In 2024, Wirtualna Polska Holding S.A. posted sales revenues exceeding PLN 1,568 million. This represents an increase of 9% compared to 2023. Adjusted EBITDA increased by nearly 7% to over PLN 468 million. The Group consistently invests in the development of technology and tools supported by artificial intelligence, which allows it to continuously improve the efficiency of its digital products and services.
The year 2024 was another period of exceptionally strong revenue growth in the tourism segment. For the year as a whole, this growth exceeded 20%, and reached as much as 24% in Q4, when sales are usually lower. It was in the area of foreign tourism that at the end of the year Grupa WP made a PLN 1 billion acquisition, the largest in its history. WP has signed a framework agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of Invia Group, a company that operates mainly in Germany, but also has services in Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland. Once the acquisition of Invia Group is finalized (the deal is pending regulatory approvals), Grupa WP's travel segment will be one of the largest travel groups in Europe.
"For its 30th anniversary, Wirtualna Polska will change its profile both in terms of industry and geography. Most importantly, this change will come about as a direct consequence of our obvious business need, Namely the need for a rapid increase in the scale of our operations. […] Our organizations have some obvious mutual product synergies in Central Europe. Also, by entering the German market, we will be able to double the scale of our business, provided that we prepare well for operating in it in terms of marketing and if we prove to be ambitious enough to capture what it has to offer. We cannot wait to get our hands on the steering wheel," writes Jacek Świderski, CEO of Wirtualna Polska Holding S.A., in his annual letter to shareholders.
Consistent investment in the development of proprietary technologies, supported by artificial intelligence, is also yielding tangible results in the advertising and subscriptions segment. Thanks to the recommendation technologies implemented, the number of page views on WP portals has increased by 25% since October. Nearly 3,000 clients have already registered with WP Ads, a platform that allows advertisers, including small and medium-sized businesses, to easily plan, target and broadcast ads on WP sites and in the partner network. WPartner is an SSP (Supply-Side Platform) which enables publishers from all over Europe to monetize their own advertising space effectively using WP’s unique, proprietary technology based on the programmatic model.
"We are pretty sharp as far as the tools in the shed go. Today, Poles and other Europeans working for American companies contribute greatly to the success of big tech companies and their technological solutions. But this does not mean that companies based in Central Europe are incapable of creating such solutions or that they do not already have them. […] We in Poland sponsor the development and growth of other countries’ technologies and companies instead of investing in our own. Many Polish companies, including Wirtualna Polska Holding, have their own cloud solutions which they have been successfully developing for years and which are at the heart of our Group’s technological edge. I would be rather naive to use the term ‘domestic cloud’ in Poland to refer to solutions that have simply been purchased from suppliers and have nothing to do with our country, apart from employing Polish IT specialists. Meanwhile, American suppliers include the purchase of an office building in Warsaw in their ‘investments in Poland,’ adds Jacek Świderski in his letter.
Every year, Wirtualna Polska invests approx. PLN 150 million in the development of its own technologies, and shares some of these solutions with other players in the market, strengthening the country's advertising, media and e-commerce ecosystem.
Highlights from the statement of profit and loss of Wirtualna Polska Holding S.A.
