Opera Software chairman Sverre Munck said the company began evaluating offers from external investors following a ramp in interest over the past month.
The Norway-based fixed and mobile internet browser company opened a strategic review into its future options last week, a move Munck said was prompted by a rise in the intensity of interest from investors in recent weeks, Reuters reported.
Munck told the news agency that the review will enable the company to consider a wider range of options than handling expressions of interest on a case-by-case basis.
The company has engaged investment banks ABG Sundal Collier and Morgan Stanley International to help it "evaluate and consider strategic alternatives" as part of a review process it expects to complete during the second half of the year.
Munck's explanation of the review came as Opera revealed its second quarter EBITDA grew from $27 million (€24.5 million) in Q2 2014 to $29.5 million in the recent three month period, on the back of a 45 per cent year-on-year rise in revenues to $146.2 million.
However, net income fell year-on-year. Figures based on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) show the company slipped to a loss of $1.3 million in the recent quarter from a profit of $9.5 million in the second quarter of 2014. The non-IFRS figure fell from $15.5 million in Q2 2014 to $12.6 million in the recent period.
The company said that its mobile browser revenues grew 45 per cent year-on-year, spurred by a 30 per cent rise in the number of consumers using its Android mobile browser, which hit 139 million at the end of the second quarter.
Overall mobile browser users rose 8 per cent year-on-year to 291 million, far eclipsing the 53 million consumers using the company's desktop browser at the end of the second quarter.
For more:
- see this Reuters report
- view Opera's strategic review statement
- see the company's Q2 earnings statement
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