Baltic Classifieds Group Plc (LON:BCG), the leading online classifieds group in the Baltics, has announced full year results for the year ended 30 April 2025
Strategic overview
· 2025 was another year of strong financial and operational performance, underpinned by our solid leadership position1 versus competitors.
· Improvements to our products and services to drive higher engagement, combined with the pricing changes to both our B2C and C2C customers, drove double digit yield2 growth across each of our major businesses.
· We observed broad-based growth in both customer numbers and advertisement volumes.
· We acquired Untu.lt – an automated property valuation tool for sellers and a lead generation platform for agents. This acquisition was done in the end of our financial year and is aimed at enhancing BCG’s data-driven services and increasing transparency in the real estate market.
· The strengthening macroeconomic environment is driving demand in the Baltic online classifieds sectors. Combined with the strength of our platforms, this supports our confidence in the outlook for the business.
Financial highlights
· Revenue grew 15% to €82.8 million (2024: €72.1 million). Core classifieds revenue streams B2C and C2C, which together comprise 90% of total revenue, grew 17% and 13% respectively.
· EBITDA3 grew 17% to €64.4 million (2024: €55.3 million). Our EBITDA margin3 expanded by 1% pt to 78% (2024: 77%). Operating profit grew 40% to €53.5 million (2024: €38.3 million).
· Adjusted basic EPS3 grew 23% to 11.3 € cents (2024: 9.2 € cents) while basic EPS grew 42% to 9.3 € cents (2024: 6.5 € cents).
· Adjusted net income3 grew 21% to €54.4 million (2024: €45.0 million) with adjustments to profitability being the amortisation of acquired intangibles and the corresponding tax impact. Profit for the year grew 40% to €44.8 million (2024: €32.0 million).
· Cash generated from operating activities grew 13% to €66.8 million (2024: €59.0 million). Cash conversion3 maintained at 99% (2024: 99%).
· Voluntarily repaid €25 million of debt, to end the year with a gross loan balance of €25.0 million (2024: €50.0 million). Net debt3 reduced to €3.6 million (2024: €27.5 million), with a year-end Net debt / EBITDA of 0.1x (2024: 0.5x).
· Clear capital allocation framework, with €29.4 million returned to shareholders by way of dividends (€15.9 million) and share buybacks (€13.5 million) (2024: €32.6 million returned to shareholders).
· The Board has proposed a final dividend of 2.6 € cent per share, up 24% from 2.1 € cent per share in 2024. If approved, the total dividends for the year will be 3.8 € cents per share.
| €m (unless stated otherwise) | 2025 | 2024 | Change, % |
| Auto | 31.4 | 27.5 | 14% |
| Real Estate | 22.2 | 18.0 | 23% |
| Jobs & Services | 16.0 | 13.8 | 15% |
| Generalist | 13.2 | 12.6 | 5% |
| Group revenue | 82.8 | 72.1 | 15% |
| Operating cost excluding depreciation and amortisation | (18.4) | (16.8) | 9% |
| EBITDA3 | 64.4 | 55.3 | 17% |
| EBITDA margin3 | 78% | 77% | 1% pt |
| Depreciation and amortisation | (10.9) | (16.9) | (36%) |
| Operating profit | 53.5 | 38.3 | 40% |
| Add back: amortisation of acquired intangibles | 10.1 | 16.2 | (37%) |
| Adjusted Operating profit3 | 63.6 | 54.5 | 17% |
| Profit for the year | 44.8 | 32.0 | 40% |
| Adjusted net income3 | 54.4 | 45.0 | 21% |
| Basic EPS (€ cents) | 9.3 | 6.5 | 42% |
| Adjusted basic EPS3 (€ cents) | 11.3 | 9.2 | 23% |
Operational highlights
· We maintained our strong leadership position1 over our nearest competitor across all of our largest sites, which together account for 90% of group revenue: Autoplius.lt at 6x (6x in 2024), Auto24.ee at 36x (40x in 2024), Aruodas.lt at 27x (18x in 2024), KV.ee plus City24.ee at 13x (16x in 2024), CVBankas.lt4 at 5x (7x in 2024) and Skelbiu.lt at 21x (19x in 2024).
· At the start of the financial year, we implemented C2C pricing and packaging changes across all business units, which combined with rising market prices of the goods and services advertised on our sites, have resulted in increased yields2 in all business lines. Yields growth per listed ad were: 21% in Auto5, 22% in Real Estate and 17% in Generalist6. In Services revenue per active ad grew 14%.
· In September and October 2024, we implemented our annual B2C pricing actions in Auto and Real Estate, accompanied by enhancements in products and packaging. In Jobs7 this commenced in September 2024 and is ongoing over the 12 months period.
· On January 1st 2025, the Estonian Government introduced new vehicle transaction and ownership taxes. November and December 2024 saw a marked increase in transactions as dealers and consumers anticipated the change, however the slowdown post the tax increase has been deeper and longer than expected. Used car transactions have been consistently down >40% year-over-year since implementation. This has had a material impact on both the C2C and B2C revenue streams of Auto24, reducing January to April Group revenue by 3-4%.
· We saw an increase in business customer activity across our platforms this year. Auto dealer number remained stable, while the number of real estate brokers and Jobs customers rose by 4% and 1% accordingly.
· We generally saw good growth in the individual advertising volumes across our business lines, as the inventory available on our websites – measured by the number of C2C active ads – increased by 4% in Auto, 12% in Real Estate, 8% in Services and 3% in Generalists6.
· The changes to our B2C packages and prices led to increased ARPU2 in all verticals: Auto by 15%, Real Estate by 20% and Jobs by 12%.
· Traffic to our sites averaged 57.0 million visits per month, meaning that on average, a resident in the Baltics visited one of our sites 9 times every month.8
· During 2025, we introduced a number of improvements to our products and services, including:
o Auto: Autoplius.lt and Auto24.ee now allow both private and business sellers to attach a car-history report to any listing. The seller purchases the report, adds it to the ad, and every potential buyer can download it free of charge. Sellers receive a list of people who downloaded the report, making it easy to contact interested buyers. From the buyer’s perspective, these reports enhance confidence and transparency, giving the marketplace a distinct competitive advantage.
o Real estate: We acquired Untu.lt, an automated property valuation tool for sellers and a lead generation platform for agents. Untu.lt provides sellers with instant property valuations, helping them set the right prices. If sellers choose to work with an agent, their leads are forwarded to top-rated agents who pay upon successful deals. This acquisition enhances our lead generation capabilities, simplifies the selling process, and offers significant value to agents by reducing the effort required to find clients. It also planned to improve our B2C offering with Untu.lt functionality.
At Aruodas.lt we launched a call register feature for agents. By using virtual phone numbers, agents can easily track interested buyers, follow up on missed calls, and manage their client database in one convenient place. At KV.ee, we introduced a new feature that allows agents to share performance metrics with property owners. Owners can request access to statistics about their property listings, and purchase value-added services for their listings.
o Jobs and Services: At Cvbankas.lt we introduced AI platform which suggests supplementary questions for candidates based on the position description. This helps create smarter job postings and aids in selecting the best candidates for interviews. At Paslaugos.lt and Getapro.lv, we have launched recurring payments, eliminating the need for service providers to manually extend their listings. Both platforms have also introduced AI-based content moderation to reduce the amount of manual work required.
o Generalist: At Skelbiu.lt we launched a paid renewal feature that allows sellers to boost their listings higher in the search results and access buyers’ subscriptions for a fee. At Osta.ee, businesses can now automatically register an account – background checks are fully automated from Estonian Business Register, allowing companies to start using the platform immediately after registration.
· The number of BCG employees during the 2025 grew to 156 FTEs (end of 2024: 140 FTEs). At the end of the year the split of women to men was 49:51.
· In 2025, we achieved a 30% reduction in emissions from our own operations. This included a 37% decrease in Scope 1 emissions, primarily due to the downsizing of our vehicle fleet, and an 11% reduction in market-based Scope 2 emissions, resulting from our transition to a more energy-efficient office space in Tartu.
Justinas Šimkus, Chief Executive Officer of Baltic Classifieds Group, said:
“2025 was another year of strong financial, operational, and strategic execution for BCG, with solid momentum across all of our business segments. We remain in the early stages of our monetisation journey, which is demonstrated by resilience of both our top-line and EBITDA growth. Operating in a favourable macroeconomic environment – anchored within the EU, the euro area, and NATO – positions us well for a sustainable long-term growth. Despite recent economic headwinds, the outlook for future economic growth remains positive, especially for Lithuania, further reinforcing our growth prospects.
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of my colleagues for their outstanding efforts over the past 12 months. The results of our recent employee engagement survey reaffirm our confidence in the strength of our culture – over 95% of employees expressed their pride in being part of BCG and would recommend it as a great place to work. With an engaged and highly experienced team, we remain firmly focused on delivering exceptional products and services to our customers, every day.”
Outlook
· We expect to deliver revenue growth close to last year, with the second half performing more strongly than the first half.
· Real Estate, Jobs and Services, and our Lithuanian Auto business together are expected to lead the growth with Generalists growing at a more moderate pace. The Estonian auto market is showing some gradual recovery, but our Auto business in Estonia is unlikely to see year-on-year growth until the start of calendar 2026.
· In 2026, we expect to maintain our EBITDA margin while continuing to invest in product development.
· The capital allocation policy remains largely unchanged. However, during the coming year, we will become debt free. In the absence of M&A opportunities, we intend to continue to return meaningfully all our excess cash to shareholders in a timely manner, of which at least one third will be through dividends, and a preference for the remainder through share buybacks.
1 Leadership position in number of times against closest competitor based on time on site except for Auto24. Auto24 has no significant vertical competitor; next relevant player is Generalist portal; therefore, relative market share is calculated based on time on site proportion relating to the number of active automotive listings as at the end of the reported period.
2 Yield refers to the average monthly revenue per C2C listing (in Auto, Real Estate and Generalist), per active C2C ad (in Auto, Real Estate, Services) or ARPU in B2C. Revenue per listed ad reflects the total revenue generated from each new listing or extension over its entire active period. In contrast, revenue per active ad represents the average monthly revenue attributable to each active ad on our websites. ARPU is monthly average revenue per user (in Auto – per dealer, in Real Estate – per broker, in Jobs – per client).
3 Alternative performance measure, see note 3 for further details.
4 CVbankas lead against its nearest competitor decreased following the acquisition of CV by CVMarket in March 2024. The 2025 data compares CVbankas with combined CVMarket and CV, the 2024 data compares CVbankas with combined CVMarket and 1 month of CV data.
5 Car listings only (excluding listings of vehicle parts, vehicles other than cars and other categories).
6 Skelbiu.lt only, which is our main Generalist portal. The monthly number of listed ads on Skelbiu.lt represents the monthly average of paid new listings and extensions, while the number of active ads includes both paid and free ads and represents total inventory available on the website.
7 CVbankas.lt.
8 Source: Google Analytics, 2025.
Results presentation details
A presentation for analysts will be held in person at the offices of Bank of America and also via audio webcast and conference call at 9:30 am Thursday, 3 July 2025. Details below:
Address: Bank of America, 2 King Edward Street, 6th floor, London EC1A 1HQ
A simultaneous live webcast will be available at: https://www.investis-live.com/balticclassifieds/6847f003f8132e000ea964e1/jtyjty
Participants joining via telephone:
| United Kingdom (Toll-free) | +44 808 189 0158 |
| United Kingdom | +44 20 3936 2999 |
| United States (Toll-free) | +1 855 979 6654 |
| United States | +1 646 233 4753 |
| Lithuania | +370 521 40 826 |
| All other locations | +44 20 3936 2999 |
| Global Dial-In Numbers |
Access code: 096849
Press *1 to ask a question, *2 to withdraw your question, or *0 for operator assistance.
Accessing the telephone replay
A recording will be available until Thursday, 10 July 2025 10:30 am BST
United Kingdom (Toll-free): +44 808 304 5227
United Kingdom: +44 20 3936 3001
Access Code: 763104
