UK's Trustpilot shares slump as unchanged outlook disappoints investors

By Atharva Singh

Sept 15 (Reuters) - British online reviews platform Trustpilot's shares plummeted as much as 20% on Tuesday after the company left its earnings outlook unchanged, disappointing investors, despite strong AI-led revenues.

Here are details from the company's earnings report:

• The company maintained its full-year forecast for high-teens constant-currency revenue growth and adjusted EBITDA margin improvement of two-to-three percentage points.

• Adjusted core profit rose 46% to $26.3 million in the six months ended June 30, below a company-compiled estimate of $27 million.

• Trustpilot's shares had gained about 60% through Monday's close, suggesting investors had been expecting a guidance upgrade as the company's AI initiatives and strong U.S. growth fueled optimism.

• "This shows you the market wants upgrades from Trustpilot, not confirmations," said Angeline Ong, analyst at trading platform IG.

• Trustpilot's revenue rose 23% to $151.4 million in the first half, and bookings rose 22%, both slightly ahead of expectations.

• The platform reported a statutory net loss of $1.1 million, driven by one-off charges including an Italian antitrust fine and a provision for historical U.S. sales taxes.

• J.P. Morgan analysts said the results were "noisier than usual", with a core profit miss, several one-off charges and the absence of a guidance upgrade.

• Trustpilot was down 14.2% at 224.2p per share as of 9:30 AM GMT

(Reporting by Atharva Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)