Double Digit Profit and Revenue Growth for Adevinta in Q1 As Takeover Deal Goes Through

The international online classifieds operator Adevinta has released a report on its activities for the first quarter of 2024. Highlights from what will be the company's last missive to the market as a public company include:

• Total revenue of €480 million, up 10% year-on-year.
• EBITDA of €165 million, up 14% year-on-year at an EBITDA margin of 34.4%.
• 12% revenue growth across five core European markets.

As it prepares to be taken private by a consortium led by Permira and Blackstone, the Oslo-headquartered online marketplace operator saw solid growth from January through March as it follows through on its 'growing at scale' plan.

Commenting on the results, Antoine Jouteau, CEO Adevinta:

“Adevinta’s strong start to the year has been underpinned by solid operational and financial performance. We have continued the successful execution of our Growing at Scale strategy while our sector expertise, product innovation and robust financials have established a firm foundation for the year ahead.

Overall, Adevinta remains a high-performing business with a strong financial foundation and profitable business model. Our strategic growth pillars - Mobility, Real Estate and transactional businesses – continue to be the key drivers of this successful growth story. I would like to thank our employees whose ability, ambition and commitment continue to position Adevinta as a leading online classifieds platform and champion for sustainable commerce.”

Adevinta's portfolio includes real estate verticals in Spain (Fotocasa and Habitaclia), Brazil (VivaReal, and Zap joint venture), France (A Vendre A Louer) and Ireland (Daft.ie joint venture) as well as many leading horizontal classifieds platforms (Leboncoin in France and Kleinanzeigen in Germany) and car and job verticals mainly in Europe.

There has been talk in the industry of Adevinta's online classifieds empire being broken up on completion of the takeover deal.

There will likely be a plethora of interested buyers for some of the company's crown jewel assets such as those in its perennially successful French market which saw 12% revenue growth and 15% revenue growth in the quarter. The company reported 22% growth in its autos assets, 7% in real estate and 16% growth in classifieds overall.

Update: Adevinta released a press release this afternoon (29th of May) to confirm that the voluntary offer for shares in the company made by the private equity consortium (under the umbrella company Aurelia Bidco Norway AS) has been completed.

The company confirmed that as of today Aurelia Bidco owns 94.79% of the share capital and 94.53% of its voting rights and that "as soon as reasonably possible" the consortium would effect a compulsory acquisition of remaining shares.

Commenting on the news, Adevinta Chairwoman Orla Noonan said:

"In the past six years, Adevinta has developed significantly as a business, consolidating its position as one of the leading online classifieds platforms and a European champion for sustainable commerce.” 

“During this time, Adevinta was spun out of Schibsted, listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange and completed the transformational acquisition of the eBay Classifieds business. Now, under new ownership, it will become a private company.” 

“Today, the other independent directors, Fernando Abril-Martorell Hernández, Julia Jäkel, Sophie Javary and Michael Nilles will also step down from the board.”