Wirtualna Polska Holding S.A.’s consolidated sales revenues in Q3 2023 exceeded PLN 405 million. That is nearly 50% above the result posted in the corresponding period of the year before. The strongest driver of growth was a nearly threefold increase in profits generated by the tourism segment.
Grupa WP maintains its sales revenue growth momentum, largely owing to the acquisitions carried out in 2022. Sales revenues in the media and tourism segments increased by 21% to PLN 165 million and by 144% to PLN 186 million, respectively. Grupa WP’s adjusted EBITDA reached nearly PLN 150 million, up 56%.
"The past quarter was a celebration of tourism in Wirtualna Polska. For the first time revenues generated in the tourism segment were higher than in the media segment. We intend for our growing tourism business abroad to serve as a driving force for the Holding’s international advertising endeavors. We have just finished work on a product that will enable us to support Polish companies in their expansion beyond the country’s borders. Since our advertising broker, WPartner, entered international markets 2 years ago, we have been consistently building our presence in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria. We encourage Polish companies whose ambition it is to operate in foreign markets to establish cooperation with us today. Next year, we intend to expand our advertising sales office for foreign customers," says Jacek Świderski, CEO of Wirtualna Polska Holding S.A.
WPartner is an SSP (Supply-Side Platform) which enables other publishers to effectively monetize their own advertising space thanks to WP’s unique, proprietary technology based on the programmatic model. The solution enables publishers to select the optimal offer in real time, without having to integrate systems with multiple external partners. The network currently handles more than 23 billion advertising requests per month, including from customers based in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries.
In September 2023, the US-based Media Development Investment Fund made an investment in Wirtualna Polska. MDIF is a media investor with a presence in 11 CEE countries. The fund paid PLN 6 million for a minority stake in WP (approx. 0.2% of shares). In 2023, WP Holding S.A. finalized the acquisition of the remaining shares in Audioteka S.A. for almost PLN 75 million. In 2022, Grupa WP spent more than PLN 580 million on acquisitions. In addition to the stake in Audioteka S.A., it paid EUR 83 million to acquire the Szallas Group, which operates the largest national travel websites enabling accommodation bookings in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland and Croatia.
Grupa WP is a technology holding group engaged in media, advertising, subscription and e-commerce business. It owns the WP Home Page, operates specialized topical websites and offers online subscription products (Audioteka, Pilot WP). In e-commerce services, the Group operates mainly in the tourism sector (including Wakacje.pl, the Szallas Group, Nocowanie.pl) and the financial sector (Superauto.pl and Totalmoney.pl). In October 2023, the company’s websites and services were used by 21 million Poles. Since 2015, Wirtualna Polska Holding S.A. has been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.