Wirtualna Polska Holding copes with a crisis in Q1 2020, posting a decline in revenue and EBITDA of 4% and 6.5%, respectively. Wakacje.pl, along with the whole foreign leisure travel market, lost its sources of revenue. However, the lockdown and anxiety associated with restrictions on movement of people translated into greater-than-usual traffic on Wirtualna Polska websites. WP TV contributed favorably to the holding’s results, having benefited from record-breaking viewership and a 43% hike in sales revenue.
The state of epidemic announced by the government in March 2020 in connection with the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus affected the company’s revenues, in particular in the e-commerce area. In parallel, the diversification of business pursued by the Group’s companies permitted the Group to curb the impact of the pandemic on its overall performance. In Q1 2020, adjusted EBITDA was PLN 41 million, down 6.5% than in the corresponding period of last year. Sales revenue was almost PLN 150 million, with profit in excess of PLN 7 million.
- The crisis is changing our customers’ habits. These days, Poles are more willing to make their purchases online than ever before. Not all categories are benefiting equally though. Unfortunately, certain lines of business, such as foreign travel services, are suffering severe losses. Those of us who previously planned foreign travels are now thinking about building a house or spending their vacation in the country. Beneficiaries of this shift include Extradom.pl and Nocowanie.pl, leaders in their respective categories in Poland, enjoying much greater interest from their customers. Online media were the least affected by the reduction of advertising expenditures. In Q1 2020, Wirtualna Polska Media SA reported improvement in financial results - says Jacek Świderski, CEO of Wirtualna Polska Holding SA.
The restrictions imposed by the government and the challenging economic situation will also affect our financial results in Q2 2020, regardless of the increase in traffic we have observed since the latter part of April. At the moment, traffic on Nocowanie.pl is approx. 20% higher than in May 2019.
WP TV, which has been broadcasting for over three years, also posted very solid results. It achieved record-high viewership, which translated into a 43% increase in revenue to over PLN 6.5 million.
Wirtualna Polska is a technological holding group involved in media, advertising and e-commerce business. It owns the WP Home Page and operates specialized topical websites such as money.pl, WP SportoweFakty and autocentrum.pl. In the e-commerce sector, WP operates in the areas of leisure travel (including wakacje.pl, nocowanie.pl, eholiday.pl), fashion (domodi.pl and allani.pl), interior design (homebook.pl), house design (extradom.pl), financial services (totalmoney.pl) and automotive (superauto.pl). According to a Gemius/PBI survey, 21.1 million Poles used WP’s online products in April 2020.