Opera Limited announces third quarter 2018 financial results and initiation of share repurchase program

• Revenue of $44.7 million, with 56.8% year-over-year growth of advertising revenue
• All-time-high operating profit, net income, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income
• Opera News average MAUs reached 121.4 million in the quarter, adding over 20 million MAUs versus the second quarter average
• Opera initiates a share repurchase program of up to 1.5 million ADSs

OSLO, Norway, Nov. 08, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Opera Limited (Nasdaq: OPRA) (“Opera”), one of the world’s leading browser providers and an influential player in the field of integrated AI-driven digital content discovery and recommendation platforms, today announced its unaudited consolidated financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2018.

Third quarter 2018 financial highlights

• Operating revenue reached $44.7 million, a year-over-year increase of 17.4%, or 40.1% when excluding the “technology licensing and other” revenue category.
• Net income was $9.7 million, representing a net margin of 21.8%, compared to a net income of $7.5 million in the third quarter of 2017, or a net margin of 19.8%.
• Adjusted EBITDA¹ was $16.5 million, representing an adjusted EBITDA margin of 36.9%, compared to $14.5 million in the third quarter of 2017, or an adjusted net margin of 38.1%.
• Adjusted net income¹ was $12.5 million, representing an adjusted net margin of 28.0%. Adjusted net income per ADS was $0.12. Adjusted net income was $11.7 million in the third quarter of 2017, or an adjusted net margin of 30.8%.

Third quarter 2017 results included $5.5 million of other income associated with the divestment of certain intellectual property and $6.4 million of licensing revenue associated with a related technology license agreement. As a result, relative to full-year 2017 values, the third quarter of 2017 represented 104% of operating profit and 124% of net income, as well as 42% of adjusted EBITDA and 66% of adjusted net income.  

(1) Please see the separate section “About non-IFRS financial measures” for details on adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income.

Third quarter 2018 user base highlights

• Opera News average Monthly Active Users (“ MAUs”) was 121.4 million (+209.2% year-over-year).
• The dedicated Opera News app, launched in January 2018, reached 17.4 million average MAUs.
• Total smartphone MAUs reached an average 195.4 million (+14.0% year-over-year).
• Total PC MAUs reached an average 58.4 million (+18.3% year-over-year).

“We are excited to report another record quarter for both revenue and profits, as well as all-time highs for both smartphone and PC users,” Mr. Yahui Zhou, Opera’s Chairman and CEO, stated. “We are successfully executing on our strategy to build new and engaging services and offerings on top of our existing assets. We continue to focus our growth efforts on Africa, where our strong technology platform positions us on an attractive trajectory on top of compelling macro trends.”

“Our top priority remains the continued growth of our AI-based content platform, Opera News, which added over 20 million users in the quarter. Further, we recently announced an investment in the fast-growing social music community StarMaker, where Opera also holds an option to acquire a majority ownership in the future. This broadens our content play to include a platform with highly engaged users that are consuming significant amounts of mobile music content. At the same time, we are positioning Opera for additional growth opportunities. Our affiliate, OPay, a platform for mobile money, microcredit and e-commerce, grew daily transaction volumes from zero to over $200,000 within the third quarter, and again nearly tripled that towards $700,000 per day by the end of October. In this context, we have also taken steps towards related retailing opportunities, starting with prepaid airtime and data. Airtime and data are interesting in the payment context because of a near currency-like function in many regions.”

Mr. Lin Song, Opera’s COO, highlighted, “We remain dedicated to lead and attract users by feature-rich products and to stay at the forefront of innovation. During the third quarter, we announced exciting new features, including a cryptocurrency wallet for our mobile and PC browsers. Recently, we also released the innovative Opera Touch browser for iPhones, making our portfolio of applications more complete. Further, distribution through our first mobile OEM partners for the dedicated Opera News app started reaching scale in the quarter, and we leveraged the FIFA World Cup to continue raising market awareness. The result was an increase in our quarterly average smartphone user base by over 13.2 million MAUs (up 7.3% versus prior quarter average), with continued strong adoption of Opera News both among our browser users and for the dedicated app.”

Mr. Frode Jacobsen, Opera’s CFO, said, “We delivered a strong third quarter with record results across all key metrics. We remain focused on our revenue growth opportunity, believing we are still in the early stages of capturing our monetization potential. Our levers include optimizing the ad load and ad unit formats as well as inventory allocation, and also initiating monetization of the dedicated Opera News app, which we expect before the end of the fourth quarter.”

“We further strengthened our balance sheet following our IPO and concurrent private placements (CPPs) in the third quarter, resulting in $167.2 million of net proceeds after transaction costs. We offered 19.2 million shares in the IPO, and our underwriters chose to purchase an additional 0.67 million shares. This totaled 19.87 million new shares, corresponding to 9.93 million ADSs that were sold at $12.0 each. In addition, we sold 10.0 million shares in the CPPs at the same valuation.”

Share repurchase program

Opera today announced that its board of directors has approved a corporate share repurchase program of up to 1.5 million ADSs to be purchased on the open market, commencing on Monday, November 12, 2018.

“Since our IPO, we have observed a decline in our share price, which in our view is not related to the performance of our business nor the prospects for our company”, said Mr. Jacobsen. “As a result, our board of directors has decided to initiate a share repurchase program, underscoring our commitment to delivering returns for our shareholders.”

Investment in StarMaker

On November 5, 2018, Opera announced a $30 million strategic investment in StarMaker, a fast-growing and technology-driven social media company focused on music and entertainment. StarMaker enables users to record and share their own music videos, collaborate with other musicians, connect with other users and follow their idols on the social platform.

Key highlights of StarMaker include:

• 11 million MAUs, with an average daily time spend of 50 minutes.
• 2018 quarterly revenues have increased 110% year-to-date.
• Emerging market footprint similar to Opera, ranking the #1 singing app in India and top-2 across the Middle East and Indonesia.

“Starmaker is on a great trajectory towards becoming a substantial and highly valuable social platform centered around music”, said Mr. Song. “Opera’s cash investment will support the company’s continued investment in growth, and in parallel we see mutually beneficial opportunities for collaboration. Opera invested at a valuation of $125 million, corresponding to an attractive multiple on 2019 revenue expectations, and maintains a combination of flexibility and protection through an option to take a controlling ownership stake paired with guarantees and rights tied to our preferred shares.”

Third quarter 2018 consolidated financial results

All comparisons in the following are relative to the third quarter of 2017 unless otherwise stated.

Operating revenue overall increased 17.4% to $44.7 million

• Search revenue increased 12.3% to $19.1 million, driven by an increase in average revenue per qualified search following improved monetization by our search partners.
• Advertising revenue increased 56.8% to $17.6 million. The substantial lift follows the commencement of direct sales advertising campaigns on our Opera News inventory, as well as the continued increase in the associated user base, and a continuation of our ability to help e-commerce and other partners grow their revenues from which we collect a revenue share.
• Retail revenue was $2.9 million in this first quarter of material activity. Our focus has been to start building scale within the area of prepaid airtime and data, retailed to local consumers and wholesalers. At the current stage and volume, the activity does not produce a profit contribution, but represents an area that may scale substantially at improved margins and form a basis for a wider retail opportunity.
• Technology licensing and other revenue decreased 48.0% to $5.1 million. This revenue category is volatile in nature, as it largely follows the timing of underlying support and licensing agreements, and the third quarter of 2017 represented an extraordinary quarter in terms of such agreements.

Operating expenses totaled $32.8 million, representing 0.0% change year-over-year. Operating expenses represented 73.5% of operating revenue in the third quarter 2018, compared to 86.3% in the third quarter 2017.

• Payouts to publishers and monetization partners were $5.5 million, compared to $0.4 million in the third quarter 2017. This category is growing as the monetization of our user base evolves, with both content and service partnerships supporting the growth, as well as the introduction of retail revenue in the current quarter that does not initially generate a positive margin.
• Personnel expenses were $9.4 million, a 24.7% decline. This consisted of cash-based compensation expense of $8.6 million, a 4.7% decrease, and share-based remuneration expense of $0.8 million, a 77.8% decrease from $3.4 million in the third quarter 2017. The reduction in share-based remuneration was related to a reduction in accrued social security cost following the share price decline in the quarter and a specific country adjustment, and the fact that share-based remuneration expense was elevated in 2017 because it was the first year of a new employee Restricted Share Unit program.
• Depreciation and amortization expenses were $3.1 million, a 38.8% decrease. The decline is largely the result of equipment in use that is fully depreciated.
• Other operating expenses were $14.9 million, a 5.3% increase. The increase was primarily due to audit, legal and other advisory services during our IPO preparations, totaling $1.9 million in the quarter, which were 134.1% higher than the third quarter 2017. The other expenses in the category, including marketing and distribution, hosting, office and rent, software license fees, travel and other, totaled $13.0 million, a decrease of 2.4%.
• Restructuring cost was zero, compared with $0.9 million in the third quarter 2017.

Operating profit reached $11.8 million in the quarter, representing an operating margin of 26.5%, compared to a $10.7 million operating profit in the third quarter 2017, representing a 28.1% margin.

Income tax expense was $1.0 million in the quarter, compared to $1.6 million in the third quarter 2017. Our effective tax rate was 9.1% in the third quarter of 2018, lowered by tax provision adjustments as local filings have been completed.

Net income was $9.7 million in the quarter, compared to $7.5 million in the third quarter of 2017.

Net income per ADS was $0.093 in the quarter, and $0.090 on a diluted basis. Adjusted net income per ADS was $0.119 in the quarter, and $0.115 on a diluted basis. Each ADS represents two shares in Opera Limited.

Adjusted EBITDA was $16.5 million in the third quarter 2018, representing a 36.9% adjusted EBITDA margin. In the third quarter of 2017, adjusted EBITDA was $14.5 million, representing a 38.1% margin. Adjusted EBITDA excludes share-based remuneration, restructuring charges, and expensed IPO related costs of audit, legal and other advisory services.

Adjusted Net Income was $12.5 million in the third quarter 2018, representing a 28.0% adjusted net margin. In the third quarter of 2017, adjusted net income was $11.7 million, representing a 30.8% margin. Adjusted net income excludes share-based remuneration, amortization of intangible assets related to acquisitions (all of which relates to the Opera privatization in 2016), and expensed IPO related costs. Adjusted net income further includes partially offsetting reversals of the tax impacts of the foregoing three adjustments.

Business outlook

We expect fourth quarter 2018 revenue of $48-52 million, with the mid-point representing a 29% year-over-year growth rate. As a result, we are raising our 2018 full-year revenue guidance to a range of $172-176 million (versus $170-175 million in our previous guidance).

Looking beyond the next quarter, we continue to be excited about the growth prospects for the business and comfortably expect to sustain growth rates comparable to the fourth quarter 2018. We benefit from a business model that enables us to carefully manage our performance based on our goals. As such, we plan to continue investing in our business, which we believe will build a foundation for long-term margin expansion.

About non-IFRS financial measures

To supplement our consolidated financial statements, which are prepared and presented in accordance with IFRS, we use adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income, both non-IFRS financial measures, to understand and evaluate our core operating performance. These non-IFRS financial measures, which may differ from similarly titled measures used by other companies, are presented to enhance investors’ overall understanding of our financial performance and should not be considered a substitute for, or superior to, the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with IFRS.

We define adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) excluding income tax expense (benefit), total net financial loss (income), share of net loss (income) of associates and joint ventures, restructuring costs, depreciation and amortization, share-based remuneration and expensed costs related to our recent initial public offering, less other income.

We define adjusted net income as net income excluding share-based remuneration, amortization cost related to acquired intangible assets, and expensed costs related to our recent initial public offering, net of the reversal of tax impacts related to such adjustments.

We believe that adjusted EBITDA and adjusted net income provide useful information to investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results. These non-IFRS financial measures adjust for the impact of items that we do not consider indicative of the operational performance of our business. While we believe that these non-IFRS financial measures are useful in evaluating our business, this information should be considered as supplemental in nature and is not meant as a substitute for the related financial information prepared and presented in accordance with IFRS.

Safe harbor statement

This press release contains statements of a forward-looking nature. These statements, including statements relating to the Company’s future financial and operating results, are made under the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these forward-looking statements by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “believes,” “anticipates,” “intends,” “estimates” and similar statements. Among other things, management’s quotations and the Business outlook section contain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties and are based on current expectations, assumptions, estimates and projections about Opera and the industry. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those relating to its goals and strategies; its expected development and launch, and market acceptance, of its products and services; its expectations regarding demand for and market acceptance of our brand, platforms and services; our expectations regarding growth in our user base and level of engagement; its ability to attract, retain and monetize users; its ability to continue to develop new technologies and/or upgrade our existing technologies and quarterly variations in its operating results caused by factors beyond its control and global macroeconomic conditions and its potential impact in the markets it has businesses. All information provided in this press release is as of the date hereof, and Opera undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent occurring events or circumstances, or changes in its expectations, except as may be required by law. Although Opera believes that the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure you that its expectations will turn out to be correct, and investors are cautioned that actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results. Further information regarding risks and uncertainties faced by Opera is included in Opera’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its registration statement on Form F-1 filed in connection with its initial public offering. 

Conference call

Opera’s management team will host a conference call at 8:00 AM U.S. Eastern Time (2:00 PM Central European Time, 9:00 PM Beijing/Hong Kong time) on Thursday, November 8, 2018.

The dial-in details for the live conference call are:

United States: +1 (877) 506-7703
China: +86 400 682 8609
Hong Kong: +852 3011 4522
Norway: +47 2231 0524
United Kingdom: +44 (0)203 107 0289
International: +1 (786) 815-8450

Confirmation Code: 7632999

The recorded conference call will be available on the Investor Relations section of Opera’s website at https://investor.opera.com.

About Opera

Founded in 1995 in Norway, Opera is one of the world’s leading browser providers and an influential player in the field of integrated AI-driven digital content discovery and recommendation platforms.

Investor Relations Contact:
Allise Furlani
investor-relations@opera.com or 212-331-8433

For media enquiries, please contact: press-team@opera.com

General information

The financial information of Opera Limited (“the Company”) and its subsidiaries (collectively “the Group” or “Opera”), for the three and nine month periods ended September 30, 2018 were approved by the Company’s Board of Directors on November 7, 2018.

Opera Limited, with its office in George Town, Cayman Islands, is a limited liability company duly incorporated and validly existing under the laws of the Cayman Islands.

Opera is one of the world’s leading browser providers and an influential player in the field of integrated AI-driven digital content discovery and recommendation platforms.      

Operating revenue by category

Notes on new related party revenue components:

Personnel expenses by type

Other operating expenses

Non-IFRS financial measures