7th Dec 2022 09:43
(Alliance News) - Baltic Classifieds Group PLC on Wednesday said it returned to profit in the first half of its financial year, following revenue growth across all four business lines.
West Sussex, England-based Baltic Classifieds is an operator of online classifieds portals.
Baltic Classifieds reported a pretax profit of EUR13.2 million in the six months that ended October 31, compared to a loss of EUR7.6 million the year before.
Revenue increased 19% to EUR29.8 million from EUR25.0 million the year prior. Baltic Classifieds said the growth follows a rise in the average spend per customer and advertisement, increases in the number of advertisers across the business sectors, except in the Jobs division, and a rise in the number of advertisements and customer-to-customer listings across all sectors.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation grew 16% to EUR22.8 million from EUR19.6 million the year before.
During the half year, net debt was EUR57.4 million, compared to EUR66.4 million the prior year. Baltic Classifieds said EUR7.0 million of its existing debt was voluntarily repaid.
Baltic Classifieds declared an interim dividend of 0.8 cents per share. No interim dividend was declared in the first half of financial 2022.
Looking ahead, Baltic Classifieds said it is maintaining guidance of 15% revenue growth for the second half of the year, for the aggregate of the Auto's, Real Estate and Generalist business units.
Meanwhile, the Jobs & Services businesses is expected to record a slower second half as Baltic Classifieds said the company is seeing some companies take a more cautious approach to their hiring plans. It now forecasts full year growth of 15% in this business, compared to 27% growth in the first half of the year.
"We successfully implemented pricing and package changes across all our business units, customer-to-customer in spring, and business-to-customer in autumn. The excellent results provide ongoing momentum for the remainder of this year and moving us into the next financial year," Chief Executive Justinas Simkus said.
Baltic Classifieds shares were down 2.8% to 140.60 pence on Wednesday morning in London.
By Jaskeet Briah, Alliance News reporter
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