Opera drops after cutting forecast, starting strategy review

Opera Software ASA fell to the lowest level in five months after the Norwegian maker of Internet browsers cut its 2015 sales forecast and said it received "strategic interest" from a number of parties.

Opera slumped as much as 13 percent, the most since Feb. 11, and was down 10 percent at 54.8 kroner as of 10:58 a.m. in Oslo. About 2.7 million shares have traded so far, almost four times the threemonth average daily volume.

The company, with a market capitalization of 8 billion kroner ($1 billion), develops browsers that compete with those of Apple Inc., Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp.

Its revenue has risen more than 30 percent for the past four years, though the company said sales growth is set to decelerate more than predicted this year because of slowing mobile advertising demand.

Opera said separately that it started a review to consider "strategic alternatives" after receiving "strategic interest" from a number of parties.