First-quarter earnings showed strong growth in key areas. Net revenue increased 70 per cent year-on-year to $46m, topping analysts’ expectations. Unique visitors and cumulative reviews were both up more than 43 per cent, while paying local business accounts (local businesses that pay to advertise on the site and that drive revenues) increased 63 per cent.
Net loss in the first quarter of 2013 was $4.8 million, or $0.08 per share, compared to a net loss of $9.8 million, or $0.31 per share, in the first quarter of 2012. Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2013 was $3.2 million compared to an adjusted EBITDA loss of approximately $1 million for the first quarter of 2012.
- Yelp mobile: Yelp continues to execute on its mobile strategy. In the first quarter, 36% of local ads were shown on mobile devices. The mobile app was used on approximately 10 million unique mobile devices on a monthly average basis for the quarter. Additionally, Yelp launched display ads on mobile in the first quarter.
- Closing the loop with businesses: Yelp is driving real revenue to local businesses. A study by the Boston Consulting Group showed that a business saw an average annual revenue lift of $8,000 just by claiming their free business owner account on Yelp. Additionally, the study found that businesses that advertise on Yelp see an average annual revenue lift of $23,000. Yelp launched a revenue estimator tool on the business dashboard to help businesses easily calculate the value of the customer leads sent from Yelp.
- Increasing content: Yelp continues to innovate around creating meaningful content and improving the user experience. At the urging of the White House and in conjunction with local governments, Yelp has developed an open data standard (LIVES) to add health inspection scores to restaurant business pages with the first roll out in San Francisco.
Yelp missed Wall Street forecasts for net profit nevertheless its shares rose 25 per cent.
Source: Financial Times Lex Column
