edelman.com

IR contact
Marie de Scobiac
Head of Investor Relations
ir@adevinta.com

Anne-Sophie Jugean
Investor Relations Manager
+33 6 74 19 22 81
ir@adevinta.com


About Adevinta

Adevinta is a global online classifieds specialist, operating digital marketplaces in 11 countries. The company provides technology-based services to connect buyers with sellers and to facilitate transactions, from job offers to real estate, cars, consumer goods and more. Adevinta’s portfolio includes more than 30 digital products and websites, attracting 1.3 billion average monthly visits. Leading brands include top-ranked leboncoin in France, InfoJobs and Milanuncios in Spain, and 50% of fast-growing OLX Brazil. Adevinta spun off from Schibsted ASA and publicly listed in Oslo, Norway in 2019. Adevinta is majority owned by Schibsted ASA and employs 4,700 people committed to supporting users and customers daily. Find out more at Adevinta.com.

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This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act

¹Proportionate basis incl JVs - for definition of EBITDA please see section Definitions and reconciliations in the Q1 2021 interim report
²Growth at constant foreign exchange rate and excluding M&A and disposals
³Based on 7 marketplaces in our portfolio

Attachments

• Q1 2021 Quarterly report
• Q1 2021 Results Presentation
• Q1 2021 Financials and analytical information