Opera Ltd (OPRA) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Welcome to the Opera Limited Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

歡迎來到 Opera Limited 第四季度和 2022 年全年收益電話會議。 （接線員說明）請注意，今天的通話正在錄音中。 （操作員說明）

I would now like to turn the call over to your speaker, Matt Wolfson, Head of Investor Relations. Please begin.

我現在想把電話轉給你的發言人，投資者關係主管馬特沃爾夫森。請開始。

Thank you for joining us. As usual, I have with me today are Co-CEO, Song Lin; and our CFO, Frode Jacobsen.

感謝您加入我們。和往常一樣，今天和我一起的是聯席首席執行官宋林；以及我們的首席財務官 Frode Jacobsen。

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. You may refer to the safe harbor statement in the company's earnings release for details.

在我把電話轉給宋林之前，我想提醒大家，在今天的電話會議上，公司將就其未來業績和預期發表聲明，這些聲明構成私人證券訴訟意義上的前瞻性聲明改革法案。此類陳述基於當前的預期以及我們對當前經濟環境的看法，並且本質上受制於管理層無法控制的經濟、競爭和其他不確定性和突發事件。您應該注意，這些陳述並不是對未來表現的保證。詳情可參閱公司財報中的避風港聲明。

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 engaging -- 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.

我們今天的評論還將包括非 IFRS 財務措施，包括調整後的 EBITDA，這與我們根據 IFRS 編制和列報的合併財務報表不同。我們相信，使用我們的非 IFRS 財務措施為投資者提供了一種額外的工具，可以用來評估持續的經營業績和趨勢。不應孤立地考慮這些措施或替代根據 IFRS 編制的財務信息。

We have also posted unaudited quarterly historic financial results of Opera on our investor relations website. We'll be live tweeting highlights from the call at investoropera, so please follow along there during the call and in the future.

我們還在我們的投資者關係網站上發布了 Opera 未經審計的季度歷史財務業績。我們將在 Investoropera 的電話會議上現場發布推文亮點，因此請在電話會議期間和未來繼續關注。

With that, let me turn the call over to our co-CEO, Song Lin, who will cover our operational highlights and strategy, and then Frode will discuss our financials and expectations going forward. Song?

有了這個，讓我把電話轉給我們的聯席首席執行官宋林，他將介紹我們的運營亮點和戰略，然後 Frode 將討論我們的財務狀況和未來的預期。歌曲？

Yes, sure. Thanks, Matt, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. We are very pleased to announce our record results of the fourth quarter, which well exceeded our previous issued guidance of both revenue and profitability.

是的，當然。謝謝馬特，謝謝大家今天加入我們。我們非常高興地宣布我們創紀錄的第四季度業績，這遠遠超過了我們之前發布的收入和盈利指導。

Revenue reached $96.3 million, an increase of 33% over the previous year. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $22.8 million or 24% margin. Looking back and in the quarter and 2022 as a whole, we were able to exceed our revenue expectations as a result of better-than-anticipated monetization of both our browser and new user base and faster than anticipated scaling of the Opera audience extension business.

收入達到 9630 萬美元，比上年增長 33%。調整後的 EBITDA 為 2280 萬美元或 24% 的利潤率。回顧本季度和整個 2022 年，由於我們的瀏覽器和新用戶群的貨幣化好於預期，並且 Opera 受眾擴展業務的擴展速度快於預期，我們能夠超出我們的收入預期。

Combined with a predictable and carefully managed OpEx base, we have been able to convert our strong revenue trajectory to a strong profitability trajectory even ahead of our ambitions. So to recap, the full year revenue was $331 million with adjusted EBITDA of $68 million. Revenues grew 33%, while EBITDA was up 135% as full year margins expanded from 12% to 21%.

結合可預測和精心管理的運營支出基礎，我們已經能夠將強勁的收入軌跡轉變為強勁的盈利軌跡，甚至超過了我們的雄心壯志。回顧一下，全年收入為 3.31 億美元，調整後的 EBITDA 為 6800 萬美元。收入增長 33%，而 EBITDA 增長 135%，全年利潤率從 12% 擴大到 21%。

The impact of our ongoing focus on those users which provides the most value can best be seen in our annualized ARPU. Annualized ARPU was $1.18 in the fourth quarter, an increase of 12% from the third quarter, and a 42% increase compared to last year.

我們持續關注那些提供最大價值的用戶的影響可以在我們的年化 ARPU 中得到最好的體現。第四季度年化 ARPU 為 1.18 美元，環比增長 12%，比去年同期增長 42%。

Advertising revenue grew 55% compared to last year, now representing 59% of total revenue. Our owned and operated sites continue to benefit from the continued shift in our user base towards developed markets with the greatest monetization potential.

廣告收入與去年相比增長了 55%，目前佔總收入的 59%。我們擁有和運營的網站繼續受益於我們的用戶群向具有最大貨幣化潛力的發達市場的持續轉移。

In addition, Opera's audience extension initiatives were a standout business, leveraging our high-performance leading infrastructure and first-party signals to reach the right audiences across partner inventories. These efforts, which really took off in 2022 are an excellent complement to our O&O advertising inventory. This segment has offered a stable incremental margins and is shaping up to be a material component of our revenue and EBITDA growth.

此外，Opera 的受眾擴展計劃是一項出色的業務，它利用我們領先的高性能基礎設施和第一方信號來覆蓋合作夥伴庫存中的正確受眾。這些努力在 2022 年真正起飛，是對我們的 O&O 廣告庫存的極好補充。該部門提供了穩定的增量利潤率，並正在成為我們收入和 EBITDA 增長的重要組成部分。

Search revenue grew 12% in the fourth quarter, which was also better than planned, driven by the growth of our PC footprint in Western markets, particularly North America. As a company, we are cost conscious and operate a lean organization.

第四季度搜索收入增長了 12%，這也好於計劃，這是受我們在西方市場（尤其是北美）的 PC 足跡增長的推動。作為一家公司，我們具有成本意識並經營精益組織。

So as a result, when revenues outperformed, as they did in 2022, we will see a corresponding increase in profitability. As we outlined in 2021, when we posted back on a significant investments in our marketing and distribution channels, we believe that we would reach the results in 2022, and that is exactly what we achieved. And EBITDA margins expanded from 12% to 21%. That's perhaps most important.

因此，當收入表現優於 2022 年時，我們將看到盈利能力相應增加。正如我們在 2021 年概述的那樣，當我們公佈對營銷和分銷渠道的重大投資時，我們相信我們將在 2022 年取得成果，而這正是我們所取得的成就。 EBITDA 利潤率從 12% 擴大到 21%。這也許是最重要的。

Now turning to our products and innovation focus. So Opera as a company has a more than 25-year history of being at the forefront of browser innovation. We have built out more than 300 million user bases by always pushing the limits of what's possible on the web.

現在轉向我們的產品和創新重點。因此，作為一家公司，Opera 擁有超過 25 年的歷史，一直處於瀏覽器創新的前沿。通過不斷突破 Web 的極限，我們已經建立了超過 3 億的用戶群。

The mass interest in generative AI tools and the often-impressive capabilities that this to us already have shortly marks the beginning of a new chapter in the evolution of not only the Internet, but the knowledge base the economy and large.

大眾對生成式 AI 工具的興趣以及這對我們來說已經擁有的通常令人印象深刻的能力，很快就標誌著不僅是互聯網，而且是經濟和廣大知識庫的發展新篇章的開始。

For Opera, that represents a huge opportunity, perhaps similar to the emergence of mobile web and smartphones. As the independent browser, we are firing on all cylinders to become the best gateway to an AI-powered web, building and rolling out new experiences in web browsing that's not very long ago seemed impossible to achieve.

對於 Opera 來說，這代表著一個巨大的機會，或許類似於移動網絡和智能手機的出現。作為獨立的瀏覽器，我們正在全力以赴成為通向 AI 驅動的網絡的最佳門戶，構建和推出不久前似乎無法實現的網絡瀏覽新體驗。

For instance, we are adding popular AI-generated content service to the browser sidebar. On top of that, the company is also working on augmenting the browsing experience with new features that will interact with this new generative AI-powered capabilities.

例如，我們正在向瀏覽器側邊欄添加流行的人工智能生成的內容服務。最重要的是，該公司還致力於通過新功能增強瀏覽體驗，這些新功能將與這種新的生成人工智能功能交互。

Among the first features to be tested is a new, small but super useful shorten button in the address bar that will be able to use AI to generate short summaries of any webpage or article.

首先要測試的功能之一是地址欄中一個新的、小但非常有用的縮短按鈕，它將能夠使用 AI 生成任何網頁或文章的簡短摘要。

Not all of you may be aware that AI has been central to Opera News from the beginning more than 5 years ago to serve up stories and content relevant to -- in personalized way. In 2023, we are going to ramp up our AI news efforts. It will start with using AI to assist content creation.

並非所有人都知道人工智能從 5 多年前開始就一直是 Opera News 的核心，以個性化的方式提供相關的故事和內容。 2023 年，我們將加大 AI 新聞力度。它將首先使用 AI 來協助內容創建。

For instance, AI will be able to help summarize the top stories of the day, and then generate short articles to keep users informed of local and national news. These stories will cover subjects such as sports, weather, prime report, energy and fuel prices and other information relevant to their lives.

例如，人工智能將能夠幫助總結當天的頭條新聞，然後生成短文，讓用戶了解當地和國家的新聞。這些故事將涵蓋體育、天氣、主要報告、能源和燃料價格以及與他們生活相關的其他信息等主題。

These fissures are being pushed out as we speak. We believe AI will soon be indispensable tool in existing people across industries. And with our experienced talent pool in this field, we are naturally very excited about the future.

在我們說話的時候，這些裂縫正在被推開。我們相信人工智能將很快成為各行各業現有人員不可或缺的工具。憑藉我們在該領域經驗豐富的人才庫，我們自然對未來感到非常興奮。

Both our search and advertising revenues also benefited from increased engagement, and we are seeing that across all of our products. In emerging markets, Opera Mini has benefited from the integration of real-time football scores, leading to increased frequency of use. And we are replicating this future in South Asia with cricket.

我們的搜索和廣告收入也都受益於參與度的提高，我們在所有產品中都看到了這一點。在新興市場，Opera Mini 受益於實時足球比分的集成，從而提高了使用頻率。我們正在南亞用板球複製這個未來。

To celebrate the most recent World Cup in Q4, we have launched also a campaign we called Shake and Win. The campaign pushed Opera Mini to the #1 position in the Google Play Store in several of our key countries in Africa, while we again are also replicating the success to Latin America in key countries like Brazil, with all the success already in view.

為了慶祝最近的第四季度世界杯，我們還發起了一項名為“Shake and Win”的活動。該活動將 Opera Mini 在我們非洲幾個主要國家/地區的 Google Play 商店中推向了第一位，同時我們也在巴西等主要國家/地區再次將成功複製到拉丁美洲，所有成功都已經在眼前。

In terms of users, our total base was 324 million MAUs in the fourth quarter, a nice sequential increase. So for the past years, we have repeated our focus, high-value users open new Western markets, but also have distinguished between user opportunities in emerging markets.

就用戶而言，第四季度我們的總基數為 3.24 億 MAU，環比增長不錯。所以在過去的幾年裡，我們重複了我們的重點，高價值用戶打開了新的西方市場，同時也區分了新興市場的用戶機會。

So we have led the less monetizable users' chart, while focusing growth on acquiring fewer, but higher-value users. We are very pleased to see our strategic growth more than offset reductions in less strategic areas, putting us in a great starting point for 2023 and beyond.

因此，我們在盈利能力較低的用戶排行榜上處於領先地位，同時將增長重點放在獲取更少但價值更高的用戶上。我們很高興看到我們的戰略增長足以抵消非戰略領域的減少，這使我們在 2023 年及以後有了一個良好的起點。

GX continues to grow its user base, particularly in developed markets. As we have announced in December, the gaming browser now has over 20 million MAUs. As we said before, despite being our best multi-wing browser, where the ARPU up 11% sequentially to $3.3, we are in the early stage of unlocking the full potential of the GX gaming browser.

GX 繼續擴大其用戶群，尤其是在發達市場。正如我們在 12 月宣布的那樣，遊戲瀏覽器現在擁有超過 2000 萬的 MAU。正如我們之前所說，儘管它是我們最好的多翼瀏覽器，ARPU 環比增長 11% 至 3.3 美元，但我們仍處於釋放 GX 遊戲瀏覽器全部潛力的早期階段。

We believe GX is at a profit crossroad by being the most popular gaming browser and entry point for those users. It allows us to combine multiple next-generation technologies from building a decentralized bub through Web3 and blockchain to using AI to assist in game creation, with our GameMaker Studio.

我們認為 GX 正處於盈利十字路口，因為它是這些用戶最流行的遊戲瀏覽器和切入點。它使我們能夠結合多種下一代技術，從通過 Web3 和區塊鏈構建去中心化的 bub，到使用 AI 協助遊戲創作，以及我們的 GameMaker Studio。

It's a great example of well-received marketable new technologies from the past few years converging around a young audience base, creating a future that is super exciting and has the potential to excite everyone's imagination.

這是一個很好的例子，說明過去幾年廣受歡迎的適銷對路的新技術聚集在年輕的觀眾群周圍，創造了一個超級令人興奮的未來，並有可能激發每個人的想像力。

So with that, let me turn the call over to Frode for details.

因此，讓我將電話轉給 Frode 以了解詳細信息。

Thanks, Song. On top of the operational color, I'll turn to the numbers. It was a great quarter, rounding out the year well ahead of our expectations.

謝謝，宋。在操作顏色之上，我將轉向數字。這是一個很棒的季度，以遠超我們預期的方式結束了這一年。

Q4 revenue came in as much as $5 million above the top end of our fourth quarter guidance and a record $96.3 million, representing 33% year-over-year growth. That is something we are really proud of especially in light of the fact that we had already raised guidance after both Q2 and Q3, and in the face of ongoing macroeconomic challenges.

第四季度收入比我們第四季度指導的上限高出 500 萬美元，達到創紀錄的 9630 萬美元，同比增長 33%。這是我們真正引以為豪的事情，特別是考慮到我們已經在第二季度和第三季度之後提高了指引，並且面對持續的宏觀經濟挑戰。

Similar to last quarter, the outperformance primarily came from the continued growth of users in Western markets and the ongoing ramp in our audience extension business that simply scaled faster than we dare anticipate.

與上一季度類似，出色的表現主要來自西方市場用戶的持續增長，以及我們的受眾擴展業務的持續增長，其擴展速度超出了我們的預期。

Adjusted EBITDA was about $4 million above the top end of guidance coming in at $22.8 million or a 24% margin. Profitability benefited from our revenue overperformance, combined with continued cost discipline and OpEx coming in a bit below expectations.

調整後的 EBITDA 比指導的上限高出約 400 萬美元，即 2280 萬美元或 24% 的利潤率。盈利能力得益於我們的收入超額表現，加上持續的成本控制和運營支出略低於預期。

Cost of revenue scales with our audience extension-related advertising, but associated gross margins have been stable to even improving through 2022, resulting in material profitability contributions.

收入成本與我們與受眾擴展相關的廣告成比例，但相關的毛利率一直穩定到 2022 年甚至有所提高，從而產生了實質性的盈利貢獻。

During the quarter, we repurchased 0.6 million ADSs for $3.2 million under our regular buyback program. That comes in addition to our separately announced major buyback of 23.4 million ADS equivalents from a pre-IPO shareholder at $5.50 per ADS or $4.70 per ADS, if comparing to the current share price, which is net of our recent $0.80 dividend.

本季度，我們根據常規回購計劃以 320 萬美元的價格回購了 60 萬股美國存託憑證。此外，我們還單獨宣布以每份 ADS 5.50 美元或每份 ADS 4.70 美元的價格從 IPO 前股東手中回購 2340 萬份美國存託憑證，如果與當前股價相比，這是我們最近 0.80 美元的股息的淨額。

For 2022 as a whole, we executed a total return of capital of $146 million, taking 26.7 million ADS equivalents of the market and effectively increasing each remaining shares relative ownership of Opera by about 30%. We have been taking advantage of our strong balance sheet to elevate the ROI for our investors. As of today, we still have over $30 million remaining under our current buyback authorization.

2022 年全年，我們執行了 1.46 億美元的總資本回報，相當於市場的 2670 萬美國存託憑證，有效地將 Opera 剩餘股份的相對所有權增加了約 30%。我們一直在利用我們強大的資產負債表來提高投資者的投資回報率。截至今天，我們目前的回購授權仍有超過 3000 萬美元剩餘。

In terms of cash generation, we had a straightforward quarter with working capital items netting out and operating cash flow coming in at $23.5 million, quite in line with adjusted EBITDA. Net of our stock repurchases in the quarter that amounted to $132 million, we ended the year with $118 million of cash and marketable securities. In addition, $13 million of other receivables were sales of marketable securities with settlement in the first days of the year leading to an underlying cash balance of $131 million as we started 2023.

在現金產生方面，我們有一個簡單的季度，營運資本項目淨額和經營現金流為 2350 萬美元，與調整後的 EBITDA 相當。扣除本季度總計 1.32 億美元的股票回購後，我們在年底擁有 1.18 億美元的現金和有價證券。此外，1300 萬美元的其他應收款是銷售有價證券，並在年初結算，這導致我們在 2023 年開始時的基礎現金餘額為 1.31 億美元。

We were very pleased to issue a special $0.80 dividend earlier this year, which translates to a 71 million expense at the reduced share count and leaving us with a strong balance sheet of $60 million cash before cash flows in 2023, as well as $59 million in remaining installments from the sale of StarX and finally, our stake in OPay as an asset held for sale, which increased from 6.4% to 9.5% following the immediate settlement of our receivable from the sale of Nanobank, as laid out in our press release.

我們很高興在今年早些時候發行了 0.80 美元的特別股息，這意味著在減少的股票數量下支出 7100 萬美元，並使我們的資產負債表強勁，在 2023 年現金流量前為 6000 萬美元現金，以及 5900 萬美元的出售 StarX 的剩餘分期付款，最後，我們在 OPay 的股份作為持有待售資產，在我們立即結算出售 Nanobank 的應收賬款後，我們的股份從 6.4% 增加到 9.5%，如我們的新聞稿所述。

Now turning to our guidance for the full year 2023 and the first quarter. For the full year, we guide revenue to be between $370 million and $390 million, representing 15% year-over-year growth at the midpoint with adjusted EBITDA guided between $71 million and $81 million or 20% margin at the midpoint.

現在轉向我們對 2023 年全年和第一季度的指導。對於全年，我們指導收入在 3.7 億美元至 3.9 億美元之間，中點同比增長 15%，調整後的 EBITDA 指導在 7100 萬至 8100 萬美元之間，中點利潤率為 20%。

In terms of cost expectations, we model cost of revenue items just above 20% of revenue following the growth of our audience extension offering, and we maintain our previous expectation of around $30 million in average quarterly marketing costs. For both, we expect the trajectory to start below average in the beginning of the year and then move gradually higher.

在成本預期方面，隨著我們的受眾擴展產品的增長，我們將收入項目的成本建模為略高於收入的 20%，並且我們維持之前平均季度營銷成本約為 3000 萬美元的預期。對於這兩者，我們預計軌跡將從今年年初開始低於平均水平，然後逐漸走高。

Cash compensation cost is expected to drop slightly into Q1, but increase year-over-year, mainly from salary adjustments. And finally, all other OpEx items before adjusted EBITDA are expected to come in a bit over $30 million combined for the year.

現金補償成本預計將在第一季度略有下降，但同比增加，主要來自薪資調整。最後，在調整後的 EBITDA 之前，所有其他運營支出項目預計今年的總和將超過 3000 萬美元。

For the first quarter, we guide revenue to be between $83 million and $85 million, 17% growth at the midpoint and reflecting the greater seasonality of our rapidly growing advertising business. We guide adjusted EBITDA to be between $17 million and $19 million, a 21% margin at the midpoints.

對於第一季度，我們指導收入在 8300 萬美元至 8500 萬美元之間，中點增長 17%，反映出我們快速增長的廣告業務的季節性更強。我們指導調整後的 EBITDA 在 1700 萬美元至 1900 萬美元之間，中點利潤率為 21%。

In summary, 2022 was a record year for Opera, and we are thrilled with the operating and financial results. The outperformance we experienced, coupled with our efforts to realize values and turn all focus to our core business has set us up for continued success in 2023 and beyond, and has allowed us to conduct major repurchases as well as pay our first dividend.

總而言之，2022 年是 Opera 創紀錄的一年，我們對運營和財務業績感到興奮。我們所經歷的優異表現，加上我們為實現價值所做的努力以及將所有註意力轉向我們的核心業務，使我們能夠在 2023 年及以後繼續取得成功，並使我們能夠進行重大回購併支付第一筆股息。

With that, I would like to turn the call back over to the operator for your questions.

有了這個，我想把電話轉回給接線員來回答你的問題。

(Operator Instructions) We'll take our first question from Lance Vitanza with Cowen.

（操作員說明）我們將與 Cowen 一起回答 Lance Vitanza 的第一個問題。

This is Jonnathan on for Lance. Congrats on the strong quarter. Very good.

這是蘭斯的喬納森。祝賀強勁的季度。非常好。

My first question comes as what did the user base growth, the 324 million, where did it come from in terms of region?

我的第一個問題是用戶群增長了多少，即 3.24 億，就地區而言，它來自哪裡？

This is Frode here. I'll chime in. The Western market is the key growing area for us both in terms of users and in terms of revenue, but we did see growth across all region's revenue-wise from Q3 to Q4.

我是弗羅德。我會插話。就用戶和收入而言，西方市場是我們的主要增長區域，但我們確實看到了從第三季度到第四季度所有地區的收入增長。

Okay. Got it. And can we expect sequential increases in user base growth throughout '23 as well? Or can we expect like some level of deduct as the year progresses?

好的。知道了。我們是否可以預期整個 23 年用戶群增長也會連續增長？或者隨著時間的推移，我們可以期待某種程度的扣除嗎？

We don't guide user base. I think it was a milestone to where our strategy of focusing on high-value users led to also a growing total user base in the fourth quarter. 4Q is sort of a strong quarter in terms of engagement, time spent and so on.

我們不引導用戶群。我認為這是我們專注於高價值用戶的戰略導致第四季度總用戶群增長的里程碑。就參與度、花費的時間等而言，第四季度是一個強勁的季度。

So I think I'd expect it to be quite stable. Could be a bit down in Q1 from seasonality. But I think the underlying trend of having washed out less strategic users such that the strategic growth offset this it was sort of the main event we expect to continue broadly speaking.

所以我認為我希望它非常穩定。第一季度可能會因季節性因素而有所下降。但我認為，淘汰較少戰略用戶的潛在趨勢使得戰略增長抵消了這一點，這是我們預計將繼續廣泛傳播的主要事件。

Understood. And the last one for me. The GX browser, impressive growth there on an ARPU basis, right? And just wondering, at what margins do they come in? And what can we expect from the GX browser in 23 that will continue to improve revenue growth?

明白了。最後一個給我。 GX 瀏覽器在 ARPU 基礎上取得了令人矚目的增長，對吧？只是想知道，它們的利潤率是多少？我們對 23 年的 GX 瀏覽器有何期待，將繼續提高收入增長？

In terms of cost of revenue on the browser side, it is very low. So we consider more our marketing cost to almost be the cost of revenue, and we try to optimize that so that on the margin, we still have a comfortable return on our marketing spend. But each incremental user, strictly speaking, has very limited cost of revenue.

就瀏覽器端的收入成本而言，它是非常低的。所以我們更多地考慮我們的營銷成本幾乎是收入成本，我們試圖優化它，以便在邊際上，我們的營銷支出仍然有可觀的回報。但嚴格來說，每個增量用戶的收入成本非常有限。

In terms of 2023 expectations, Song, I think he got kicked off or dropped off the call, but I don't think we'll guide specific numbers. But we are very excited about the products, about the next versions of it. And so we do expect the product to continue to grow both user-wise and also revenue on a per user basis.

就 2023 年的預期而言，Song，我認為他被踢掉了或掉線了，但我認為我們不會指導具體數字。但我們對這些產品以及它的下一個版本感到非常興奮。因此，我們確實希望該產品在用戶方面和每個用戶的收入方面繼續增長。

Understood. Okay. Congrats again.

明白了。好的。再次恭喜。

Yes. And just comment that -- sorry, guys, This is Song Lin. I'm mad to go back to the call, so not a problem. But just to echo what Frode been saying, right?

是的。只是評論說——對不起，伙計們，我是宋林。我很生氣要回去打電話，所以沒問題。但只是為了回應 Frode 一直在說的話，對吧？

So I think in general, we have been seeing a rather strong user growth. More like -- I think the new strategy is that really about more like the, let's say, high Opera users in terms of total user number. But that's just been that we have actually indeed see quite a strong user's growth, both for GX and also across the board. So we're quite optimistic about that. But again, the focus will be on the high ARPU users. And in that regard, we also have high expectations for GX this year.

所以我認為總的來說，我們看到了相當強勁的用戶增長。更像是——我認為新戰略實際上更像是，比方說，就用戶總數而言，高 Opera 用戶。但這只是因為我們確實確實看到了相當強勁的用戶增長，無論是對於 GX 還是全面的。所以我們對此非常樂觀。但同樣，重點將放在高 ARPU 用戶上。而在這方面，我們對今年的GX也抱有很高的期望。

And we'll take our next question from Mark Argento with Lake Street.

我們將接受 Mark Argento 和 Lake Street 的下一個問題。

Incredible quarter. Nice work. I just wanted to drill down a little bit more on the AI opportunity in particular.

令人難以置信的季度。幹得好。我只是想更深入地了解 AI 機會。

What do you see ultimately is probably the most logical business model using that technology? Does it drive user growth of the browser? Is there a homeowner stand-alone, product you can potentially charge subscription to? Is that based model? Maybe you could at least give us some of your initial thoughts.

您最終看到的可能是使用該技術的最合乎邏輯的業務模型？它會推動瀏覽器的用戶增長嗎？是否有您可以訂閱的房主獨立產品？那是基於模型嗎？也許你至少可以給我們一些你最初的想法。

Yes. I think this something also maybe I'll just comment a bit to start with and Frode also chime in, especially for revenue.

是的。我認為這也可能我會先評論一下，Frode 也插話，尤其是收入。

So I think for now, to be honest, I think the most distinctive impact which we're hoping is for user engagement, right? What length for driving the user update. So I think a good example in that, of course, we actually do see, even if we just announced it and it may be early stage, we see that user interest on the browser has actually increased quite a bit because already people are just looking for regular system default browser, as always, our biggest challenge, right, that they just use it.

所以我認為現在，老實說，我認為我們希望的最獨特的影響是用戶參與，對吧？驅動用戶更新的長度。所以我認為這是一個很好的例子，當然，我們確實看到了，即使我們剛剛宣布它並且可能還處於早期階段，我們看到用戶對瀏覽器的興趣實際上增加了很多，因為人們已經在尋找對於常規系統默認瀏覽器，一如既往，我們最大的挑戰是，他們只是使用它。

But now the technology, we actually see obviously the same as the only state of mobile, right, as we quoted, that there's a lot more interest for people to actually looking for good browser, which can deliver a very differentiated experience. And we think that is actually probably the biggest short-term potential. And we see that is definitely having an impact on the user base. I mean, that's also why we see quite positive growth audience.

但現在的技術，我們實際上看到的顯然與移動的唯一狀態相同，正如我們引用的那樣，人們對實際尋找好的瀏覽器有更多的興趣，這可以提供非常差異化的體驗。我們認為這實際上可能是最大的短期潛力。我們看到這肯定會對用戶群產生影響。我的意思是，這也是我們看到觀眾增長相當積極的原因。

But then, of course, like -- and then user growth will, of course, corresponds with more engagement and hopefully more monetization potentials. However, of course, going deeper, it will probably have even more profound impact on the whole ecosystem, and that is almost beyond Opera, right?

但是，當然，就像——然後用戶增長當然會與更多的參與度和希望更多的貨幣化潛力相對應。不過，當然，再深入下去，對整個生態系統的影響恐怕會更加深遠，那幾乎是超越 Opera 的吧？

But then for that, my guess would be that probably it will be perhaps nearly more towards may be like again, higher paid model subscription or something along the lines for especially some of our partners, but then in line that we'll be able to drill down into Opera.

但為此，我的猜測是，它可能會更傾向於可能再次出現，更高付費模式訂閱或類似的東西，尤其是我們的一些合作夥伴，但隨後我們將能夠深入研究 Opera。

So I think we feel that there were going to be a lot of changes in the industry. And for a player like Opera, probably means more opportunity than anything else. So quite excited.

所以我認為我們覺得這個行業將會發生很多變化。而對於像 Opera 這樣的玩家來說，可能意味著比什麼都多的機會。非常興奮。

Great. And one for Frode. Obviously, free cash flow generation has been strong. You've been returning capital to shareholders. When you think about the guidance for 2023, the $71 million to $81 million in adjusted EBITDA, should we -- is there still like kind of almost 100% flow through to free cash flow? Or how should we think about free cash flow generation in 2023?

偉大的。還有一個給 Frode。顯然，自由現金流的產生一直很強勁。你一直在向股東返還資本。當你考慮 2023 年的指導時，調整後的 EBITDA 為 7100 萬至 8100 萬美元，我們是否應該 - 是否仍然有幾乎 100% 的自由現金流？或者我們應該如何考慮 2023 年的自由現金流產生？

Well, for 2022, I guess we converted about 87%, I looked at it just now, of our adjusted EBITDA to operating cash flow. So the delta is taxes paid of about $3.1 million in the year and growth of working capital items, about $6.6 million. I wouldn't -- I'm not guiding for 2023, but at least I can call out that the growth in working capital represented about 28% of the revenue growth we saw from Q4 '21 to '22. I think it's a relatively fair indication.

好吧，到 2022 年，我想我們將調整後的 EBITDA 中的大約 87% 轉換為運營現金流。因此，三角洲是當年支付的稅款約 310 萬美元和營運資本項目的增長，約 660 萬美元。我不會——我不是在指導 2023 年，但至少我可以指出，營運資本的增長約占我們從 21 年第四季度到 22 年第四季度收入增長的 28%。我認為這是一個相對公平的指示。

And in terms of taxes, our effective tax rate, if you take our P&L, take our operating profit and add back the equity compensation costs and look at taxes relative to that since the equity cost is not tax-deductible, then our effective tax rate is about 18%.

就稅收而言，我們的實際稅率，如果你拿我們的損益，拿我們的營業利潤，再加上股權補償成本，看看與之相關的稅收，因為股權成本不可免稅，那麼我們的有效稅率約為18%。

All right. That's helpful. And then when -- in terms of -- did you say $30 million in OpEx -- or excuse me, in CapEx for 2023?

好的。這很有幫助。然後 - 就 - 你說 3000 萬美元的運營支出 - 或者對不起，2023 年的資本支出？

No, in the other operating items, so from like hosting, legal, travel, office costs, et cetera. So the stuff that I commented on the cost of revenue items combined the marketing costs and the cash compensation costs. And then I just commented on the total for everything else prior to adjusted EBITDA in the P&L.

不，在其他運營項目中，例如託管、法律、差旅、辦公成本等。因此，我評論的關於收入項目成本的內容結合了營銷成本和現金補償成本。然後我只是評論了損益表中調整後的 EBITDA 之前其他所有內容的總數。

All right. That makes sense. And then in terms of the focus of incremental spend going forward, I'm assuming you're going to continue to target Western markets. It looks like where you're getting a lot of growth and a lot of extension. Is that consistent in '23?

好的。這就說得通了。然後就未來增量支出的重點而言，我假設你將繼續瞄準西方市場。看起來您正在獲得大量增長和大量擴展。這在 23 年是一致的嗎？

I think dollar-wise, that -- I mean, that strategy remains. It's proven very successful for us. And we still see a lot of room to grow. Song also talked about that there are definitely very attractive pockets and good growth to be had also in emerging markets. And so we have been -- we are investing in that, too. But we have gotten better at focusing on monetizable users there. So they are, of course, massive markets, and we will focus globally.

我認為從美元的角度來看，我的意思是，該戰略仍然存在。事實證明這對我們來說非常成功。我們仍然看到很大的增長空間。宋還談到，新興市場肯定也有非常有吸引力的口袋和良好的增長。所以我們一直 - 我們也在投資於此。但我們在關注那裡的可獲利用戶方面做得更好。因此，它們當然是巨大的市場，我們將關注全球。

(Operator Instructions) We will take our next question from Alicia Yap with Citigroup.

（操作員說明）我們將接受花旗集團的 Alicia Yap 的下一個問題。

So congrats on the strong results and the guidance. I have 2 questions. First is, wanted to follow-up on this -- your partnership with OpenAI on AIGC. I think you touched a little bit in the earlier question.

因此，祝賀您取得了豐碩的成果和指導。我有兩個問題。首先，想跟進這件事——您與 OpenAI 在 AIGC 上的合作夥伴關係。我認為您在之前的問題中略有觸及。

I'm just wondering the benefit that you're going to see, one part of it is the higher user per time spent, right? And then what kind of content that you believe that would be improved on the targeting efforts that you can reach out to the user?

我只是想知道您將看到的好處，其中一部分是每次花費的用戶更多，對嗎？然後，您認為什麼樣的內容會在您可以接觸到用戶的定位工作中得到改進？

And so far -- or has that been already launched? And then so far, is there more obvious that you see the improved in user engagement on the mobile version on your PC browser? So that's the first question.

到目前為止——或者已經推出了嗎？到目前為止，您是否更明顯地看到 PC 瀏覽器上移動版本的用戶參與度有所提高？這是第一個問題。

Yes, Alicia, this is Song Lin. I'll try to answer it.

是的，艾麗西亞，這位是宋琳。我會盡力回答。

So yes, to be like this, right, so I think it's -- so first just to comment that there's in general, 2 kinds of AI, right? So one is the discriminative AI, which is actually what Opera has been using, and it's also the one being used in user recommendation, content recommendation and autopilots. And the other is the generative AI, which is what's been popular now.

所以是的，就像這樣，對，所以我認為它是 - 首先只是評論一般來說，有 2 種 AI，對吧？所以一個是判別式人工智能，這實際上是 Opera 一直在使用的，它也是在用戶推薦、內容推薦和自動駕駛中使用的。還有一個是生成式AI，就是現在比較流行的。

So I would say that we're -- moving forward, we probably see both becoming more and more relevant and with there'll be more focus, right? So the first one, discriminative AI will be able to give you the more relevant content. I think that we already -- actually it's always ongoing. People are just -- perhaps didn't notice it, but then it's becoming much more visible, right?

所以我想說我們 - 向前邁進，我們可能會看到兩者變得越來越相關，並且會有更多的關注，對吧？所以第一個，有辨別力的 AI 將能夠為您提供更相關的內容。我認為我們已經——實際上它一直在進行。人們只是——也許沒有註意到它，但它變得越來越明顯，對吧？

And then like I think the generative AI more like in the ground where people will be able to counter with their own flavor, right? More like you one -- you need a user case why I said you that, if they have a particular flavor of way how you want to see the news articles, you can, of course, always ask AI to give you a summary based on your flavor, right?

然後我認為生成式 AI 更像是在地面上，人們可以用自己的方式反擊，對吧？更像你——你需要一個用戶案例，為什麼我這麼說，如果他們有一種你想看新聞文章的方式，你當然可以總是要求 AI 給你一個基於以下內容的摘要你的口味對不對？

So I think I would say that's more like one algorithm is to be able to give you the relevant content; the other is turn the content into what that you might like. So I think both are going to be very relevant.

所以我想我會說這更像是一種算法能夠為您提供相關內容；另一種是將內容變成您可能喜歡的內容。所以我認為兩者都非常相關。

Like I said, it's still very early stage, but that's proven to be very clicking with also users' mentality, right? So I think for now, we're just going to explore all those kind of options. And I think we are just happy enough if there's more user to actually use us because of differentiating features. That's probably the biggest short-term gain and also, for instance, longer time spend. So -- I guess that's a high-level capturing of what might come into view.

就像我說的，它仍處於早期階段，但事實證明這也非常符合用戶的心態，對吧？所以我認為現在，我們只是要探索所有這些選項。而且我認為，如果有更多的用戶因為差異化功能而實際使用我們，我們就會很高興。這可能是最大的短期收益，例如，也是更長的時間花費。所以——我想這是對可能出現的內容的高層次捕捉。

So do you expect that we'll be helping on increasing revenue opportunity within this year, that you will already see in it? Or will we have to wait a little bit longer?

那麼您是否期望我們在今年內幫助增加收入機會，您已經在其中看到了？還是我們需要再等一會兒？

Yes. So I think it's a bit of question, right, more like what's impact on revenue. So I don't know if it's too early to tell. I think -- I don't think we have actually budgeted it in our forecast or guidance because it should be prudent. But as I said, if there's more users using us, then, of course, more naturally had that to drive to higher revenue. It just is quite honest. So we don't want to guess on that. But I think it's a very interesting opportunity for us.

是的。所以我認為這有點問題，對吧，更像是對收入的影響。所以我不知道現在下結論是否為時過早。我認為 - 我認為我們實際上並沒有在我們的預測或指導中對其進行預算，因為它應該是謹慎的。但正如我所說，如果有更多的用戶使用我們，那麼，當然，更自然地會有更多的用戶來推動更高的收入。它只是很誠實。所以我們不想對此進行猜測。但我認為這對我們來說是一個非常有趣的機會。

I see. Okay. Great. Second question, I think company comment on the press release about the EU sanction package that happened in December '22. So which you budgeted a $10 million headwind, right? So without that, is that fair for us to assume the midpoint of your guidance would have been 18% this year instead of the 15%, right?

我懂了。好的。偉大的。第二個問題，我認為公司對 22 年 12 月發生的有關歐盟制裁方案的新聞稿發表評論。那麼你預算了 1000 萬美元的逆風，對吧？因此，如果沒有它，我們假設今年你的指導的中點是 18% 而不是 15% 是否公平，對嗎？

And then also related to that is, can you remind us in 2022, how much exactly was the negative headwind that you experienced from Russia in total? Because I remember back in the first quarter last year, which is around May, you mentioned that the Russia -- I'm not sure if I remember correctly, it was potentially about 10%, but you only see about half of that impact, was that if memory serves right. So then this whole impact, it is when you budget that in, if it means -- would that mean potentially if it's not as strong headwinds as it is, then we could actually see some upside on the revenue?

然後與此相關的是，您能否在 2022 年提醒我們，您從俄羅斯總共經歷了多少負面逆風？因為我記得去年第一季度，也就是 5 月左右，你提到俄羅斯——我不確定我是否沒記錯，可能是 10% 左右，但你只看到了大約一半的影響，如果沒記錯的話。那麼這整個影響，就是當你預算的時候，如果它意味著 - 這是否意味著如果它不像現在那樣強大的逆風，那麼我們實際上可以看到收入的一些上升空間？

Yes, I can begin commenting on it. So you are correct that adding back the 10 that we deducted directly put the midpoint of 18%. And then I think on top of that, the situation at large, of course, also leads us to sort of add more conservative or cautious to the guidance that we put out there.

是的，我可以開始評論了。所以你是正確的，將我們直接扣除的 10 加回 18% 的中點。然後我認為最重要的是，總體情況當然也導致我們對我們在那裡提出的指導更加保守或謹慎。

So as I would say, directly correct, but also broadly speaking, the broader macro picture is also adding, I would say, incremental caution. But we haven't put a number on it, but as we come around in connection with the guidance.

因此，正如我要說的，直接正確，但從廣義上講，更廣泛的宏觀圖景也在增加，我會說，漸進的謹慎。但是我們沒有給出一個數字，但是當我們根據指南來討論時。

In terms of the Russia and Eastern Europe, I would say we did see, of course, the impact last year as well within currency rates also fluctuated quite a bit. So broadly speaking, we ended the year with a relatively similar footprint in Eastern Europe as we had it at the beginning of the year.

就俄羅斯和東歐而言，我想說我們確實看到了，當然，去年以及貨幣匯率的影響也有很大波動。所以從廣義上講，我們在今年年底在東歐的足跡與年初的足跡相對相似。

And there are no further questions at this time. I will turn the call back over to Song Lin for any closing or additional remarks.

目前沒有其他問題。我會將電話轉回給 Song Lin，以徵求任何結束或補充意見。

Sure. So again, I thanks everyone for joining our conference call. Result 2022, we have been able to do with good results. We are very, very excited about it. We think that 2023 is also going to be very, very interesting, both the outperformance we already experienced and coupled with our efforts to realize more values and all focus into our core business has been able to put up in a good position for succeed in 2023.

當然。所以，我再次感謝大家參加我們的電話會議。 Result 2022，我們已經做到了，成績也不錯。我們對此非常非常興奮。我們認為 2023 年也將非常非常有趣，無論是我們已經經歷的出色表現，還是我們為實現更多價值所做的努力，以及對我們核心業務的所有關注，都能夠為 2023 年的成功做好準備.

So yes, we are very thrilled about it. And I would also like to thanks all the -- both the Opera employees and also our investors the support that has been given to us in the past year, and let's have a great excitement of year 2023 and looking forward to share more of our success with you in the coming quarters.

所以是的，我們對此感到非常興奮。我還要感謝所有 - Opera 員工和我們的投資者在過去一年中給予我們的支持，讓我們為 2023 年感到興奮，並期待分享我們更多的成功在接下來的幾個季度里和你在一起。

I appreciate your time, and look forward to speaking again in the future.

我感謝你的時間，並期待在未來再次發言。

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

謝謝。今天的節目到此結束。感謝您的參與。您可以隨時斷開連接。