Vend Marketplaces Asa

Revenue was NOK 1,696 million, flat year on year and up 2% in constant currency. Group EBITDA increased 16% to NOK 674 million, with margin around 40%. Operating profit rose to NOK 448 million from NOK 330 million, and net profit was NOK 401 million. Cash flow from operating activities was NOK 517 million, capex was NOK 105 million, and the company ended Q2 with almost NOK 2 billion in net cash. By segment, Mobility EBITDA was NOK 365 million with a 53% margin, Real Estate EBITDA was NOK 248 million with a 58% margin, Jobs EBITDA was NOK 175 million with a 58% margin, and Recommerce EBITDA improved to minus NOK 33 million. For 2026, Vend expects vertical revenue growth to remain unchanged from Q1: Real Estate, Jobs, and Recommerce in line with medium-term targets, Mobility mid to high single digits; Other HQ revenue is expected to decline by around NOK 350 million; and OPEX ex COGS is now expected to decline by around NOK 150 million year on year.

Christian Printzell Halvorsen framed the quarter as evidence that Vend is moving from being a focused marketplace company into full-scale execution, pointing to stronger profitability, cost discipline, and strategic progress. He emphasized that the platform migration is largely done for consumer-facing marketplaces, that Blocket’s user satisfaction and traffic are improving, and that AI is already creating product and productivity gains across the portfolio. His tone was upbeat but measured, acknowledging that parts of Mobility remain challenged, especially Sweden and Denmark.

Per Christian Mørland focused on the mechanics behind the earnings improvement: OPEX ex COGS fell 10% in the quarter, other costs were down 33% thanks to simplification and TSA exits, and marketing rose 23% as the company kept investing for growth. He highlighted operating cash flow of NOK 517 million, capex of NOK 105 million, and financing outflows of NOK 1.9 billion driven by the NOK 1.4 billion buyback and about NOK 0.5 billion dividend. He also noted that the first NOK 2 billion buyback tranche is around NOK 1.6 billion complete as of July 10, that net cash was almost NOK 2 billion, and that the accelerated reorganization included about 100 FTE reductions during the quarter, with NOK 95 million of related costs booked in Q2.

Analysts pressed on Swedish Mobility, asking about professional ARPA, competition, and weak advertising revenue; management said the 3% ARPA increase was below the underlying price rise because dealer voluntary spend fell, but they see no adverse competitive shift and said Tradera is not taking users away from Blocket. Questions also focused on private listing volumes, OpEx and capex run rates, and marketing intensity; management said Swedish private listings improved from -35% post-transition to -9% in Q2, that H2 OpEx can rise because last year’s comparisons were distorted by TSA phasing and they still want marketing flexibility, and that capex should trend toward the 5% of sales level previously indicated. They also said the VAT case has no new update, LLM traffic is still very low at below 0.5%, and the Norway real estate customer relationship remains very good.