Hemnet earnings fall 26.3% in third quarter as Aalberts posts 13.0% organic growth
Key Facts
Hemnet's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation fell 26.3% year on year in the third quarter of 2026, according to the group's quarterly earnings report. Earnings totalled 144.1 million Swedish crowns, compared with 195.4 million crowns in the corresponding period of 2025. The earnings decline was accompanied by a 17.8% year-on-year drop in net sales. Sales totalled 301.5 million crowns, compared with 366.7 million crowns a year earlier. Earnings thus contracted more sharply than sales over the same period, as paid listing activity on the property platform declined.
The number of paid listings on Hemnet fell to 29.3 thousand in the third quarter from 41.6 thousand a year earlier, a decline of 29.6%. By contrast, average revenue per paid listing rose 9.2%, according to the company's quarterly report. The average reached 8,986 Swedish crowns, compared with 8,226 crowns in the corresponding period. The group said its "sell first, pay later" model partly affected sales and paid listings. It explained that under the model, "revenue is recognised when the property is sold". This timing replaces the allocation of revenue over the listing period, making completion of the sale the event linked to revenue recognition under this model.
As part of changes to its offerings, Hemnet allowed estate agents to publish free listings directly on the platform. The company said the format provides initial exposure for hesitant sellers and aims to lower barriers to entering the market. The move is part of its plan to bring publicly available property listings together on a single platform. On market activity, Hemnet data showed that selling a home took an average of 26 days in September 2026. That was 6 days shorter than in September of the previous year, according to the group's time-to-sale data.
Aalberts reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of about 823.3 million euros, with organic revenue growth of 13.0%, according to a company statement. Earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation of intangible assets totalled 113.8 million euros, with a margin of 13.8%. The chief executive attributed accelerating semiconductor customer demand to AI-related investment. He said this demand was "driven by AI-related investments". By comparison, the company's revenue was 772.5 million euros in the third quarter of 2025, when it recorded an organic contraction of 1.9%. Earnings on the same measure totalled 96.3 million euros at the time. Its margin was 12.5%, putting the current third-quarter results above the corresponding period in terms of revenue, earnings and margin.
The third-quarter results followed organic revenue growth of 5.0% at Aalberts in the first half of 2026, according to the company's disclosure for that period. First-half revenue totalled 1,560 million euros. Earnings before interest, taxes and amortisation of intangible assets, and before exceptional items, totalled 225 million euros, with a margin of 14.4%. In October 2026, the company announced the completion of its share buyback programme. Under the programme, it purchased 2,068,007 shares for a total consideration of 74,999,387 euros. Aalberts said it intends to cancel the repurchased shares.
Hemnet, meanwhile, suspended its share buyback programme to preserve its financial flexibility during its transformation. The group said the decision aims to "provide Hemnet with full financial flexibility during a transformation phase", and that it would announce any resumption of the programme separately. In parallel, its restructuring targets annual operating savings of about 80–85 million Swedish crowns. These targeted savings are measured against the expense run rate in the second quarter of 2026. The company expects their full effect to be realised during the first half of 2027. Among the next scheduled updates, Hemnet set 13 November 2026 for the announcement of net sales for October 2026. Aalberts plans to announce its full-year 2026 results on 23 February 2027.