DJ Verve Group SE remains on track for full year guidance in third quarter and records strong start into fourth quarter 2025
Verve Group SE remains on track for full year guidance in third quarter and records strong start into fourth quarter
2025
Verve Group SE remains on track for full year guidance in third quarter and records strong start into fourth quarter
2025
? Increase in net revenue of 25 percent to EUR 141.9 million based on change in revenue recognition, while
like-for-like development shows slight decrease on unification effects, currency effects and substantial reduction
in political ad spending
? Gross margin (like-for-like) slightly increased year-on-year as well as quarter on quarter to 37 percent
? Adjusted EBITDA decreases 22 percent to EUR 26.1 million due to one-off effects and lack of political ad spending
? Strong start into year-end business after finalized unification and efficiency gains: guidance bandwidths narrowed
Stockholm, 18 November 2025 - Verve Group SE (ISIN: SE0018538068), a fast-growing software platform in the advertising
technology industry, showed an overall solid performance in the third quarter followed by strong pick-up in growth
momentum in the first half of the fourth quarter. While the Company had to cope with a softer market environment in Q3
with a significantly reduced volume of political ad spend, Verve successfully completed the unification of its Mobile
In-App Supply Side and Demand Side software platforms. The recently implemented efficiency measures and growth
initiatives now translate into improved operating performance in Q4, with an even more pronounced impact in 2026.
The key figures for business development are as follows:
IFRS, in EUR m 9M 9M Q3 Q3 Q3
2025 2024 2025 2024 ?
Net Revenue* 357.1 292.8 141.9 113.7 25%
Adj. EBITDA 85.7 84.8 26.1 33.6 -22%
Adj. EBITDA Margin [%]* 24 29 18 30 -12 PP
Adj. EBIT 61.5 65.0 15.4 25.2 -39%
Adj. Net Result 9.2 22.8 1.1 10.9 -90%
Adj. Net Result per Share (diluted) 0.04 0.12 0.01 0.05 -81%
Operating Cash Flow 10.2 81.5 4.7 54.1 -91%
Net Debt (vs. 31.12.2024) 421.2 377.7 421.2 377.7 12%
Adj. Leverage Ratio (vs. 31.12.2024) 3.1 2.6 3.1 2.6 0.5
Cash & Cash Equivalents (vs. 111.9 119.0 111.9 119.0 -6%
31.12.2024)
*Changes in revenue recognition according to IFRS15 result in an increase of Q3 net revenue in comparison to previous quarters
Reported net revenue for the third quarter increased 25 percent to EUR 141.9 million (Q3 2024: EUR 113.7 million). With effect from the unification of the DSP and SSP platforms in August 2025, and in line with IFRS 15 (principal-versus-agent guidance), the Company recognizes revenue from the migrated software platform on a gross basis rather than net. This change results in a material increase in reported revenue from Q3 2025 onward. For comparability, Q3 2025 net revenue would have amounted to EUR 110.0 million under the prior net presentation, representing a 3 percent decline versus Q3 2024. The drivers of net revenue growth were as follows: organic development -4 percent, acquisitions +4 percent, and foreign-exchange effects -3 percent.
The third-quarter decline in revenue has to be assessed in the context of an overall softer advertising market. In addition, the prior-year comparison quarter marked the peak of the market recovery following the effects of the global interest-rate shock and benefited from an exceptional economic tailwind driven by significantly increased political-advertising spending ahead of the presidential elections. At the same time, the Company successfully managed the operational challenges arising from the aforementioned platform unification and continued to face headwinds from a pronounced decline of the US dollar against the euro since the beginning of the year. From mid of August, substantial benefits from the unification began to materialize, positioning the company for a strong start into the fourth quarter.
To better contextualize operating performance in the quarter, gross profit serves as the primary indicator of underlying operations. Gross profit (like-for-like) totaled EUR 51.9 million, slightly increased versus prior-year level (Q3 2024: EUR 51.2 million). The gross margin was 37 percent, representing an increase compared to the previous quarter and underlining the increasing momentum in Verve's profitability (Q3 2024: 35 percent; Q2 2025: 35 percent).
The adjusted EBITDA declined by 22 percent to EUR 26.1 million (Q3 2024: EUR 33.6 m). The adjusted EBITDA margin amounted to 18 percent, respectively 24 percent based on previous revenue recognition (Q3 2024: 30 percent). The decline in adjusted EBITDA and margin stand in direct context with the Company's initiatives to leverage its future growth momentum. Earnings development reflects severance costs from headcount reductions enabled by the unification, residual unification costs through mid-quarter, and continued brand/agency investments, including salesforce expansion with short-term ramp costs as expected and communicated earlier. The introduced measures resulted in one-time severance costs of EUR 1.3 million - leading to a reduction of payroll costs of around EUR 8 million from 2026 onwards - as well as legal and advisor fees related to M&A and Capital Markets transactions which led to additional one-time costs of EUR 1.7 million.
"There is no question that our third-quarter results are not charming at first glance. On second look, however, it becomes clear how profoundly the second and third quarters of 2025 will shape our Company's future," emphasized Remco Westermann, CEO of Verve Group SE. "We have successfully lifted the technology stack - underpinning roughly 85 percent of our revenue - to a far more powerful level. We have streamlined our organizations and realized substantial cost savings. And we have made a significant investment in expanding our sales teams to drive tomorrow's revenue. The latter, in particular, never pays back on day one. It requires the courage to invest. But already in the fourth quarter, and to a much greater extent in 2026, we will tangibly benefit from these actions."
With the completion of the platform unification processes in its Mobile In-App business, the Company able to accelerate the onboarding of new customers, stabilize and further continue to improve AI-algorithm performance, and improve the delivery capability of its marketplaces from the second half of the quarter onwards. Momentum in operating business continued to increase toward the end of the quarter, providing significant tailwind going into the fourth quarter. With the acquisitions of Captify Technologies and Acardo Group, both announced Mid-September, Verve further expands its sales force substantially, directly supporting the development of its organic core business in key markets.
The unbroken underlying growth momentum becomes apparent looking at the central KPIs of the Company. The total number of clients increased by 7 percent versus the previous quarter, respectively 1 percent organically, to 3,304. Following the dip caused by the platform unification, the number of large software client picked-up growth momentum again, increasing by 3 percent to 983. While softer advertising spend, spending peaks in the prior year and slow-down from platform unification is clearly reflected in a decline in net dollar retention versus Q3 2024 to 90 percent. Yet the continued high customer retention rate of 96 percent proves the high level of customer satisfaction with Verve's leading technology platforms.
"Many key growth drivers in our core markets will now really show their positive momentum in the coming quarters. These include, in particular, the significantly strengthening trend toward privacy-compliant handling of user data, the central trend in the advertising industry, which Verve was one of the first in the market to recognize, implement, and firmly anchor in its DNA," emphasizes CEO Remco Westermann. "Over the past four years, we have developed the leading AI in our industry based on sophisticated machine learning, and we can now play this card even better via our unified platform. We are broadly positioned in the emerging channels, are constantly expanding our reach, and will continue to build on our leading position in the industry. And now that we have completed our aforementioned efficiency improvement measures, we will also do so with significantly more obvious profitability in the future."
Outlook
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November 18, 2025 00:00 ET (05:00 GMT)