Baltic Classifieds (BALTIC) recovers but share price still trails buyback mark

London, July 7, 2026, 00:01 (BST)

• Baltic Classifieds ended Monday 5.3% higher at 182.10p, finishing just behind easyJet as the second-best gainer on the FTSE 250.
• The stock closed around 3.5% under the 188.8p average price BCG paid for shares it bought back from June 25 to July 1, according to the company’s purchase table.
• The company is guiding to roughly 10% revenue growth for FY27, which means about €97.4 million. That’s shy of the sell-side consensus from May, which was €99.7 million.
• Baltic Classifieds Group reported FY26 shareholder returns of €101.1 million, higher than revenue at €88.5 million, with leverage increasing to 0.7x EBITDA.

Baltic Classifieds Group Plc (LON:BCG) posted one of the strongest gains in the FTSE 250 on Monday. Still, shares ended the session under the level where the company was buying stock last week.

Baltic Classifieds Group gained 9.10p to close at 182.10p on July 6. Volume came in at 2.85 million shares, hitting an intraday peak of 182.60p, according to ADVFN. Sharecast said Baltic Classifieds was the second-best performer on the FTSE 250, just behind easyJet LON:EZJ.

Baltic Classifieds picked up 1.65 million shares between June 25 and July 1 for cancellation, paying a weighted average of roughly 188.8p, based on the company’s daily repurchase reports. Shares finished Monday 3.5% under that price. The stock bought during those five days was about 0.38% of the company’s post-buyback voting shares, now at 430.2 million.

The buyback is a big deal for Baltic Classifieds. In its July 2 results, the company said it gave back €101.1 million to shareholders in FY26 from buybacks and dividends, while revenue for the year was €88.5 million. The board said the share price didn’t reflect the company’s value, so it used new debt facilities to ramp up buybacks.

The company’s net debt, including leases, jumped to €46.2 million as of April 30 from €4.4 million last year. Leverage moved up to 0.7 times EBITDA from 0.1 times. Company filings said the group also pulled another €45 million from its loan facility after year end to pay for buybacks.

Chief Executive Justinas Šimkus said in the results: “We delivered solid financial results, with both revenue and EBITDA growing by 7%.” Šimkus added that auto “remained flat” due to weaker private car sales. He pointed to consumer-to-consumer price changes in March and autumn business-to-consumer product changes as drivers that should push top-line growth back into double digits next year. Investegate

Operating metrics tell a different story than the margin headline. In the month, B2C average revenue per user climbed 13% in autos, 16% in real estate, and 8% in jobs. But C2C active ads dropped 26% in autos, 6% in real estate and 2% in general listings. Service ads increased 12%. This leaves more of the FY27 lift coming from pricing and paid upgrades.

The company’s own guidance and the May 8 analyst consensus leave the stock with a tight revenue range for next year.

The company’s “around 10%” growth outlook for FY26 puts its revenue guide about €2.3 million under pre-results consensus. The mid-70s EBITDA margin target is also narrower compared to FY26’s 78% margin, so there’s not much buffer.

The stock closed Monday under most broker targets in the company’s May consensus file, after coming into results with a wide target-price range.

First reactions to the results were mixed. Investing.com said FY26 revenue came in at €88.5 million, missing the €89.4 million average from the May company-compiled consensus. But operating profit of €60.4 million, adjusted net income at €58.1 million and basic EPS of 10.8 euro cents were all above the same consensus.