Opera Limited (OPRA) Earnings

Management highlights

### Strategic Positioning - Opera holds an attractive position as an independent, innovative browser provider with nearly 300 million core users, and positions itself as an open tech enabler that facilitates user choice and partner access to its large user base, rather than betting on closed AI ecosystems. - As AI shifts how users interact online, the browser is growing in value, and Opera has already translated this trend into higher user engagement and monetization. The company's open approach to AI interoperability aligns with its independent status and appeals to technologically sophisticated users who prefer flexibility over single-vendor dependency. ### Product and AI Innovation - Launched Browser Connector for leading third-party AI services including Anthropic Claude and OpenAI ChatGPT, enabling these AI tools to access live browsing context and act on the user's behalf within the browser. - Introduced the open source Opera Browser CLI, allowing developers and AI enthusiasts to integrate the browser directly into AI-driven workflows, positioning Opera as programmable infrastructure for next-generation AI applications. - AI-engaged users spend significantly more time in the browser and conduct more searches than non-AI engaged users, directly driving ARPU growth. The company is already monetizing AI-driven query activity today, rather than only pursuing future opportunity. ### User Growth - Total monthly active users (MAUs) reached 188 million in Q2 2026. Western MAUs grew 4% year-over-year to 61 million, with mobile MAUs in Western markets growing 8% year-over-year. Combined Android and iOS MAUs grew 66% year-over-year in the UK and 40% year-over-year in the US, with iOS Opera MAUs growing 42% year-over-year across Europe. - Opera GX (gaming browser) added almost 2 million MAUs in Q2 2026 to reach 37 million total MAUs, driven by deeper integration with game developers and partnerships offering in-game rewards. - Total addressable audience (including OEM white-label solutions and Opera SDK integrations) surpassed 700 million, up from 500 million six months prior. ### New Business Development - MiniPay, Opera's self-custodial stablecoin wallet for emerging markets, added 3 million new wallet activations in Q2 2026 to reach 18 million total activated wallets across 66 countries, with 518 million total transactions and over 57 live mini apps. - Launched a Visa card in partnership with Visa that allows users to spend stablecoins for daily purchases, currently available across the EU and rolling out to supporting markets in Africa, the Americas, and Asia. MiniPay is already profitable today, though it remains in early scaling stages. ### Financial Performance - Adjusted EBITDA grew 32% year-over-year to a quarterly record of $42.4 million, representing a 24% margin. Adjusted net income hit $30 million (27% YoY growth), and adjusted diluted EPS reached 33 cents (25% YoY growth). - The company has delivered 21% average annual revenue growth over 10 years, and 23% CAGR over the past four post-COVID full years, with 33% average annual adjusted EPS growth when adjusted for OPE stake valuation gains. - Capital allocation: Opera has returned $577 million to shareholders since 2020 ($320 million via dividends, $256 million via share buybacks), equal to 31% of 2020 starting shares outstanding. In Q2 2026, Opera repurchased 636,000 shares for $11.1 million at an average price of $17.44.

Guidance

Management raised full-year 2026 guidance following Q2 overperformance and strong upward momentum, with key updates as follows: - Full-year 2026 revenue is now guided to $734 million to $742 million, representing 20% year-over-year growth at the midpoint. This reflects an upward revision of $2 million to $5 million from prior guidance, incorporating Q2's outperformance and expected second-half upside. - Full-year 2026 adjusted EBITDA is now guided to $172 million to $175 million, representing a 24% margin at the midpoint of the new revenue range. Adjusted EBITDA margin is expected to increase 25 to 40 basis points compared to 2025, driven by operating leverage. - Q3 2026 revenue is guided to $181 million to $183 million, representing 19% to 20% year-over-year growth. - Q3 2026 adjusted EBITDA is guided to $41 million to $43 million, representing a 23% margin at the midpoint. - Full-year cost expectations: Cost of revenue is expected to represent ~39% of total revenue, with marketing expense expected to stay near Q2 levels (mid-single-digit annual growth, ~20% of full-year revenue), cash-based compensation expected to be slightly lower than Q2 (low double-digit annual growth, ~12% of full-year revenue), with other operating expenses remaining stable at ~5% of revenue. Combined marketing and compensation as a share of revenue is expected to fall from 36% in 2025 to ~32% in 2026.

Segment performance

In Q2 2026, Opera generated total revenue of $178.1 million, growing 25% year-over-year. The two core operating segments are: 1. Advertising: Revenue grew 27% year-over-year to $115 million, accounting for approximately 64.6% of total Q2 2026 revenue. Growth was led by strong performance in the e-commerce vertical, with additional momentum from the travel vertical. 2. Query: Revenue grew 21% year-over-year to $62 million, accounting for approximately 34.8% of total Q2 2026 revenue. The non-search portion of query revenue grew over 200% year-over-year, though it still remains in the single-digit millions of dollars in absolute terms. Query revenue growth in Western markets reached 29% year-over-year, outpacing the global average by 8 percentage points.

Risks & headwinds

No explicit new material risks were discussed in the prepared remarks. Management noted that all forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations, with relevant risk factors disclosed in the company's recent SEC filings. The only operational observation related to near-term cyclicality is that the summer months of July and August are typically a seasonal low season for Opera GX user growth due to lower desktop usage during holiday periods.

Analyst Q&A

• Q: Total addressable audience reach grew from 500 million to over 700 million in six months – did new partnerships drive this growth, and what is the background of the 100 merchants / 100 million product listings on the Homos platform? /

  A: The growth in reach came from many new partnerships, particularly with emerging AI services that benefit from combining their offerings with Opera's user base, creating a positive growth loop. The 100 million product listings are a new AI-powered initiative designed to surface relevant product and pricing information directly in user browsing context, which was not feasible at this scale before AI capabilities advanced. This initiative builds out future monetization potential for e-commerce advertising. We are targeting reaching 1 billion total addressable users long-term.

• Q: What catalysts have driven strong mobile MAU growth in the US and Europe recently, and do you see differences in AI adoption across these regions? /

  A: Growth comes from both regulatory-driven opening of ecosystems (especially iOS) to alternative browsers, growing user awareness of alternatives to default browsers, and growing demand for differentiated AI features that draw users to Opera. The trend is self-reinforcing: users come to Opera for AI features, and once they adopt AI tools in the browser, they increase engagement and usage, which further drives growth. The company plans to continue doubling down on product investment to sustain this trajectory.

• Q: When do you expect OPE (Opera's fintech affiliate) to complete an IPO? /

  A: Management continues to expect OPE will ultimately go public, which will provide transparency around the value of Opera's founding stake in the company. However, management cannot comment on specific timing, as the decision will be made by the OPE team based on market conditions.

• Q: When will MiniPay reach sufficient scale to shift focus from user growth to monetization, and is it approaching that inflection point? /

  A: MiniPay is still in the early stages of scaling, as fintech infrastructure businesses require patient buildout of cross-border partnerships and network effects. From day one, MiniPay has been reasonably profitable with a sound underlying business model. Once sufficient scale and network effects are achieved, monetization can ramp quickly via transaction take rates, which is standard in the fintech industry. Management is confident in the long-term potential of the business, but no specific timeline for a monetization inflection was given.