What is the valuation for each of Adevinta’s key portals?
- cedric1829
- Nov 21, 2024
- 9 min read
The information is not surprising but now - almost - official: the largest online classifieds group in Europe, recently acquired by two funds, is reportedly up for sale by asset and by country. Joreca data analysts provides an overview of the strengths and areas for improvement of the main auto, real estate, employment, and generalist assets of the group in France, Germany, Spain, Benelux, Canada, Brazil, Italy, Ireland and Austria.
In November 2023, Blackrock and Permira made headlines by acquiring Adevinta, the largest classifieds group in Europe, for a record amount of $13 billion. Once delisted from the Oslo Stock Exchange, the question arose as to what these two financial players intended to do to maximize their colossal investment. One year later, persistent rumors, now corroborated in specialized or economic press (aimgroup.com, onlinemarketplaces.com, El Economista), suggest that the sale of Adevinta's assets portal per portal is about to begin to maximize the funds’ investments. Among these, nine entities of the group provide the main channels of profitability and revenue. Joreca analysts offer a first synthetic vision of the strengths and potential areas for value improvement of Adevinta's assets in France, Germany, Spain, Benelux, Canada, Brazil, Italy, Ireland and Austria.
Leboncoin: The French Crown Jewel of Adevinta
As the leader in terms of professional advertiser and traffic in the general classifieds, automotive, and real estate sectors, Leboncoin.fr is perhaps a unique example of a generalist site that has successfully transformed in the largest categories leader of the paid classifieds world. This strategy is coupled with the verticalization of its activities. In its generalist sections (consumer goods, clothes..) the site integrates payment and logistics. In the automotive sector, Leboncoin offers vehicle valuation and stock management services (via the acquisition of L’Argus back in 2019). In real estate, the French leader manages the specialized site AvendreAlouer (acquired in 2017) on top of its Leboncoin important traffic. All of this has made Leboncoin.fr the largest contributor in terms of revenue and profitability for the entire Adevinta group.
Rooms for optimizing value
Constrained by profitability standards imposed initially by Schibsted and later by Adevinta, Leboncoin.fr has never had the capacity to invest further to compete with specialists in categories such as clothing (Vinted) or general commerce (Amazon). Similarly, it has not fully completed the vertical integration of its acquisitions in the automotive and real estate world. In that last market, Leboncoin still has some significant pockets of agents to gain or upsell as illustrated in our data.
Leboncoin.fr metrics
KPI | National rank |
|---|---|
Traffic (general goods sector) | 1 |
Active Automotive Dealers | 1 |
Active Real Estate Agent | 1 |
Active Companies listing Job ads | 3 |
Source: Joreca for active auto dealers, Real Estate agents and job posters, SimilarWeb for traffic, both sources for October 2024
Leboncoin.fr real estate potential
Source: Joreca, October 2024
Mobile.de: The Vertical Gem
The second largest contributor in terms of revenue and profitability for the group, the German automotive site is Adevinta's largest vertical asset. It is the undisputed number one in its category in the largest market in Europe, dominating its main competitors in terms of traffic and number of professionals. Additionally, it has already begun to verticalize its approach with services including cash for car purchases from individuals, automotive financing, and leasing. It also has the highest revenue per professional in Western Europe, behind the British site Auto Trader.
Rooms for optimizing value
Compared to Auto Trader, mobile.de still has significant potential to increase its average revenue per dealer. In particular, the ancillary services mentioned earlier still represent only a small part of its sales and even less of its profits. The site retains most of its business linked to subscription-based ad postings which make its revenue very much aligned with the stock available on the market which is good when volumes for sale goes up dramatically like in 2023 but limit the price increase effect when they go down as they are doing since January 2024.
mobile.de metrics
KPI | National rank |
Traffic (autototive sector) | 1 |
Active Automotive Dealers | 1 |
Source: Joreca for active auto dealers, SimilarWeb for traffic, both sources for October 2024
mobile.de percentage of dealers listing evolution over the year
Source: Joreca, October 2024
Kleinanzeigen: The Potential of a Leboncoin
The number one generalist site in Germany, Kleinanzeigen.de boasts an impressive reach with over 110 million visits per month! Broadcasting some of the automotive ads from mobile.de, it is the number three in terms of car professionals in Germany, making Adevinta's position in this market particularly strong adding both dominant horizontal and vertical sites. On paper, Kleinanzeigen has all the makings of a future Leboncoin with significant potential in terms of revenue and EBITDA.
Rooms for optimizing value
This potential, however, Kleinanzeigen still has quite a way to go to realize it. Dependent on mobile.de for its automotive monetization, the site also holds relatively modest positions in real estate or jobs. A gigantic potential that would thus require significant product and commercial investment and a bit of patience to be successfully achieved.
kleinanzeigen.de metrics
KPI | National rank |
Traffic (general goods sector) | 1 |
Active Automotive Dealers | 3 |
Active Real Estate Agent | 4 |
Active Companies listing Job ads | 5 |
Source: Joreca for active auto dealers, Real Estate agents and job posters, SimilarWeb for traffic, both sources for October 2024
kleinanzeigen.de traffic compared to other Adevinta general marketplaces in million visitors per month
Source: SimilarWeb for October 2024
Spain: The Country with a great value addition potential
On paper, Adevinta's activities in Spain are almost a mirror image of what the group has achieved with Leboncoin.fr in France: a leading horizontal site (milanuncios) with specialized sites in automotive (coches.net), real estate (Fotocasa and Habitaclia), and even jobs (infojobs). Leading in general classifieds and automotive, and number two with a significant market share in real estate, Adevinta Spain has strong assets and significant growth potential as its overall revenue and profitability per professional are still quite far from those of Leboncoin.fr or mobile.de.
Rooms for optimizing value
Despite this potential, the group's activities in Spain must face significant local competition with Wallapop in general classifieds, the local giant Idealista in real estate, and Sumaauto and, again, Wallapop, in the automotive sector. Moreover, the complete vertical integration, similar to Leboncoin's approach in its automotive and real estate activities to generate more revenue, is not yet fully achieved. There are thus still some areas to work on to improve the level of EBITDA and revenue to bring it closer to those of its current German and French counterparts.
Adevinta Spain metrics
KPI | National rank |
Traffic (general goods sector) | 1 |
Traffic (automotive sector) | 1 |
Traffic (real estate sector) | 2 |
Traffic (job sector) | 1 |
Active Automotive Dealers | 1 |
Active Real Estate Agent | 2 |
Active Companies listing Job ads | 2 |
Source: Joreca for active auto dealers, Real Estate agents and job posters, SimilarWeb for traffic, both sources for October 2024
Benelux: The Group's Hidden Gem?
While it has long communicated on the quality of its revenue and EBITDA in France and Germany, it should not be forgotten that Adevinta inherited a local gem from its merger with eBay in a significant European market. With Marktplaats and 2deHands respectively in the Netherlands and Belgium, the group owns the two largest local generalist players as well as enviable positions in the automotive sector. Marktplaats is thus number one in terms of traffic and number of clients for used vehicles in the Netherlands, while 2deHands is making more and more noise in Belgium with a growing number two position vis-à-vis the local leader.
Rooms for optimizing value
In comparison to Leboncoin in France or Adevinta Spain, the two sites do not have vertical relays to assist them, particularly in the automotive sector. They are also hindered in the real estate category by the existence of two local quasi-monopoly players, Funda in the Netherlands and Immoweb in Belgium.
Adevinta Benelux metrics
KPI | National rank |
Dutch traffic (general goods sector) | 1 |
Belgian Traffic (general goods sector) | 1 |
Dutch Active Automotive Dealers | 1 |
Belgian Active Automotive Dealers | 2 |
Source: Joreca for active auto dealers, Real Estate agents and job posters, SimilarWeb for traffic, both sources for October 2024
Marktplaats.nl average 2024 private car listings market share
Marktplaats being the only site in Netherlands and Europe to make all its C2C listers pay
Source: Joreca, October 2024
Kijiji: The North American Archipelago
Similar to Marktplaats and 2deHands, Adevinta inherited another potentially undervalued asset from its merger with eBay: Kijij in Canada. Indeed, like its colleagues in Benelux, the Canadian platform is the clear leader in its generalist market, although it has faced much stronger competition from Facebook Marketplace. It has also generally managed to hold its ground, maintaining a very strong position in the automotive market where it is number three with a generalist and specialized site in terms of traffic and number of professionals.
Rooms for optimizing value
While it has already verticalized its auto listings through KijijiAutos, the site still has work to do to provide the same level of additional service to local dealers as, for example, its local competitor Autotrader.ca (recently acquired by Hellman&Frideman held AutoScout24). It also have clear room of market share improvement should its owner invest in gaining more auto dealers in some Key Canadian provinces. Moreover, the opportunities for vertical integration in real estate or employment are much lower than those of sites like Leboncoin, Marktplaats, or 2deHands.
Kijiji.ca metrics
KPI | National rank |
Traffic (general goods sector) | 1 |
Active Automotive Dealers | 3 |
Active Real Estate Agent | 3 |
Source: Joreca for active auto dealers, Real Estate agents and job posters, SimilarWeb for traffic, both sources for October 2024
Kijiji.ca Position in terms of number of active auto dealers in Canada Top 4 provinces
KPI | Provincial rank |
Alberta | 1 |
British Columbia | 3 |
Ontario | 3 |
Quebec | 2 |
Source: Joreca, October 2024
OLX: A Joint Venture in question
A legacy of the merger between Schibsted (former Adevinta main shareholder) and Naspers' activities in Brazil, the OLX group now holds a strong position in the local market. This is especially true in real estate, where after acquiring the former local number one (Vivareal-Zap), OLX is in a very favorable position. In the automotive sector, which is the vertical through which most generalist sites begin their growth and achieve a leading position, the site also has a good market share, although it is still quite far from the specialized local leaders.
Rooms for optimizing value
Despite its enviable local position, the group still suffers from negative profitability, and the joint venture structure between Adevinta and Naspers complicates the unwinding of the agreement. However, the potential is significant as OLX remains a challenger behind the major vertical sites in the automotive sector and could have a strategic role to play. It must also be wary of the current rise of QuintoAndar in the real estate sector, which, having acquired the market's number three player (Imovelweb), is creating much stronger competitive pressure.
Olx.com.br metrics
KPI | National rank |
Traffic (general goods sector) | 1 |
Traffic (real estate sector) | 1 |
Active Automotive Dealers | 3 |
Active Real Estate Agent | 1 |
Source: Joreca for active auto dealers, Real Estate agents and job posters, SimilarWeb for traffic, both sources for October 2024
Olx.com.br metrics
Methodology : comparison of deduplicated total of Vivareal and ZapImoveis related KPIs for Grupo OLX vs deduplicated sum of QuintoAndar and Imovelweb for Grupo QuintoAdar
Source: Joreca for number of agents and SimilarWeb for traffic , October 2024
Italy, Austria, Ireland: Three similar profiles
In Adevinta's last three markets, the group relies on leading generalist classifieds sites with Subito in Italy, Willhaben in Austria, and finally Donedeal/Gumtree in Ireland. These sites all count on a strong automotive component with significant market shares in terms of professionals and a strong first or second place in each market competing with well-established vertical leaders.
Rooms for optimizing value
With the notable exception of Ireland, where Draft.ie dominates the local real estate market, the market shares of Subito and Willhaben in this sector remain modest. It is also important to note that in Ireland and Austria, as in Brazil, the activities are organized as joint ventures, which reduces the potential number of investors in the event of a group breakup. In Italy, Subito is also linked to auto vertical automobile.it portal with still quite significant room of synergies to gain even more market share.
Adevinta Italian, Austrian and Irish sites metrics
KPI | National rank |
Italian Traffic (general goods sector) | 1 |
Austrian Traffic (general goods sector) | 1 |
Irish Traffic (general goods sector) | 1 |
Italian Active Automotive Dealers | 2 |
Austrian Active Automotive Dealers | 1 |
Irish Active Automotive Dealers | 1 |
Italian Active Real Estate Agent | 4 |
Irish Active Real Estate Agent | 1 |
Source: Joreca for active auto dealers, Real Estate agents and job posters, SimilarWeb for traffic, both sources for October 2024
Each asset of Adevinta holds distinct and significant value, making it intriguing to observe how they might be combined or remain separate. It would be interesting to see which kind of potential investors, ranging from funds and stock market players to marketplace managers, would find unique opportunities in each of those assets.
This article was written using Joreca’s data, public information, and expert opinion. Under no circumstances does this article constitute a solicitation, offer, opinion, approval nor recommendation by Joreca, to buy or sell any company share, nor does it provide legal, tax, accounting or investment advice, nor services regarding the profitability or suitability of any security or investment.
