French sales help Norway's Schibsted Q3 beat forecast
04/11/2016 11:28
OSLO, Nov 4 (Reuters) - French online buying and selling of
cars and properties helped Norwegian media group Schibsted
SBSTA.OL beat third-quarter earnings forecasts on Friday,
lifting its shares.
Schibsted's leboncoin.fr, France's most popular site for
buying and selling second-hand goods, reported a 17 percent rise
in operating revenue.
France accounted for more than half of Schibsted's online
classified earnings in the quarter, topping the 24 markets where
Schibsted offers online classified websites.
"Leboncoin.fr is doing very well, it is a solid company. It
continues to grow in real estate and is popular among real
estate brokers," CEO Rolv Erik Ryssdal said during an earnings
presentation.
Schibsted shares were up 6.75 percent at 0956 GMT,
outperforming an Oslo benchmark index .OSEBX down 0.65
percent.
Schibsted shares are down 27 percent over the past 12 months
while the benchmark is down one percent.
Also helping boosting the firm's earnings on Friday was
cost-cutting at its newspaper division, which include
Scandinavian flagship dailies Svenska Dagbladet, Aftonbladet, VG
and Aftenposten, which have for years been hit by a decline in
print advertising.
Overall Schibsted posted a 13 percent rise in core earnings
before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA)
of 756 million crowns ($92.44 million). That topped the 683
million forecast by analysts polled by Reuters. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N1D42MU
Schibsted said it expected online classified revenue in
Spain, its fourth-biggest online classified market, to grow next
year after a slowdown in the quarter.
"In sum, a strong report, on better EBITDA, supportive
comments on Spain and lower investment spend next year,"
analysts at Oslo-based Pareto Securities, who have a Buy rating
on the stock, said in a note to clients.
($1 = 8.1785 Norwegian crowns)
(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche and Ole Petter Skonnord; editing
by Jason Neely)
((gwladys.fouche@tr.com; +47 23 31 65 94; Reuters Messaging:
gwladys.fouche.reuters.com@reuters.net; Twitter handle:
@gfouche))
Keywords: SCHIBSTED RESULTS/