UK's Trustpilot shares slump as unchanged outlook disappoints investors
UK's Trustpilot shares slump as unchanged outlook disappoints investors By Atharva Singh
Sept 15 (Reuters) - British online reviews platform Trustpilot's TRST.L shares plummeted as much as 20% on Tuesday after the company left its earnings outlook unchanged, disappointing investors, despite strong AI-led revenues.
Here are details from the company's earnings report:
The company maintained its full-year forecast for high-teens constant-currency revenue growth and adjusted EBITDA margin improvement of two-to-three percentage points.
Adjusted core profit rose 46% to $26.3 million in the six months ended June 30, below a company-compiled estimate of $27 million.
Trustpilot's shares had gained about 60% through Monday's close, suggesting investors had been expecting a guidance upgrade as the company's AI initiatives and strong U.S. growth fueled optimism.
"This shows you the market wants upgrades from Trustpilot, not confirmations," said Angeline Ong, analyst at trading platform IG.
Trustpilot's revenue rose 23% to $151.4 million in the first half, and bookings rose 22%, both slightly ahead of expectations.
The platform reported a statutory net loss of $1.1 million, driven by one-off charges including an Italian antitrust fine and a provision for historical U.S. sales taxes.
J.P. Morgan analysts said the results were "noisier than usual", with a core profit miss, several one-off charges and the absence of a guidance upgrade.
Trustpilot was down 14.2% at 224.2p per share as of 9:30 AM GMT
(Reporting by Atharva Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)