Allegro third-quarter profit rises as Polish business returns to growth

Nov 30 (Reuters) - Poland's biggest e-commerce platform Allegro reported on Wednesday a 13.9% increase in third-quarter core profit, driven by the recovery in its key home market.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) reached 537.3 million zlotys ($119.16 million) beating the average analysts' expectations of 496 million zlotys in a company-compiled consensus.

At home, its adjusted EBITDA showed year-on-year growth of 24.6% to 587.6 million zlotys, after falling 1.5% in the second quarter as Allegro introduced monetisation initiatives to manage delivery costs.

A higher share of high-margin ad revenue also helped, Allegro said.

"In the face of economic uncertainty and inflation, customers have less to spend, but they know that they can find great value when they shop with us," chief executive Roy Perticucci said in a statement.

Allegro added it was making progress with turnaround at its Mall business it bought this year, helping to curb losses and boost gross merchandise value (GMV).

Still, given rising costs of capital and cost of living crisis, Allegro on Monday recognised a fall in value of its investment in Mall and WE|DO by more than half, booking a 2.3 billion

write-down

, which impacted its net result. ($1 = 4.5091 zlotys) (Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka; Editing by Kim Coghill)