Vend Marketplaces Asa

Group revenue was NOK 1,696 million, flat year on year, or up 2% in constant currency. Group EBITDA increased 16% to NOK 674 million, with margin expanding to 40%. Operating profit was NOK 448 million versus NOK 330 million a year ago, 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 the quarter with a net cash position of almost NOK 2 billion. 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 was minus NOK 33 million. For 2026, management kept the vertical revenue outlook unchanged, expects Mobility to grow mid to high single digits, and now expects Other HQ revenue to decline by around NOK 350 million. OPEX excluding COGS is now expected to decline by around NOK 150 million in 2026 versus 2025, versus previous guidance of around NOK 100 million.

Christian Printzell Halvorsen framed Vend as a focused pure-play marketplace company now in “full-scale execution,” emphasizing expanded profitability, faster cost management, and strategic progress. He highlighted completion of the FINN migration without disruption, improving Blocket metrics, and broader AI deployment across products and internal workflows. His tone was confident but balanced, noting that parts of Mobility remain challenging near term while the overall business is healthy and the company is creating room to shift resources from migration to product development.

Per Christian Mørland focused on the earnings quality and cost base. He said OPEX excluding COGS declined 10% in the quarter, with other costs down 33%, and noted 1,648 FTEs at quarter-end versus 1,660 in Q1, plus an additional restructuring of around 70 FTEs effective July 1. He also highlighted that Other HQ EBITDA improved to NOK -81 million from NOK -114 million last year, operating cash flow reached NOK 517 million, CapEx was NOK 105 million, and the balance sheet ended with almost NOK 2 billion in net cash. He said the first NOK 2 billion buyback tranche is well underway, with about NOK 1.6 billion repurchased as of July 10, and the tranche should finish in Q3.

Analysts pressed on Swedish Mobility, asking whether the 3% professional ARPA increase reflected pricing, weaker upsell, or competition; management said the price increase was larger than the reported ARPA gain because voluntary spend such as the bump product fell, but they said the competitive position remains strong and Tradera is not taking traffic or customers away. Questions also focused on the gap between H1 OpEx and full-year guidance and on CapEx; management pointed to seasonal phasing, TSA cost comparisons, and flexibility to invest in marketing, while saying CapEx should trend lower as the organization becomes smaller and they are working toward the CMD’s 5% of sales indication. Other notable questions covered Danish dealer volume weakness, where management said the remaining decline is mainly dealer adaptation to the new model, and LLM traffic, where they said referral traffic is still below 0.5% and hardly increasing, in both Jobs and the broader business.