Opera Software Q4 profit up, sees good growth

OSLO, NORWAY:  Norwegian Internet browser firm Opera Software ASA reported forecast-beating profits and revenue for the fourth quarter, and said it saw good growth prospects in the short and long term.

"We aim to keep our growth rate despite being in a complicated market," Chief Executive Jon von Tetzchner told Reuters.

Shares in Opera rose 2.1 percent to 24.50 crowns by 1205 GMT, giving it a market capitalisation of $417 million, against a 1.4 drop in the Oslo bourse's main index. The stock rose as high as 22.5 crowns, its highest since last June.

Opera, which makes Internet browsers for cellphones and othermobile gadgets as well as for desktop computers, said earnings before interest and tax rose to 30.9 million Norwegian crowns ($4.5 million) in the three months to end-December from 9.4 million a year earlier.

The average estimate had been for 29 million crowns in a Reuters survey of eight analysts.

Revenue in the fourth quarter grew 69 percent year-on-year to 157 million crowns, exceeding forecasts of between 136 million and 155 million in the Reuters survey.

Revenue growth was also above Opera's 2009 target of more than 48 percent.

Opera said it was positive on short and long-term growth prospects, adding it saw accelerating interest from equipment manufacturers as browsers become more common on various mobile devices.

Analyst Hallgeir Hollup at brokerage ABG Sundal Collier shared Opera's optimism. "We believe Opera will manage very well through 2009, not in the least because their business is driven by factors not directly linked to the global economy," he said.

Opera, a small rival to Google Inc and Microsoft Corp, earns money from licensing software to mobile phone and other equipment manufacturers.