Opera Limited announces second quarter 2021 financial results, revenue growth exceeds expectations and adjusted EBITDA meets expectations

Opera Limited (NASDAQ: OPRA), one of the world’s largest internet consumer brands with hundreds of millions of users worldwide, today announced its unaudited consolidated financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2021.

Second quarter 2021 financial highlights

		Three Months Ended June 30,								Year-over-				Six Months Ended June 30,								Year-over-
[US$ thousands, except for margins and per ADS amounts]		2020				2021 Advertisement				year % change				2020				2021				year % change
Revenue			32,217				60,161				86.7 Advertisement	%			72,411				111,744				54.3	%
Net income (loss)			17,141				44,287				158.4	% Advertisement			(3,722)				44,926				n.m.
Margin			53.2	%			73.6	%							(5.1)	% Advertisement			40.2	%
Adjusted EBITDA (1)			598				(1,015)				n.m.				255				3,561				1296.5	% Advertisement
Margin			1.9	%			(1.7)	%							0.4	%			3.2	%
Adjusted net income (1) Advertisement			19,397				49,144				153.4	%			7,123				53,751				654.6	%
Margin			60.2 Advertisement	%			81.7	%							9.8	%			48.1	%
Diluted net income per ADS, US$			0.13				0.38 Advertisement				187.9	%			(0.03)				0.39				n.m.
Diluted adjusted net income per ADS, US$ (1)			0.16				0.42				162.6	% Advertisement			0.06				0.46				666.7	%

“We’re pleased to report yet another strong quarter and again raise revenue guidance for the year”, said Opera Co-CEO Song Lin. “As people continue to shift their lives online, they want to be able to choose a browser that can be personalized to reflect the way they lead their digital lives. Opera is that browser, and we see a huge opportunity ahead of us as we continue to meet these needs. In addition, we are well underway to seize opportunities both on the content side with News and Gaming and geographic expansion to higher monetizing regions.”

“Every aspect of our business is performing: the innovations and features that are attracting more users and allowing us to push into new geographies and new categories, our ability to monetize our user base, and even the value of our investments” concluded Song Lin. “We’re looking forward to continued growth in 2021.”

Second Quarter and Recent Business Highlights

• Core search and advertising revenue growth rates accelerated to 94% year-over-year in Q2 driven by strong browser and news performance
• Opera’s monthly active user base was relatively stable compared to the second quarter of 2020; however, within the total our user base saw a directional shift towards higher ARPU markets. We directed our focus towards growing North America which saw 52% user growth, and Europe with 15% user growth, and less focus on Asia as we continue to target higher monetizing users
• The Company reached 78 million average monthly PC users in the second quarter, up 4% year-over-year
• The Opera GX browser user base now has 10 million users on desktop and already exceeds one million on mobile
• Opera announced over 1 billion cumulative downloads on the Google Play Store
• Opera News revenue grew 442% year-over-year and 49% sequentially versus the first quarter of 2021; Opera Football, a vertically focused news site which launched in June, and already has over 10 million users
• Continued scaling our other strategic growth initiatives; we launched our cashback offering under the Dify brand in Spain which led to a four-fold increase in facilitated e-commerce transactions in our browsers from April to June in that market, and we continued to build out the Opera gaming platform/community
• Hype, our in-browser messaging app for Opera Mini, launched in three more African markets during the quarter and already has over 1 million sign-ups
• Opera monetized 29% of its stake in OPay for total consideration of $50 million

Business Outlook

“Building off the strong start to the year, we have even greater confidence and expectations for the second half of 2021” said Opera CFO, Frode Jacobsen. “The investments we have made in our ‘Browser+’ strategy are becoming material and apparent in our financial results, on top of healthy core browser revenue growth.”

For the full year of 2021, Opera now expects revenue of $242 million to $247 million, representing a 48% year-over-year increase versus 2020 at the midpoint. Following the successful execution of our growth strategy to date, we have additional confidence in continuing our growth investments and expect adjusted EBITDA to come in between $10 and $20 million for the year.

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For the third quarter of 2021, Opera expects revenue of $63 million to $65 million, representing 51% year-over-year growth at the midpoint. This is being driven by further acceleration in our core businesses and the continued growth of Opera News. Adjusted EBITDA will be around breakeven as Opera continues to invest significantly in the growth of its businesses.

Other updates

Nanobank continued its rebound with revenue of $57.3 million, a 14% sequential increase versus the prior quarter. Nanobank expects sequential growth in the second half of the year to continue at this level or higher, however the company has been required to remain cautious in light of the continued implications of COVID in its markets, in particular as it relates to India. Adjusted EBITDA was $1.6 million following a re-assessment of its credit loss provisions in light of current market conditions.

During the quarter, we monetized 29% of our stake in OPay for a total consideration of $50 million, representing a gain of $31.1 million compared to the previous carrying amount on our balance sheet. In addition, we recognized a financial gain related to the associated step-up in the fair value of our retained preference shares in OPay.

Second quarter 2021 consolidated financial results

All comparisons in this section are relative to the second quarter of 2020 unless otherwise stated. Income and expenses from our former emerging markets fintech and retail operations are not included in comparisons as they are classified as discontinued operations.

Revenue increased 87% to $60.2 million in the quarter.

• Search revenue increased by 69% to $29.8 million driven by both PC and mobile browser monetization growth.
• Advertising revenue increased by 128% to $28.9 million, predominantly fueled by monetization growth within Opera News and our mobile browsers.
• Technology licensing and other revenue was $1.4 million, a $0.5 million decline compared to the same period of the previous year as we have been phasing out low-margin professional services for an investee.

Operating expenses increased by 77% to $68.2 million.

• Combined technology and platform fees, content cost and cost of inventory sold was $2.7 million, a 24% increase following the scaling of associated revenues.
• Personnel expenses, including share-based remuneration, were $18.5 million, a 29% increase as we are investing in new products and services. This expense consists of cash-based compensation expense of $16.5 million, and $1.9 million of share-based remuneration expense.
• Marketing and distribution expenses were $35.3 million, an increase of 254% or $25.3 million versus Q2 2020, and 51% or $11.9 million versus Q1 2021. We are investing in accelerating the growth of our business, with Opera News in developed markets representing the biggest driver of the increases in both comparisons.
• Depreciation and amortization expenses were $5.1 million, a 6% increase.
• Other operating expenses were $6.4 million, a 6% decrease.

Operating loss was $7.9 million compared to an operating loss of $0.3 million in the second quarter of 2020.

Other items in the quarter include a $57.5 million increase in the fair value of our preferred shares in OPay, recorded as other income from long-term investments. This was partially offset by our share of loss from associates and joint ventures of $2.3 million. Further, we recorded a net finance loss of $4.9 million related to marketable securities held as part of our treasury function and net foreign exchange loss, as compared to a $9.2 million gain in the second quarter of 2020.

Income tax benefit was $2.0 million in the quarter.

Net income was $44.3 million. This compared to net income of $17.1 million in the second quarter of 2020.

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Net income per ADS was $0.38 in the quarter. Each ADS represents two shares in Opera Limited. In the quarter, the average number of shares outstanding was 230.3 million, corresponding to 115.1 million ADSs.

Adjusted EBITDA was negative $1.0 million and in line with the previous guidance, representing a negative 2% adjusted EBITDA margin, compared to adjusted EBITDA of $0.6 million in the second quarter of 2020. Adjusted EBITDA excludes share-based remuneration and non-recurring expenses, as well as other income and discontinued operations.

Adjusted net income was $49.1 million in the quarter, compared to adjusted net income of $19.4 million in the second quarter of 2020. Adjusted net income excludes share-based remuneration, non-recurring expenses, discontinued operations and amortization of intangible assets related to acquisitions.