Opera Limited

Please stand by. Your program is about to begin. If you need assistance during your conference today, please press star zero. Welcome to the Opera Limited fourth quarter and full year 2023 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during this period, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone keypad. If you want to remove yourself from the queue, please press the pound key. Please be advised that today's call is being recorded. Lastly, if you should need operator assistance, please press star 0. I would now like to turn the call over to your speaker today, Matt Wolfson, Head of Investor Relations. Please begin.

Thank you for joining us. As usual, I have with me today our co-CEO, Song Lin, and our CFO, Froda Jacobson. Before I hand over the call to Song Lin, I would like to remind everyone that in the conference call today, the company will be making statements about its future results and expectations, which constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Such statements are based on current expectations and how we perceive the current economic environment, and are hardly subject to economic, competitive, and other uncertainties and contingencies beyond the control of management. You should be cautioned that these statements are not guarantees of future performance, and you may refer to the Safe Harbor Statement and the company's earnings release for details. Our commentary today will also include non-IFRS financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA, which are different from our consolidated financial statements that are prepared and presented based on IFRS. We believe that the use of our non-IFRS financial measures provides an additional tool for investors to use in evaluating ongoing operating results and trends. These measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial information prepared in accordance with IFRS. We've also posted unaudited quarterly historic financial results of OPERA on our investor relations website. With that, let me turn the conference call over to our co-CEO, Song Lin, who will cover our fourth quarter operational highlights and strategy. And then Ferdinand Jacobson will discuss our financials and expectations going forward.

Sure. Thanks, Matt. And thank you to everyone joining us this morning to review our fourth quarter results. We are excited to report yet another great quarter. Revenue of $130 million driven by strong organic growth, payout with cost discipline resulting in $28 million of adjusted EBITDA, well above our expectations. For the full year, revenue was $397 million, and adjusted EBITDA was $94 million. The fourth quarter of 2023 built upon the strengths we saw throughout the year. This time last year, we guided revenue growth of 15% for 2023 as a whole, with a 20% EBITDA margin and submit points. Even after raising the lead point of revenue and EBITDA guidance every quarter, we were able to consistently beat those expectations, ending the year with revenue up 20% and then adjusted EBITDA margin of 24%. We are very pleased that we have been able to consistently deliver revenue outperformance while spending less than anticipated on marketing and accelerating our margin expansion. This also highlights our ability to consistently attract new users, primarily through organic channels. We did not waver from our strategy to focus on high-up users. As expected, we are starting to see signs that high-up user growth is offsetting low-up user churn, with a slight increase in our total user base during Q4. Annualized ARPU grew to a record high, 1.44% in the fourth quarter, up 22% year-over-year, and 10% sequentially. This was primarily driven by high-value users as well as Opera GX. 2024 will be more of the same, with the goal of continuing to grow these users both in Western markets as well as high-value users in general. Combining this focus on high-value users coupled with a stronger product portfolio and ongoing efforts to continually improve monetization puts us in a very exciting position. We are still a relatively small company with lots of potential remaining in the core browser business. During the quarter, Adapting Revenue was 68 million, growing 20% year-over-year. Advertising was strong for both our owned and operated inventory, as well as opera ads. We saw particular strengths in the retail vertical during the holiday period. Advertising now represents 60% of revenue. Stock revenue was 45 million in the quarter, up 15%, which we are also very proud of, given the maturity. of this revenue category. As we shift the mix of our user base towards higher monetization regions and user groups, we can generate such revenue growth well beyond the underlying market growth of such base monetization. Last quarter, I outlined three core growth drivers. Generative AI and the work we are doing with ARIA advertising opportunities, and finally, our gaming focus with Opera GX. I want to give you a brief update on each and how they shape our focus for 2024. For several years, we have used AI to help power our news and content products to deliver relevant and customized content for our users. In 2023, we stepped up those efforts specifically rolling out ARIA, our browser AI. ARIA has received great user feedback and provided another point of attention that supported our user growth in Western markets. Yet we need to be mindful that the whole industry is still in the early stage of its potential. Users can benefit more from AI assistance than what they might consider themselves. The muscle memory of routine is strong, and many integration points within the industry need to be rebuilt. As we embark on a new year, we continue to iterate and are very excited for this next chapter in the ARIA story. We want to integrate ARIA further into the browsing experience, assisting users to unlock more efficiency gains, whether it relates to the browsing of the web itself obtaining or processing information, or content creation. As a browser and as an independent ecosystem player, we also have a unique opportunity to help users navigate the broader AI space and simplify their experience. On top, we see potential to help less tech-savvy users take advantage of these technologies while enjoying heightened levels of privacy and data protection. In short, the opportunities are huge. Our rewards for helping our users benefit from ARIA is observable not only as part of user growth, but also within engagement and in indirect and direct monetization opportunities, from monetizable links in chat environments to intelligent recommendations based on the browsing context. As you may have seen, we have announced that we are pairing our product development with a significant investment in our AI infrastructure with the launch of a new data center in Iceland. This data center will be green, energy-powered, and takes advantage of the Icelandic climate to reduce cooling costs. And in general, we pride ourselves on our efficient hosting setup, typically and one-tenth of the cost of third-party providers. And we're excited to expand our in-house hosting to the AI space. AI is processing intensive, with energy and quality being key OPEX factors, but less sensitive to latency variations in milliseconds. As such, Iceland is a great location for our forced AI footprint, whereas our other data centers are typically located closer to our end users. Shift into advertising, which remains a top priority given the potential we see to continue strengthening our monetization. As a browser company, we can leverage the closed-loop environment of the browser to capture interest and context. While remaining mindful of user privacy, we are able to create value and utility for the user throughout their online journey. unlike many advertising platforms, which rely on third-party signals and cookies. For example, when shopping online, we do not need to rely on third-party cookies to tell us which offers to display to a user, but rather can do so organically at the right moment in the user's shopping experience, such as discount codes when viewing the card where intent is at its highest. With the growth of high-value users, we are becoming more an increasingly relevant party to even more potential advertisers, typically in the context of integrated functionality that both benefits our users and has the potential to drive sizable revenue for Opera, representing a significant opportunity as we look into 2024. Beyond our own inventory, Opera Ads has proven itself as a competitive player in the broader landscape, attracting advertisers based on our technical abilities to augment their targeting. We will continue investing in that platform in 2024, which we will see good opportunities from e-commerce, gaming, and other high-intent user interactions in a programmatic way, coupled with advances in AI and algorithms, which we persist in pursuing. And then in terms of our focus on games, OpenGX continues its healthy growth trajectory. Our GX user base was 27.8 million in the fall, adding 7% high-value users versus Q3 alone. On top of the user growth, annualized output increased to 3.51 cents during the quarter, up 6% versus Q3. The compounding of user and app growth has brought Opera GX to become a product with almost 100 million annualized revenue run rates demonstrating our ability to be relevant to a young and highly engaged user segment. In terms of footprint, Brazil now follows the US as the second largest market of GX. We continue to observe that GX users in emerging markets monetize significantly better than users on other browsers, where the gap between Western and other users has been narrow among PC gamers in particular. We feel great about the prospects of Opera GX in 2024 with continued user growth and further monetization opportunities within this attractive user base. Our ability to invest in the footprint of GX is also ever-expanding alongside the growth of the product's public. Beyond these three highlighted areas of opportunity, we also observe some exciting trends in the broader ecosystem One is the opening up of iOS for now in Europe, a result of a continued evolution of the regulatory environment in the EU and other parts of the world. Such regulatory measures to promote healthy competition is naturally a positive impulse to Opera and their independent player. Also, we are well positioned for the rebounding interest in fintech applications on Web3, where we continue to invest in technology. and build use cases. Both of these carry strategic importance to OPERA in the months and years to come. So now, let me turn the call over to Fruita to discuss the financials and technical guidance in more detail.

Fruita?

Thank you, Sung.

Q4 was a great quarter for us with a continuation of the strengths we've observed all year and a confirmation of our confidence as discussed when we raised Q4 guidance last quarter. Revenue in the quarter came in at the top of our guidance at 17% year-over-year growth. On a constant currency basis, our growth would have been about 4 percentage points higher, or 21%. Our user base is growing in Western markets, And PC browsers also grow high ARPU users in emerging markets due to the success of Upper GX. The decline of low monetized mobile users in emerging markets is offset by strong underlying ARPU growth, leading to revenue growth in both Western and non-Western regions for all products. Adjusted EBITDA came in well above our guidance, adding 3.8 million to the top of our prior range. The overperformance was driven in particular by lower marketing spend than anticipated in our guidance and cost of revenue coming in about one percentage point lower than anticipated relative to revenues. On the other hand, we saw an increase in cost related to advisory services supporting our internal teams on SOX readiness, as well as a bad debt provision. Cash flows came in at the high end of expectations relative to adjusted EBITDA with an 88% conversion to operating cash flow for the year as a whole and 77% conversion to free cash flow from operations for the year as a whole. and both slightly stronger in the fourth quarter in isolation. Tax cost for the year was relatively modest at 7% of adjusted EBITDA. In 2023, we benefited from both the recognition of tax assets in relation to our share-based compensation in prior years, as well as FX movements between USD and local currencies in which our taxes are calculated and paid. Our year-end balance sheet includes an updated fair value assessment of our investments in OPE. We value our stake at an estimated $269 million, up from $163 million before. This results in a significant non-cash accounting gain of $106 million in the fourth quarter. As noted in our press release, we've observed that the company more than quadrupled its user base during 2023 and saw an even higher uplift in daily usage, in turn driving strong revenue growth. The updated valuation also ties with the limited investments by a new OPE investor in late 2023, which subscribed at a $3 billion OPE valuation. We remain interested in selling our stake in OPE at the right time. We are also open to a later stage exit in connection with OPE eventually going public according to its longer term plans. Our OPE stake stood at 9.44% as of year end. We completed our most recent buyback program in the quarter, repurchasing 1.15 million ADSs at an average price of $11.27, totaling 13 million. We thereby fulfilled the 50 million buyback that was launched in early 2022, with a total of 6.1 million ADSs repurchased at an average cost of $8.17. We will continue to consider buybacks in a technical manner to maximize value for our shareholders in the long run. Since 2020, we have repurchased 35.5 million ADSs, equal to 30% of the shares outstanding at that time, at a cost of $228 million, or $6.44 on average per ADS. When adjusting for dividends avoided, the average cost is even more attractive. However, as we look ahead, it is our recurring dividend program launched in 2023 and currently at 80 cents per ADS per year that is expected to be our main avenue of returning funds to our shareholders. Now, turning to our first guidance for the full year 2024 and the first quarter. For 2024 as a whole, we are guiding revenue to $450 to $465 million, representing 15% growth at the midpoint. The guidance assumes continued convergence between the growth rates of advertising and search, though further upside would more likely be fueled by advertising. We expect to continue our browser's growth trajectory with high RP users, and we expect continued expansion of Opera ads. We guide adjusted EBITDA to 106 to 110 million, representing a 24% margin at the midpoints. The EBITDA guidance is highly exposed to what marketing costs we assume, and this cost is also highly discretionary. In 2023, marketing costs came in at 28% of revenue versus about 32% in our original guidance for the year. As a reminder, marketing costs was 35% of revenue in 2022 and even 48% of revenue in 2021. From a relatively low spend level at the start of 2023, we scaled our marketing activities quarter to quarter. We are encouraged by our ability to scale at attractive ROI, and as we look to 2024, we expect to continue the sequential trend as an investment in our growth trajectory, also beyond the current year, though starting the year with a Q1 spend more similar to Q4. In sum, this translates to a marketing spend expectation of just above $130 million, or about 29% relative to revenue. Cost of revenue items combined represented 23% of revenue in 2023, scaling with a successful expansion of opera ads. Our guidance implies a modest continuation of the trend, adding about one percentage point relative to revenue for 2024 as a whole. Similar to 2023, the percentage will start below the annual average and increase in subsequent quarters. For remaining cost expectations, both cash-based compensation costs and the sum of our other cost items prior to adjusted EBITDA are expected to grow year-over-year in the mid-single digits. And as a result, they're expected to drop about two percentage points relative to revenue combined. For the first quarter, we guide revenue to 99 to 101 million, or up 15% year-over-year at the midpoints, and adjusted EBITDA of 22.5 to 24.5 million, or a 24% margin at the midpoints. In conclusion, we've put behind us a year that's progressed ahead of our expectations, both in terms of revenue and profitability, and we are excited to embark on 2024. We're only two months out from releasing Q1 by now, and we look forward to giving you more color on how 2024 is shaping up then. With that, I'll turn the call back to the operator for questions.

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press the pound key. When posing your question, we ask that you please pick up your handset for optimal sound quality. We'll take our first question from Lance Vitanza with TD Cowan. Your line is open. Hi.

Thanks for taking the questions and congratulations on the quarter. A couple for me, if I could. The first is with respect to the headroom that you think you have to further expand the user base in the high-value markets like the US and Western Europe. I know you touched on this a little bit during the call, but could you provide any more color on how penetrated you believe you are in those markets today versus where do you think you can ultimately take that? And then I was not quite sure I followed the commentary around Brazil and how that comes into play. I mean, that's not necessarily a high-value market, but it sounds like you're seeing some progress there. So if perhaps you could... revisit that and elaborate on that, that would be helpful.

Hello?

Zongnan, are you muted?

No, no, I'm good.

Okay. Did you guys get the question or should I repeat that?

No, I think it's good. Okay. So, okay. No, no, I think it's good. In the beginning, but I think now it works. Maybe I'll comment. Okay. So maybe I'll comment a bit for the, you know, GX penetration and also a bit Brazil. And then Fruto can always add Carlos for the user numbers. So, yeah. So more like... maybe starting with Brazil, because it's actually quite interesting. I think we just commented that for GX, US, of course, is always our number one market. But it's a good example that will also show very strong growth for Brazil, more like as an emoji market. But also, it's a function that it's also one of the places where we see, traditionally, it's counted as the emoji market. And you see APA not so high among others. But for GX, what's been very interesting is that we see that you know, if it's gaming users, if it's, you know, from PC gamers, very, you know, active, then they actually see that it's actually relatively high output compared with other browsers. So I think it's, so we highlight this to call out that in some instances, especially I would say in PC and in GX case, we actually see maybe less difference of, you know, users from different regions. But rather, as far as there are high ARP users, for instance, there are gamers, they play with 3A games, then you actually see quite high ARP across the regions. So I think we are excited to see that we have very good growth of GX users in Brazil and also it's a proof I would say rather that you know in the long run perhaps more relevant is high up users with high intent we also see as a trend in the industry and can even be less limited to a particular regions so I think maybe that's the commentary that's the way you have here And then maybe also to comment that, but still, like all in all, in general, both, I would say, let's say high up user market or let's say investor market, we are still, you know, single digital market show, right? We still have plenty of rooms to grow. And overall, we're just very excited about the potentials. It's more like, I would say, You know, for certain products which are already very high up to start with, we also announced the GX up, right? I would say we probably have less focus on particular region, and we are welcome all the user growth, you know, both organically, also by marketing spend. So potentials are huge. While we, of course, in certain other verticals, we, of course, focus more on high value, more like high user value market, like Western markets.

That's super helpful. And if I could just squeeze in one more question about capital allocation before I pass the baton here. And I heard the commentary about the dividend being the primary mechanism for returning cash to shareholders. And I think I know the answer to this, but... There's a yield on the stock, a 7% dividend yield, that would seem to suggest that maybe the market sees potentially some downside risk to the dividend. And just to be clear, is there any reason to think that the dividend could actually be cut or lowered? I mean, it seems to me like the risk around the dividend is to the upside, given the you have no debt, you have strong margins, and even if growth were to begin to plateau, which it hasn't, it seems as though you're generating, I mean, I think I have you at around $150 million of cash at the end of this year, even after you pay the public portion of that $0.80 dividend, right? Because you still have some of the StarMaker receivable that you're working off, I believe? Yeah, that's correct.

Yeah, I can try to broadly comment. I mean, yeah, we seem to trade at a good yield, so good for our investors. The business is scaling. We are converting profitability to cash, I think, in a healthy manner. I would also end up with a calculation of increasing cash, also taking into account our new Iceland data center for the year, though. So, obviously, we'd like to be more textbook, and we just launched this recurring dividend, but over time, of course, we would like to be in a position where we can increase it and certainly not decrease it.

Thank you very much, guys. I'll get back in the queue.

Thank you. And we'll take our next question from Eric Sheridan with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

Thanks so much for taking the questions. Two, if I could, first, coming back to the comments about Apple and opening up broader competition, how should we think about what that means for growth in the business, not only in 2024, but against a longer-term time horizon and how you're thinking about incorporating that into forward growth? That would be number one. And then number two, you know, obviously nice leverage displayed both in the quarter and the way you're framing margins for 24. Can you talk a little bit about balancing what your key investments are for 24 against delivering against that type of operating leverage? Thanks so much.

Yes, Charles. So I guess I thought this is only – I thought I would just take the – The Apple one, because I like it. So no, I think in general, I think it's still rather on its stage, right? Because it's more like it's a function of regulatory changes. I guess everybody see the motions. Well, some of the pressures from EU, the MAF, that we see Apple now starting to open up, right, trying to say that they now allow, you know, potential self-party browser engines, in our case, to be available on Apple, even though there are still lots of conditions that we need to iron out, right? So I would almost say, you know, as we all know that in Western market or high-up market, Apple has a significant market share, and that has been rather vintage in self-party browsers because they simply do not allow a browser engine at all, right? So I don't know if many people realize that. from the beginning. They never allow it, which is rather strange. So I would almost say that I think now we have this false to right move that's opening up. That's a potential that can allow us to compete in the same level as, say, Android, which is now by far the majority of the mobile smartphone base, simply because we can then have our own engine. So I think that's definitely the right direction. There's still work to do, because I think even, yeah, we also have good talk with Apple and many others. They are still ironing out the whole process and whether, you know, because now it's also limited to the EU, which is a bit strange. Like, why would you, you know, have something which is only okay in Europe, not other place? So, you know, we need to, you know, iron out a lot of details, also in very good spirit and partnership with Apple and the likes. But we like the movement and the directions, and we are very actively working on it. I do think that we will have a higher growth in iOS in any case. But, of course, again, it depends on a few of other stuff that we're actively working on. So, yeah, so I think that's my short answer. But then maybe Prusa can comment a bit on capital allocation models.

Yeah, sure, Eric. So, I mean, our underlying trend is a margin expansion as we scale. And then when we look at the 2024, we set our guidance based on sort of that normalized trend of that scale. So I think we We guide about a point or so, percentage points ahead of consensus, given that we have scaled very strongly in the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter alone lifted the EBITDA margin of 2023 by an entire percentage point relative to what we guided for the quarter ahead of time. So we certainly came in ahead of expectations throughout the year, including in the final month of the year, because if you're Look back, remember our original margin expectation for 2023 was 20% EBITDA. So we continue to scale it, but we also invest in growth in our marketing when we see healthy ROI, and we have been stepping that up in dollar terms quarter by quarter, and we do want to continue that trend.

Thank you.

Thank you. And we'll take our next question from Navid Khan with B. Riley. Your line is open.

Yeah, great. Thanks a lot. On the iOS topic, I'm curious if you plan to do any advertising to drive up awareness for Opera as this change goes into effect on March 7th so that you can get more downloads. Any color on that? And then... And then I have a follow-up on the ad extension. Are you seeing any increased interest because of the upcoming cookie deprecation and Chrome browser and how you kind of offer a closed-loop system for the advertisers?

Yeah, so, okay. Yeah, this is only hell. I think I'll comment a bit. And then Frida can always chime in for more details. So yes, I think you probably refer to the potential ballot screen and others allowing users to choose a list of proposals from, yeah, when they first open the phone, when you see your model. So I would say yes, I think we will definitely, we'll probably allocate more marketing budget, I agree, because it's good timing. But then maybe just to point out that, of course, for us, we're more looking also forward into the capability of being able to have an independent browser engine, because that actually will make more differentiations, and that will take more time simply because Apple will, yeah, there's still a lot of limitations technically that Apple, yeah, it's still not very clear yet how that comes out, so we need to work on that. But yes, high-level, I think, does make sense to have higher marketing spend, and we're looking forward to it to actually further increase our iOS market share. So it's that. And then also maybe comment a bit on the ads. Yes, we do see that web traffic is quite relevant to us as the ads platform, just because we as a browser are quite natural into this. We have all the first-party data, and we're not really impacted by Google Ads or no traffic or models. So yes, we already see a good trend that we see picking up of web traffic, perhaps more than anything else in Q4, and we think that will continue in Q1, and we'll focus on that as well. So it's probably going to be a bit tailwind or good advantage for us moving forward.

Excellent. Thank you.

Thank you. And we'll take our next question from Alicia Yap with Citigroup. Your line is open.

Hi. Thank you. Good evening. Good morning, management. Thanks for taking my questions. Also, congrats on the solid quarter. I have a few questions. First is, following up on the Brazil GX browser with the lesson learned from Brazil, would that lead you to think about also launching in other markets? if so where could that be and then second question is just wondering if there's any initial target that on the revenue contribution or incremental revenue contribution that can be you know coming out from the area integration later this year and then a last question is Given you continue to grow the high-value, high-output user on your platform, what kind of potential new advertiser industry, vertical, or category that you believe you could attract that has not been already on your platform? Thank you.

Yep. Yep. Okay. So, yeah. Okay. Like again, slowly inhale. I'll try not to fall. And then further, please chime in, and I'll try to be brave. So, So, yeah, I think GX essentially is available worldwide. We don't really have too much limitations on regions. But then you are right that the content, of course, of GX can be different across regions because of languages, news, user interest, among others. So, yes, there are a bit localization needed and a bit localized focus. which, as you are rightly saying, we both focus on the U.S. and other European countries, but now we're also expanding into LATAM, in particular Brazil, which works really well. So I think naturally we will want to expand more into LATAM, into relevant regions, and then there are also other similar regions which we can look at. So I think the focus is naturally that we want to target regions and countries where there is a big penetration of gamers, especially PC gamers, because that's a very relevant product for GX. So I think that's how we look at it. And I think it will continue to see the nice expansion of GX user base, which, again, is a very nice revenue driver, and it's profitable from day one. So very excited about it, because that actually will mean more profit margins, hopefully. And then I think you also commented about ARIA and its contribution to revenue, I guess. So, like, again, it's still... You know, for totality, it's still a bit out of stage, but I would say that, you know, first of all, of course, it does bring awareness and, you know, say we have grown very nice people over one of flagship products because of AI, because, you know, people put a lot of focus on it. They see that it can be differentiated. But then on top, if looking at the revenue point of view in many regions, you probably can already see that now the AI or the ARIA chatting has now already included say, monetizable links, if you click on it, it will take you to a web page and where would you get monetizable shares. So I think that's a very good example of how that can be monetized, even though we're actually working, of course, with our partners, because it's very important that they're also on the board, how we should design the model for work. So it's that. And then, you know, again, not limiting to links, there's many other, you know, recommendations of hotels and many others which we are very excited about with our partners experimenting. So, like, Oevo, very nice way of monetizing, very easily conceivable. And the only thing is just, you know, we are seeing almost a bigger change in the industry, and we want to work very closely with our partners to do this in the right way. So it's that. And then I think

What's the last question again?

Oh, as you continue to grow the high value, high up user, any new advertiser industry vertical that you haven't been on board, you can able to attract, yeah.

Yes, yes. Sorry, I don't have a note. So yeah, I forgot this one. OK, sure, sure. So yeah, I mean, I think. it's actually quite interesting, right? Because in Q4 alone, we already see that, you know, e-commerce is really standing out. But I would almost say that you know it's really it's a bit different than what we see in the past that now we see that you know e-commerce vertical with the very specific high user intent is very relevant like like instead of generic you know banners showing you know hey you can buy this goods or that we see that you know now we can do more i would say focus on high intent user events like at the point where you don't want to check out we say hey do you have a coupon code hey maybe you want to check this cashback And those actually works really well while experimenting with some of our US partners. So very excited about it. I think that's definitely a new trend that we see, that we focus on high-intent user event, and then we try to commercialize it, but also give very good user values, because users are very appreciative, because that gives them value right out of the box. So I think similar styles that may be potentially lower frequency, but very high-value event with good user intent, e-commerce, but it can also potentially be, you know, fintech finance, credit card application or whatever can be quite relevant. So, those are what we are quite excited about as potentially new verticals.

Okay, great.

Thank you. Maybe I should just comment on your second question in terms of guidance. So, I would say we do reflect the fact that ARIA helps us raise awareness, and so it helps us attract high-value users, and we see that it's also very engaged users that we monetize well in our existing monetization directly. So that's how we consider it for now, and then incrementality, we are more cautious to build in, since it's still so new.

I see. Okay, gotcha. Thank you.

And once again, to ask a question, please press star and 1 on your telephone keypad. We'll take our next question from Mark Argento with Lake Street. Your line is open.

Good morning, guys. Just a couple quick ones here. So, Song Lin, I know in your prepared remarks you talked a little bit about search, continue to see. Decent strength there. I think it grew 15%. But you did mention that you thought you could grow in excess of the search market. Just wanted to drill down there a little bit. And on his AI, the core contributor there. And then just one for Proto on the OPE. You know, big reval up on the stake with the recent investment. Did you guys get a look at the opportunity to sell secondary shares in that transaction? Or what's the probability we could see a monetization there? And then if you do monetize, any kind of thoughts on use of proceeds? Thanks, guys.

Yeah, okay. So, yeah, I'll briefly comment. And then, yeah, further can also comment a bit on the other questions. So, yeah, I guess when we refer to search, I think it's really a function of, number one, we do have, you know, like, say, for instance, we work closely with our search partners, like Google and the likes. And then, in fact, of course, just being that, we do have a bit higher search growth because we're benefiting from not only the revenue growth, you know, in this case, similar to Google, but we do also have more user growth, perhaps, just because we are starting from a much smaller point, right? Like, especially in high-up markets. So I think that's really just to explain why. We do have, you know, higher search revenue growth than, say, the bigger markets, right? So if you compare us with Google device.

So that's one.

And then, of course, we're also quite excited about the future because I think mainly because we are very positive about our potential user growth. And then I also agree with you that with the incorporation of AI, it can actually make users more efficient, more search discoverable, and then they can meet perhaps the search result page more likely, which we really hope that can also bring more revenue stream from that and if we can also be innovative on that. But again, we're working very closely with our partners on that because I think it's very important that these are coordinated efforts.

Mark, I can comment on the open part of the question. So I think based on the result of 2023, we can say we are happy we haven't sold out yet. We didn't monetize the stake a couple of years ago, but still a significant position. At the same time, it's It's not part of our business. We don't have any operational synergies really as an investor. So as a long-term view, we do want to exit the position, but there's no real necessity of a set timeline. So I think we'll consider it and treat it in an opportunistic manner. And then, as I mentioned on the call, whether that ultimately becomes a sale or an exit by an IPO, That's how we see it long term, but we don't have a set timeline that we, for some reason, must adhere to.

Great. Thank you.

And it appears that we have no further questions at this time. I will now turn the program back over to Song Lin for any additional or closing remarks.

Sure. Okay. So, like again, really appreciate that you could join the call. In conclusion, we think that 2023 was a terrific year for Opera. The top-line growth and adjusted EBITDA margin expansion we experienced, combined with the best product portfolio in our history, sets us up for continued success in 2024. So, really looking forward to it. And I would also like to thank all of you, our employees, for your hard work and our investors for your confidence in us.

Thank you, Corey.

And this does conclude today's program. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect at any time and have a wonderful day.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I'll see you soon.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you for joining us. As usual, I have with me today our co-CEO, Song Lin, and our CFO, Frodo Jacobson. Before I hand over the call to Song Lin, I would like to remind everyone that in the conference call today, the company will be making statements about its future results and expectations which constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Such statements are based on current expectations and how we perceive the current economic environment and are inherently subject to economic, competitive, and other uncertainties and contingencies beyond the control of management. You should be cautioned that these statements are not guarantees of future performance, and you may refer to the Safe Harbor Statement and the company's earnings release for details. Our commentary today will also include non-IFRS financial measures, including adjusted EBITDA, which are different from our consolidated financial statements that are prepared and presented based on IFRS. We believe that the use of our non-IFRS financial measures provides an additional tool for investors to use in evaluating ongoing operating results and trends. These measures should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for financial information prepared in accordance with IFRS. We've also posted unaudited quarterly historic financial results of OPERA on our investor relations website. With that, let me turn the conference call over to our co-CEO, Song Lin, who will cover our fourth quarter operational highlights and strategy. And then Frodo Jacobson will discuss our financials and expectations going forward. Soren?

Sure. Thanks, Matt. And thank you to everyone joining us this morning to review our fourth quarter results. We are excited to report yet another great quarter. Revenue of $130 million driven by strong organic growth, payout with cost discipline resulting in $28 million of adjusted EBITDA, well above our expectations. For the full year, revenue was $397 million, and adjusted EBITDA was $94 million. The fourth quarter of 2023 built upon the strengths we saw throughout the year. This time last year, we guided revenue growth of 15% for 2023 as a whole, with a 20% EBITDA margin and submit points. Even after raising the lead point of revenue and EBITDA guidance every quarter, we were able to consistently beat those expectations and in a year raise revenue up 20% and then adjust EBITDA margin of 24%. We are very pleased that we have been able to consistently deliver revenue outperformance while spending less than anticipated on marketing and accelerating our margin expansion. This also highlights our ability to consistently attract new users, primarily through organic channels. We did not waver from our strategy to focus on high-up users. As expected, we are starting to see signs that high-up user growth is offsetting low-up user churn, with a slight increase in our total user base during Q4. Annualized ARPU grew to a record high, 1.44% in the fourth quarter, up 22% year-over-year, and 10% sequentially. This was primarily driven by high-value users as well as Opera GX. 2024 will be more of the same, with the goal of continuing to grow these users both in Western markets as well as high-value users in general. Combining this focus on high-value users coupled with a stronger product portfolio and ongoing efforts to continually improve monetization puts us in a very exciting position. We are still a relatively small company with lots of potential remaining in the core browser business. During the quarter, Advertising Revenue was 68 million, growing 20% year-over-year. Advertising was strong for both our owned and operated inventory, as well as opera ads. We saw particular strengths in the retail vertical during the holiday period. Advertising now represents 60% of revenue. Stock revenue was 45 million in the quarter, up 15%, which we are also very proud of given the maturity. of this revenue category. As we shift the mix of our user base towards higher monetization regions and user groups, we can generate such revenue growth well beyond the underlying market growth of such base monetization. Last quarter, I outlined three core growth drivers. Generative AI and the work we are doing with ARIA advertising opportunities, and finally, our gaming focus with Opera GX. I want to give you a brief update on each and how they shape our focus for 2024. For several years, we have used AI to help power our news and content products to deliver relevant and customized content for our users. In 2023, we stepped up those efforts specifically rolling out ARIA, our browser AI. ARIA has received great user feedback and provided another point of attention that supported our user growth in Western markets. Yet we need to be mindful that the whole industry is still in the early stage of its potential. Users can benefit more from AI assistance than what they might consider themselves. The muscle memory of routine is strong, and many integration points within the industry need to be rebuilt. As we embark on a new year, we continue to iterate and are very excited for this next chapter in the ARIA story. We want to integrate ARIA Follow into the browsing experience, assisting users to unlock more efficiency gains, whether it relates to the browsing of the web itself obtaining or processing information, or content creation. As a browser and as an independent ecosystem player, we also have a unique opportunity to help users navigate the broader AI space and simplify their experience. On top, we see potential to help less tech-savvy users take advantage of these technologies while enjoying heightened levels of privacy and data protection. In short, the opportunities are huge. Our rewards for helping our users to benefit from ARIA is observable not only as part of user growth, but also within engagement and in indirect and direct monetization opportunities, from the monetizable links in chat environments to intelligent recommendations based on the browsing context. As you may have seen, we have announced that we are pairing our product development with a significant investment in our AI infrastructure with the launch of a new data center in Iceland. This data center will be green, energy-powered, and takes advantage of the Icelandic climate to reduce cooling costs. And in general, we pride ourselves on our efficient hosting setup, typically and one-tenth of the cost of third-party providers. And we're excited to expand our in-house hosting to the AI space. AI is processing intensive, with energy and quality being key OPEX factors, but less sensitive to latency variations in milliseconds. As such, Iceland is a great location for our forced AI footprint, whereas our other data centers are typically located closer to our end users. Shift into advertising, which remains a top priority given the potential we see to continue strengthening our monetization. As a browser company, we can leverage the closed-loop environment of the browser to capture interest and context. While remaining mindful of user privacy, we are able to create value and utility for the user throughout their online journey. unlike many advertising platforms, which rely on third-party signals and cookies. For example, when shopping online, we do not need to rely on third-party cookies to tell us which offers to display to a user, but rather can do so organically at the right moment in the user's shopping experience, such as discount codes when billing the card when intent is at its highest. With the growth of high-value users, we are becoming an increasingly relevant party to even more potential advertisers, typically in the context of integrated functionality that both benefits our users and has the potential to drive sizable revenue for Opera, representing a significant opportunity as we look into 2024. Beyond our own inventory, Opera Ads has proven itself as a competitive player in the broader landscape, attracting advertisers based on our technical abilities to augment their targeting. We will continue investing in that platform in 2024, which we will see good opportunities from e-commerce, gaming, and other high-intent user interactions in a programmatic way, coupled with advances in AI and algorithms, which we persist in pursuing. And then in terms of our focus on games, Opera GX continues its healthy growth trajectory. Our GX user base was 27.8 million in the fall, adding 7% high-value users versus Q3 alone. On top of the user growth, annualized ARPU increased to 3.51 cents during the quarter, up 6% versus Q3. The compounding of user and ARP growth has brought Opera GX to become a product with almost 100 million annualized revenue run rates demonstrating our ability to be relevant to a young and highly engaged user segment. In terms of footprint, Brazil now follows the US as the second largest market of GX. We continue to observe that GX users in emerging markets monetize significantly below their users on other browsers, where the gap between Western and other users being narrow among PC gamers in particular. We feel great about the prospects of Opera GX in 2024 with continued user growth and further monetization opportunities within this attractive user base. Our ability to invest in the footprint of GX is also ever-expanding alongside the growth of the product's output. Beyond these three highlighted areas of opportunity, we also observe some exciting trends in the broader ecosystem One is the opening up of iOS for now in Europe, a result of a continued evolution of the regulatory environment in the EU and other parts of the world. Such regulatory measures to promote healthy competition is naturally a positive impulse to Opera and an independent player. Also, we are well positioned for the rebounding interest in fintech applications on Web3, where we continue to invest in technology. and build use cases. Both of these carry strategic importance to OPERA in the months and years to come. So now, let me turn the call over to Frida to discuss the financials and technical guidance in more detail.

Frida? Thank you, Song. Q4 was a great quarter for us with a continuation of the strengths we've observed all year and a confirmation of our confidence as discussed when we raised Q4 guidance last quarter. Revenue in the quarter came in at the top of our guidance at 17% year-over-year growth. On a constant currency basis, our growth would have been about 4 percentage points higher, or 21%. Our user base is growing in Western markets, And PC browsers also grow high ARPU users in emerging markets due to the success of Upper GX. The decline of low monetized mobile users in emerging markets is offset by strong underlying ARPU growth, leading to revenue growth in both Western and non-Western regions for all products. Adjusted EBITDA came in well above our guidance, adding 3.8 million to the top of our prior range. The overperformance was driven in particular by lower marketing spend than anticipated in our guidance and cost of revenue coming in about one percentage point lower than anticipated relative to revenue. On the other hand, we saw an increase in cost related to advisory services supporting our internal teams on SOX readiness as well as the bad debt provision. Cash flows came in at the high end of expectations relative to adjusted EBITDA with an 88% conversion to operating cash flow for the year as a whole and 77% conversion to free cash flow from operations for the year as a whole. and both slightly stronger in the fourth quarter in isolation. Tax cost for the year was relatively modest at 7% of adjusted EBITDA. In 2023, we benefited from both the recognition of tax assets in relation to our share-based compensation in prior years, as well as FX movements between USD and local currencies in which our taxes are calculated and paid. Our year-end balance sheet includes an updated fair value assessment of our investments in OPE. We value our stake at an estimated $269 million, up from $163 million before. This results in a significant non-cash accounting gain of $106 million in the fourth quarter. As noted in our press release, we've observed that the company more than quadrupled its user base during 2023 and saw an even higher uplift in daily usage, in turn driving strong revenue growth. The updated valuation also ties with the limited investments by a new OPE investor in late 2023, which subscribed at a $3 billion OPE valuation. We remain interested in selling our stake in OPE at the right time. We are also open to a later stage exit in connection with OPE eventually going public according to its longer term plans. Our OPE stake stood at 9.44% as of year end. We completed our most recent buyback program in the quarter, repurchasing 1.15 million ADSs at an average price of $11.27, totaling 13 million. We thereby fulfilled the 50 million buyback that was launched in early 2022, with a total of 6.1 million ADSs repurchased at an average cost of $8.17. We will continue to consider buybacks in a tactical manner to maximize value for our shareholders in the long run. Since 2020, we have repurchased 35.5 million ADSs, equal to 30% of the shares outstanding at that time, at a cost of $228 million, or $6.44 on average per ADS. When adjusting for dividends avoided, the average cost is even more attractive. However, as we look ahead, it is our recurring dividend program launched in 2023 and currently at 80 cents per ADS per year that is expected to be our main avenue of returning funds to our shareholders. Now, turning to our first guidance for the full year 2024 and the first quarter. For 2024 as a whole, we are guiding revenue to 450 to 465 million, representing 15% growth at the midpoint. The guidance assumes continued convergence between the growth rates of advertising and search, though further upside would more likely be fueled by advertising. We expect to continue our browser's growth trajectory with high RP users, and we expect continued expansion of Opera ads. We guide adjusted EBITDA to 106 to 110 million, representing a 24% margin at the midpoints. The EBITDA guidance is highly exposed to what marketing costs we assume, and this cost is also highly discretionary. In 2023, marketing cost came in at 28% of revenue versus about 32% in our original guidance for the year. As a reminder, marketing cost was 35% of revenue in 2022 and even 48% of revenue in 2021. From a relatively low spend level at the start of 2023, we scaled our marketing activities quarter to quarter. We are encouraged by our ability to scale at attractive ROI, and as we look to 2024, we expect to continue the sequential trend as an investment in our growth trajectory, also beyond the current year, though starting the year with a Q1 spend more similar to Q4. In sum, this translates to a marketing spend expectation of just above $130 million, or about 29% relative to revenue. Cost of revenue items combined represented 23% of revenue in 2023, scaling with a successful expansion of Opera ads. Our guidance implies a modest continuation of the trend, adding about one percentage point relative to revenue for 2024 as a whole. Similar to 2023, the percentage will start below the annual average and increase in subsequent quarters. For remaining cost expectations, both cash-based compensation costs and the sum of our other cost items prior to adjusted EBITDA are expected to grow year-over-year in the mid-single digits, and as a result, are expected to drop about two percentage points relative to revenue combined. For the first quarter, we guide revenue to 99 to 101 million, or up 15% year-over-year at the midpoints, and adjusted EBITDA of 22.5 to 24.5 million, or a 24% margin at the midpoints. In conclusion, we've put behind us a year that's progressed ahead of our expectations, both in terms of revenue and profitability, and we are excited to embark on 2024. We're only two months out from releasing Q1 by now, and we look forward to giving you more color on how 2024 is shaping up then. With that, I'll turn the call back to the operator for questions.

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press the pound key. When posing your question, we ask that you please pick up your handset for optimal sound quality. We'll take our first question from Lance Vitanza with TD Cohen. Your line is open. Hi.

Thanks for taking the questions and congratulations on the quarter. A couple for me if I could. The first is with respect to the headroom that you think you have to further expand the user base in the high value markets like the U.S. and Western Europe. I know you touched on this a little bit during the call, but could you provide any more color on how penetrated you believe you are in those markets today versus where do you think you can ultimately take that? And then I was not quite sure I followed the commentary around Brazil and how that comes into play. I mean, that's not necessarily a high-value market, but it sounds like you're seeing some progress there. So if perhaps you could... revisit that and elaborate on that, that would be helpful.

Hello?

Zongnan, are you muted?

No, no, I'm good.

Okay. Did you guys get the question or should I repeat that?

No, I think it's good. Okay. So, okay. No, no, I think it's good. In the beginning, but I think now it works. Maybe I'll comment. Okay. So maybe I'll comment a bit for the, you know, GX penetration and also a bit Brazil. And then Fruto can always add Carlos for the user numbers. So, yeah. So more like, yeah, maybe starting with Brazil because it's actually quite interesting. I think we just commented that. You know, for GX, US, of course, is always our number one market. But it's a good example that will also show very strong growth for Brazil, more like as an emerging market. But also, it's a function that it's also one of the places where we see, you know, traditionally, it's counted as emerging market. And you see, you know, ARPA not so high among others. But for GX, what's been very interesting is that we see that, you know, if it's gaming users, if it's, you know, from PC, gamers, very, you know, active, then they actually see that it's actually relatively high ARPU compared with other browsers. So I think we highlight this to call out that in some instances, especially I would say in PC and in GX case, we actually see maybe less difference of users from different regions. But rather, as far as they are high ARPU users, for instance, they are gamers, they play with 3A games, then you actually see quite high ARPU. you know across the regions so I think we're excited to see that we have very good growth of GX users in Brazil and also it's a proof I would say rather that you know in the long run perhaps more relevant is high up users with high intent we also see as a trend in the industry and can even be less limited to a particular regions so I think maybe that's the commentary that's the way you have here And then maybe also to comment that, but still, like all in all, in general, both, I would say, let's say high up user market or let's say investor market, we are still, you know, things are digital market show, right? We still have plenty of rooms to grow. And overall, we're just very excited about the potentials. It's more like, I would say, you know, for certain products which are already very high up to start with, we also announced the GX up, right? I would say we probably have less focus on particular region, and we are welcome all the user growth, you know, both organically, also by marketing spend. So potentials are huge. While we, of course, in certain other verticals, we, of course, focus more on high value, more like high user value market, like Western markets.

That's super helpful. And if I could just squeeze in one more question about capital allocation before I pass the baton here. And I heard the commentary about the dividend being the primary mechanism for returning cash to shareholders. And I think I know the answer to this, but... There's a yield on the stock, a 7% dividend yield, that would seem to suggest that maybe the market sees potentially some downside risk to the dividend. And just to be clear, is there any reason to think that the dividend could actually be cut or lowered? I mean, it seems to me like the risk around the dividend is to the upside, given... you have no debt, you have strong margins, and even if growth were to begin to plateau, which it hasn't, it seems as though you're generating, I mean, I think I have you at around $150 million of cash at the end of this year, even after you pay the public portion of that $0.80 dividend, right? Because you still have some of the StarMaker receivable that you're working off, I believe? Yeah, that's correct.

Yeah, I can try to broadly comment. I mean, yeah, we seem to trade at a good yield, so good for our investors. The business is scaling. We are converting profitability to cash, I think, in a healthy manner. I would also... end up with a calculation of increasing cash, also taking into account our new Iceland data center for the year, though. So we obviously, we'd like to be more textbook, and we just launched this recurring dividend, but over time, of course, we would like to be in a position where we can increase it and certainly not decrease it.

Thank you very much, guys. I'll get back in the queue.

Thank you. And we'll take our next question from Eric Sheridan with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

Thanks so much for taking the questions. Two, if I could. First, coming back to the comments about Apple and opening up broader competition, how should we think about what that means for growth in the business, not only in 2024 but against a longer-term time horizon and how you're thinking about incorporating that into forward growth? forecasts. That would be number one. And then number two, you know, obviously nice leverage displayed both in the quarter and the way you're framing margins for 24. Can you talk a little bit about balancing what your key investments are for 24 against delivering against that type of operating leverage? Thanks so much.

Yes, Charles. So I guess I thought this is only – I thought I would just take the – The Apple one, because I like it. So no, I think, so in general, I think it's still rather on its page, right? Because it's more like, it's a function of regulatory changes. I guess everybody sees, yeah, see the motions. Well, you know, due to some of the pressures from EU, the MAF, that we see Apple now starting to open up, right, trying to say that they now allow, you know, potential self-party browser engines, in our case, to be available on Apple, even though there are still lots of conditions that we need to iron out, right? So I would almost say, you know, as we all know that in Western market or high-up market, Apple has a significant market share, and that has been rather limiting to self-party browsers because they simply do not allow a browser engine at all, right? So I don't know if many people realize that. from the beginning. They never allow it, which is rather strange. So I would almost say that I think now we have this false to right move that's opening up. That's a potential that can allow us to compete in the same level as, say, Android, which is now by far the majority of the mobile smartphone base, simply because we can then have our own engine. So I think that's definitely the right direction. There's still work to do because I think even, yeah, we also have good talk with Apple and many others. They are still ironing out the whole process and whether, you know, because now it's also limited to the EU, which is a bit strange. Like, why would you, you know, have something which is only okay in Europe, not other place? So, you know, we need to, you know, iron out a lot of details, also in very good spirit and partnership with Apple and the likes. But we like the movement and the directions, and we are very actively working on it. I do think that we will have a higher growth in iOS in any case. But, of course, again, it depends on a few of other stuff that we're actively working on. So, yeah, so I think that's, that's my short answer, but then maybe Prusa can comment a bit on capital allocation models.

Yeah, sure, Eric. So, I mean, we, our underlying trend is a margin expansion as, as we scale. And, and then when, when we look at the 2024, we, we set our guidance based on sort of that normalized trend of, of that scale. So I think we, We guide about a point or so, percentage points ahead of consensus, given that we have scaled very strongly in the fourth quarter. The fourth quarter alone lifted the EBITDA margin of 2023 by an entire percentage point relative to what we guided for the quarter ahead of time. So we certainly came in ahead of expectations throughout the year, including in the final month of the year, because if you're Look back, remember our original margin expectation for 2023 was 20% EBITDA. So we continue to scale it, but we also invest in growth in our marketing when we see healthy ROI, and we have been stepping that up in dollar terms quarter by quarter, and we do want to continue that trend. Thank you.

Thank you. And we'll take our next question from Navid Khan with B. Riley. Your line is open.

Yeah, great. Thanks a lot. On the iOS topic, I'm curious if you plan to do any advertising to drive up awareness for Opera as this change goes into effect on March 7th so that you can get more downloads. Any color on that? And then... And then I have a follow-up on the ad extension. Are you seeing any increased interest because of the upcoming cookie deprecation and Chrome browser and how you kind of offer a closed-loop system for the advertisers?

Yeah, so, okay. Yeah, this is only hell. I think I'll comment a bit. and then Frida can always chime in for more details. So, yes, I think you probably refer to the potential ballot screen, and that allows users to choose a list of proposals from, yeah, when they first open the phone, when you see your model. So I would say, yes, I think we will definitely, we'll probably allocate more marketing budget, I agree, because it's good timing. But then maybe just to point out that, of course, for us, we're more looking also forward into the capability of being able to have an independent browser engine, because that actually will make more differentiations, and that will take more time simply because Apple will, yeah, there's still a lot of limitations technically that Apple, yeah, it's still not very clear yet how that turns out, so we need to work on that. But yes, high-level, I think, does make sense to have higher marketing spend, and we're looking forward to it to actually further increase our iOS market share. So it's that. And then also maybe comment a bit on the ads. Yes, we do see that web traffic is quite relevant to us as the ads platform, just because we as a browser are quite natural into this. We have all the first-party data, and we're not really impacted by Google Ads or no traffic or models. So yes, we already see a good trend that we see picking up of web traffic, perhaps more than anything else in Q4, and we think that will continue in Q1, and we'll focus on that as well. So it's probably going to be a bit tailwind or good advantage for us moving forward.

Excellent. Thank you.

Thank you. And we'll take our next question from Alicia Yap with Citigroup. Your line is open.

Hi. Thank you. Good evening. Good morning, management. Thanks for taking my questions. Also, congrats on the solid quarter. I have a few questions. First is, following up on the Brazil GX browser with the lesson learned from Brazil, would that lead you to think about also launching in other markets? if so where could that be and then second question is just wondering if there's any initial target that on the revenue contribution or incremental revenue contribution that can be you know coming out from the area integration later this year and then a last question is Given you continue to grow the high value, high output user on your platform, what kind of potential new advertiser industry, vertical, or category that you believe you could attract that has not been already on your platform? Thank you.

Yep. Yep. Okay. So, yeah. Okay. Like again, slowly inhale. I'll try not to fall. And then further, please chime in, and I'll try to be brave. So... So, yeah, I think GX essentially is available worldwide. We don't really have too much limitations on regions. But then you are right that the content, of course, of GX can be different across regions because of languages, news, user interest, among others. So, yes, there are a bit localization needed and a bit localized focus. which, as you are rightly saying, we both focus on the U.S. and other European countries, but now we're also expanding into LATAM, in particular Brazil, which works really well. So I think naturally we will want to expand more into LATAM, into relevant regions, and then there are also other similar regions which we can look at. So I think the focus is naturally that we want to target regions and countries where there is a big penetration of gamers especially PC gamers, because that's a very relevant product for GX. So I think that's how we look at it. And I think it will continue to see the nice expansion of GX user base, which, again, is a very nice revenue driver, and it's profitable from day one. So very excited about it, because that actually will mean more profit margins, hopefully. And then I think you also commented about ARIA and its contribution to revenue, I guess. So, like, again, it's still... You know, for totality, it's still a bit out of stage, but I would say that, you know, first of all, of course, it does bring awareness and, you know, say we have grown very nicely for Opera One, our flagship product, because of AI, because, you know, people put a lot of focus on it. They see that it can be differentiated. But then on top, if you look at the revenue point of view in many regions, you probably can already see that now the AI or the ARIA chatting has now already included say, monetizable links, if you click on it, it will take you to a webpage and where would you get monetizable shares. So I think that's a very good example of how that can be monetized, even though we're actually working, of course, with our partners, because it's very important that they're also on the board, how we should design the model for work. So it's that. And then, you know, again, not limiting to links doesn't mean at all, you know, recommendations of a hotel and many others, which we are very excited about with our partners experimenting. So, so like we go very, very nice way of monetize very easily conceivable. And the only thing is just, you know, we have to see almost a bigger change in industry and we want to work very close with our partners to do this in the right way. So it's that. And then I think

What's the last question again?

Oh, as you continue to grow the high value, high up user, any new advertiser industry vertical that you haven't been on board, you can able to attract, yeah.

Yes, yes. Sorry, I don't have a note. So yeah, I forgot this one. OK, sure, sure. So yeah, I mean, I think. it's actually quite interesting, right? Because in Q4 alone, we already see that, you know, e-commerce is really standing out. But I would almost say that It's a bit different than what we've seen in the past. Now we see that e-commerce vertical with a very specific high user intent is very relevant. Instead of generic banners showing, hey, you can buy this goods or that, we see that now we can do more, I would say, focus on high intent user events. At the point where you don't want to check out, we say, hey, do you have a coupon code? Hey, maybe you want to check this cashback. And those actually works really well while experimenting with some of our US partners. So very excited about it. I think that's definitely a new trend that we see, that we focus on high-intent user event, and then we try to commercialize it, but also give very good user values, because users are very appreciative, because that gives them value right out of the box. So I think similar styles that may be potentially lower frequency, but very high-value event with good user intent. e-commerce, but it can also potentially be, you know, fintech finance, credit card application or whatever can be quite relevant. So those are what we are quite excited about as potentially new verticals.

Okay, great.

Thank you. Maybe I should just comment on your second question in terms of guidance. So I would say we do reflect the fact that ARIA helps us raise awareness, and so it helps us attract high-value users, and we see that it's also very engaged users that we monetize well in our existing monetization directly. So that's how we consider it for now, and then incrementality, we are more cautious to build in, since it's still so new.

I see. Okay. Gotcha. Thank you.

And once again, to ask a question, please press star and 1 on your telephone keypad. We'll take our next question from Mark Argento with Lake Street. Your line is open.

Good morning, guys. Just a couple quick ones here. So, Song Lin, I know in your prepared remarks, you talked a little bit about search, continue to seek. Decent strength there. I think it grew 15%. But you did mention that you thought you could grow in excess of the search market. Just wanted to drill down there a little bit. And on his AI, the core contributor there. And then just one for Proto on the OPE. You know, big reval up on the stake with the recent investment. Did you guys get a look at the opportunity to sell secondary shares in that transaction? Or what's the probability we could see a monetization there? And then if you do monetize, any kind of thoughts on use of proceeds? Thanks, guys.

Yeah, okay. So, yeah, I'll briefly comment. And then, yeah, further can also comment a bit on the other questions. So, yeah, I guess when we refer to search, I think it's really a function of, number one, we do have, you know, like, say, for instance, we work closely with our search partners, like Google and the likes. And then, in fact, of course, just being that, we do have a bit higher search growth because we're benefiting from not only the revenue growth, in this case, similar to Google, but we do also have more user growth, perhaps, just because we are starting from a much smaller point, especially in high-up markets. So I think that's really just to explain why we do have higher search revenue growth than, say, the bigger markets, if you compare us with Google devices.

So that's one.

And then, of course, we're also quite excited about the future because I think mainly because we are very positive about our potential user growth. And then I also agree with you that with the incorporation of AI, it can actually make users more efficient, more search discoverable, and then they can meet perhaps the search result page more likely, which we really hope that can also bring more revenue stream from that and if we can also be innovative on that. But again, we're working very closely with our partners on that because I think it's very important that these are coordinated efforts.

Mark, I can comment on the open part of the question. So I think based on the result of 2023, we can say we are happy we haven't sold out yet. We didn't monetize the stake a couple of years ago, but still a significant position. At the same time, it's It's not part of our business. We don't have any operational synergies really as an investor. So as a long-term view, we do want to exit the position, but there's no real necessity of a set timeline. So I think we'll consider it and treat it in an opportunistic manner. And then, as I mentioned on the call, whether that ultimately becomes a sale or an exit by an IPO, That's how we see it long term. But we don't have a set timeline that we, for some reason, must adhere to.

Great. Thank you.

And it appears that we have no further questions at this time. I will now turn the program back over to Song Lin for any additional or closing remarks.

Sure. Okay. So, like again, really appreciate that you could join the call. In conclusion, we think that 2023 was a terrific year for Opera. The top-line growth and adjusted EBITDA margin expansion we experienced, combined with the best product portfolio in our history, sets us up for continued success in 2024. So, really looking forward to it. And I would also like to thank all of you, our employees, for your hard work and our investors for your confidence in us.

Thank you for it.