Bending Spoons S.p.A.

Q2 revenue was $704 million, up 126% year over year. Operating income was $240 million, up 139%, with a 34% margin; adjusted operating income was $381 million, up 150%, with a 54% margin. Diluted EPS was $0.28, up 163%, and adjusted EPS was $0.46, up 167%. Organic revenue growth was 3%. For the first half of 2026, net cash from operating activities was $254 million versus $4 million of capital expenditure. Q2 ended with $4.88 billion of long-term debt, $793 million of cash and cash equivalents, $4.09 billion of net debt, and a 2.4x leverage ratio. Guidance calls for Q3 revenue of $733 million to $745 million and adjusted operating income of $380 million to $400 million; full-year revenue of $2.78 billion to $2.82 billion and adjusted operating income of $1.46 billion to $1.51 billion. Guidance excludes future acquisitions, including Airtable.

Luca Ferrari framed Bending Spoons as a long-term “operating machine” that acquires digital businesses, transforms them deeply, and reinvests cash flow plus leverage into more acquisitions. He said the company is still early in exploring how far it can scale, and identified three main constraints: attractive targets, operational capacity, and access to capital. His tone was confident and expansive, with repeated emphasis that the pipeline is strong, AI is increasing internal capacity, and the company can expand into adjacent areas like hardware-enabled and more enterprise-oriented businesses.

Enrico Martinelli highlighted that profitability expanded alongside the top line, with operating income margin at 34% and adjusted operating income margin at 54%, up 2 and 5 points respectively. He attributed margin expansion to scale economies, operational efficiencies, and redeploying Spooners toward the highest-return activities. On cash flow and balance sheet, he said first-half operating cash flow was $254 million, capex was $4 million, acquisitions used $2.29 billion net of cash received, and principal debt repayments were $204 million; quarter-end long-term debt was $4.88 billion, cash was $793 million, net debt was $4.09 billion, and leverage was 2.4x. He also noted new and post-quarter financing, including EUR 255 million of term loans, a EUR 460 million revolver increase, another EUR 590 million of term loans after quarter end, and $1.10 billion of IPO proceeds.

Analysts focused on Airtable, asking whether it signals a shift toward more enterprise software and whether a faster-growing acquisition changes the M&A philosophy. Management said Airtable is consistent with the company’s approach: it will buy businesses with better growth if the price is right, and enterprise exposure has already been increasing through Brightcove, Vimeo and now Airtable. Questions also covered hardware via Tractive, where management said the goal is to expand the addressable market and learn a new capability, and organic growth/AI, where Luca said AI has not caused noticeable disruption across the portfolio except possibly making Remini customer acquisition harder and more commoditized. On AOL, management said ad revenue was ahead of expectations but that the company is still in early stages of rebuilding content and ad tech, and that some near-term disruption was already included in guidance.