Segrate, 10 November 2022 – Today, the meeting of the Board of Directors of Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A., chaired by Marina Berlusconi, reviewed and approved the Interim Management Statement at 30 September 2022 presented by CEO Antonio Porro.

HIGHLIGHTS

The current year has seen the Mondadori Group firmly pursue the strategic path of reshaping its business portfolio, on the one hand, by developing and strengthening its presence in book publishing and, on the other, by tapering its exposure to the magazines segment, with a focus on brands with greater multimedia potential.

“The results of these first nine months clearly show the positive impacts from our repositioning plan: the operating-financial metrics grow strongly, with a sharp improvement in revenue and margins across all business areas on a like-for-like basis”, said Antonio Porro, CEO of the Mondadori Group. “These elements, plus the positive performance of the books market, allow us, despite the higher costs of the main inputs, to further increase our estimates on the trend of revenue and margins at end 2022”, concluded Porro.

PERFORMANCE AT 30 SEPTEMBER 2022

Consolidated revenue in first nine months 2022 amounted to € 678.2 million, up by 15.2% versus € 588.9 million in the prior year.

Net of the consolidation of D Scuola, effective 1 January 2022, Group revenue grew by 3.8%, thanks to the performance of the Books and Retail areas and despite the additional asset disposals involving the Media area: net of the effects from the changed consolidation scope, Group revenue on a like-for-like basis in the first nine months of the current year would have grown by 5.8%.

Adjusted EBITDA came to a positive € 115.5 million; excluding the result of D Scuola in the period, adjusted EBITDA closes with a positive € 94.1 million.

As a result, the Group showed an overall improvement in profitability in excess of € 30 million versus € 85 million in 2021, growing by 35.8%, one third of which attributable to the positive performance across all business areas, Books and Retail in particular, and approximately two thirds from the contribution of D Scuola (€ 21.4 million).

Group EBITDA came to € 114.5 million (€ 93 million net of D Scuola), recording an even stronger improvement of € 34 million (+42.2% versus € 80.5 million at 30.09.2021), as a result of the abovementioned phenomena and dynamics and of the positive trend of non-ordinary items in the period.

EBIT closed at a positive € 78 million versus € 52 million at 30.09.2021, improving by € 26 million, or up by 50%, partly dampened by the effects of the Purchase Price Allocation process related to the acquisition of D Scuola.

Net of the amortization/depreciation resulting from this process, consolidated EBIT of the new scope would grow by approximately € 29 million (+55% versus 30.09.2021).

Excluding the contribution of D Scuola, the improvement would amount to € 11.3 million, attributable to the abovementioned operational dynamics.

Consolidated profit before tax came to € 75.8 million (€ 61.2 million excluding the contribution of D Scuola), increasing by almost 70% versus € 44.8 million in the same period of 2021. This growth benefits also from the improvement in the result of the associates, amounting to € 3.5 million, arising from the disposal of the investment in Monradio, from profit for the period of Attica, and from the accounting of the share of the result of A.L.I..

Total financial expense for the period, amounting to €2.8 million, improved by € 1.1 million, despite the higher average debt and the increase in ancillary expense from the outstanding pool loan, due to the accounting for IFRS 16 purposes of a non-recurring income of approximately € 1.5 million resulting from the early termination and renegotiation, as of July 2022, of the lease contract for the Segrate HQ.

Group net profit, after minority interests, amounted to € 58.3 million (€ 47.9 million excluding the net profit of D Scuola), up by 18% versus € 49.4 million in first nine months 2021, which had benefited however from a non-recurring income of € 18.7 million from the realignment of the tax amounts of trademarks and goodwill to their respective statutory amounts.

Neutralizing the one-off tax income of 2021, net profit in first nine months 2022 would be up by approximately 90% versus the prior year.

The net financial position before IFRS 16 stood at € -173.4 million and includes, in addition to the effects of the acquisition and consolidation of D Scuola, the debt arising from the acquisitions of A.L.I. and Star Comics, as well as the return to dividend distribution.

Including the IFRS 16 impact of € 62.3 million – down from 30.09.2021 due mainly to the renegotiation of the lease contract for the Segrate HQ – the NFP stood at € -235.7 million.

The LTM cash flow from ordinary operations (after cash out for financial expense and tax), amounting to € 71.4 million, allows the Group to continue to strengthen its financial structure.

D Scuola, consolidated as from January 2022, contributed a negative € 1.5 million to the cash flow for the period, consistent with the seasonal nature of the school publishing business.

Mention should be made that the generation of cash flow from ordinary operations benefited from the revaluation, amounting to € 10.1 million at 30 September 2022, of derivative instruments related to interest rate risk hedges applied to drawdowns of the pool loan taken out in May 2021.

The total Free Cash Flow in the past 12 months amounted to a positive € 9.5 million.

At 30.09.2022, Group employees amounted to 1,895 units, up by 4.5% versus 1,814 units at 30.09.2021 (+81 units), due primarily to the inclusion of D Scuola resources (totaling +127 units). Neutralizing the effect of all scope changes – namely, the acquisitions of D Scuola, De Agostini Libri and Star Comics, and the disposals of titles and assets in the Media area – the Group workforce would drop by approximately 1%, thanks to the continued efforts to increase the efficiency of individual business areas and functions.

PERFORMANCE IN THIRD QUARTER 2022

In the third quarter, consolidated revenue amounted to € 323.1 million, increasing by 20.3% versus € 268.5 million in the prior year; net of all the effects from changes in the scope, Group revenue would have recorded a like-for-like growth of +3.4% in the third quarter.

Adjusted EBITDA came to a positive € 88 million, up by over € 24 million (+38.5%) versus 2021.

Excluding the contribution of D Scuola, adjusted EBITDA came to € 65.7 million, increasing by
€2.1 million versus third quarter 2021, or by +3.4%. This improvement is attributable in particular to the positive performance of the Books segment, which benefited also from the consolidation of Star Comics as of third quarter 2022, and the Retail segment.

Group EBITDA came to € 87.7 million (€ 65.4 million without D Scuola), improving by € 26.2 million (+42.7%) versus the prior year, attributable to the business phenomena mentioned earlier, and to the positive trend in non-ordinary items, especially in the Corporate and Media areas.

EBIT came to a positive € 74.8 million, improving by approximately € 23 million versus third quarter 2021. The like-for-like comparison (excluding the contribution of approximately € 20 million from D Scuola) with 2021 shows an increase of € 3 million (+5.8%), despite higher amortization and depreciation resulting from increased expenditure made in the last 12 months.

Group net profit, after minority interests, amounted to € 55.5 million, up by 23.2% versus € 45 million in third quarter 2021; excluding the contribution of D Scuola and net of tax items, which in third quarter 2021 had benefited from a net non-recurring income of approximately € 9.8 million, net profit in third quarter 2022 would increase by 17% versus the third quarter last year.

BUSINESS OUTLOOK

In light of the positive operating-financial trend seen in the first nine months of the year, and despite the geopolitical uncertainty and the persisting problems arising from the increase in costs for raw materials, paper in particular, and for energy consumption, for the full year 2022 the Group believes:

• to be able to improve the estimate of:
  • Revenue, forecast to grow high single-digit (from mid single-digit);
  • Adjusted EBITDA, forecast to increase by 25% or more (from over 20%).

given the positive performance recorded by the Book product in the third quarter, as well as the consolidation of the Star Comics publishing house in the second half of the year;

• to be able to confirm at the consolidated level the other previously disclosed estimates.

Specifically:

• Double-digit growth of net profit, thanks also to significantly lower restructuring costs and to the improved results of associates versus 2021;
• Cash Flow from Ordinary Operations in line with 2021;
• Free Cash Flow in the region of € 10/15 million (before dividend);
• Group net financial debt (IFRS 16) at 1.3x adjusted EBITDA.

PERFORMANCE OF BUSINESS AREAS

• BOOKS

Following the remarkable growth seen in 2021, the year 2022 has witnessed a consolidation phase of the books market, which was basically steady in terms of both value (+0.1%) and volume (+0.1%) versus the same period last year[1].

Against this backdrop, Mondadori Group publishing houses posted a 2.4% growth in sell-out, the result of a gradually improving performance: in the third quarter in particular, the Group recorded a 14.6% increase in sell-out versus the market’s approximately +4% increase.

Thanks to these results, the Group was able to retain its domestic leadership, with its market share growing to 26.9%.

In the period under review, the Group retained a leadership position in the school textbooks segment, with a market share including D Scuola at 32.3%, a slight decline versus 32.9% in the prior year, fully attributable to the primary school segment, marked by greater volatility and lower profitability.

In first nine months 2022, revenue in the Books area stood at € 443.4 million, up by 27.2% versus € 348.7 million in first nine months 2021, driven by the positive performance of the Trade publishing houses and the consolidation of D Scuola.

Considering only the like-for-like scope of 2021, revenue in the Books area grew by 5.5%.

Specifically:

• revenue from Trade amounted to € 4 million, up by 11.2% versus € 200.9 million in the same period of 2021, driven by the positive performance recorded by all publishing houses, the upswing of Electa’s activities, and the consolidation of De Agostini Libri and Star Comics;
• total revenue from Education amounted to € 7 million, up by 48.2% versus first nine months 2021, due mainly to the changed consolidation scope related to the consolidation of the publishing house D Scuola, which contributed € 67.5 million to revenue for the period. On a like-for-like basis, revenue was up slightly (+1.4%) versus the same period of 2021 (€ 144.2 million), due to the early availability of a number of textbooks and the resulting accounting of the related revenue versus the prior year.

Adjusted EBITDA of the Books area in first nine months stood at € 107.9 million, up by more than
€ 28 million including the contribution of D Scuola (€ 21.4 million in the period under review).

Net of D Scuola, adjusted EBITDA on a like-for-like basis would come to € 86.4 million versus € 79.4 million in the same period of 2021, an improvement of over € 7 million (approximately +9%), thanks in particular to the positive trend of revenue and to the higher contribution of relief granted to museum activities, amounting to approximately € 3 million.

• RETAIL

In a basically steady domestic books market (+0.1%^[2]) versus 2021, the physical channel continued to grow versus the same period of the prior year, no longer burdened by the restrictions brought by the COVID-19 emergency.

Against this backdrop, in the first nine months, the market share of Mondadori Retail increased by 1.4% to reach 12.6%, driven by the outstanding performance of physical stores.

Revenue from the area totaled € 126 million, improving by € 11.6 million (+10.2%) versus € 114.3 million in the same period last year.

The ongoing development and renovation of existing stores and the focus on the core business of books have enabled the Mondadori Store network to consolidate its role on the market, as shown by the solid growth in revenue from the Book product (+13.6%), which is higher at the end of the third quarter even than in the pre-COVID period.

Specifically:

• directly-managed stores reported a sharp upswing in revenue (+35.3% versus the prior year), due to the abovementioned strategy of focusing on the book product and network development activities;
• the franchised channel continued its progression, increasing by +4.9% versus the same period of the prior year.

Adjusted EBITDA closed with a positive figure and up significantly to € 4.1 million (€ +2.4 million) versus € 1.7 million in first nine months 2021.

The structural actions put in place in recent years have brought a strong turnaround in the area’s operating and financial performance, as already seen by last year’s results. This target was achieved thanks to the deep transformation of the company, the ongoing renewal and development of the network of physical stores, as well as careful cost management and a thorough review of the organization and processes. All this complemented by constant work on product innovation and the expansion of the product range.

• MEDIA

The Media area recorded revenue of € 135.3 million in first nine months 2022, dropping by 9.8% versus € 150 million in the same period of the prior year, but increasing by 3.1% on a like-for-like basis (excluding the effect of the deconsolidation of the titles sold at end 2021 and the distribution activities of Press-di).

Specifically:

• digital activities, which now account for 24% of the area’s total revenue, rose sharply by +16% (+21.8% on a like-for-like basis of brands);
• traditional print activities on a like-for-like basis were down by approximately 3%.

Adjusted EBITDA in the Media area amounted to € 9.3 million, up versus € 7.8 million in first nine months 2021, the result of two opposing trends that marked the two segments of the area:

• the print area improved, thanks to higher income from FuoriSalone 2022, the accounting of a € 1.9 million tax receivable recognized on paper consumption, and the continued actions to curb operating costs launched in prior years;
• the digital area, instead, saw its result fall, attributable to one-off editorial and development costs incurred for the launch of The Wom and the lower performance of digital brand advertising sales, only partly offset by the strong trend recorded by the MarTech segment.

Significant events after 30 September 2022

As previously disclosed to the market, on 20 October the subsidiary Mondadori Media S.p.A. was granted by Reworld Media S.A. the option to sell to it the business unit related to the Grazia and Icon brands through a put option.

The scope of the option includes the print and digital publishing activities of the two titles, as well as the relating international network that ensures the brands’ overall presence in over 20 countries with licensed publications.

In 2021, these activities generated revenue of approximately € 18 million.

Based on the terms for exercising the option, the consideration for the scope in question is € 8.5 million, including € 2 million as earn-out conditional on the achievement of certain financial results in 2023 by the activities disposed of. The consideration was defined on the basis of an Enterprise Value of € 11 million (including earn-out), net of the difference between the average net working capital over the last 12 months and the net working capital at the closing date.

The Mondadori Group, pursuant to the provisions of law, will launch the consultation procedure with the trade unions, following which the option will become exercisable.

The decisions taken, as a result of the ongoing assessments, on the exercise of the option and any further phases, terms and conditions of the process underlying the transaction will be promptly disclosed to the market.

The transaction – the possible completion of which will also be subject to the outcome of the assessment procedure by the Offices of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers referred to in Law Decree 21/2012 – would be in line with the Mondadori Group’s strategic path of increasing focus on the core business of books and brands with greater potential for multimedia exploitation.

The presentation of the results at 30 September 2022, approved today by the Board of Directors, is available on 1Info (www.1info.it), on www.borsaitaliana.it and on www.gruppomondadori.it (Investors section). A Q&A session will be held in conference call mode at 4.30 pm for the financial community, attended by the CEO of the Mondadori Group, Antonio Porro, and the CFO, Alessandro Franzosi. Journalists will be able to follow the meeting in listening mode only, by connecting to the following  phone number +39.02.8020927 or via web at: https://hditalia.choruscall.com/?calltype=2&info=company 

The Interim Management Statement at 30 September 2022 is made publicly available by today through the authorized storage mechanism 1Info (www.1info.it), on www.gruppomondadori.it (Investors section) and at the registered office.

The Financial Reporting Manager – Alessandro Franzosi – hereby declares, pursuant to Article 154 bis, paragraph 2, of the Consolidated Finance Law, that the accounting information contained herein corresponds to the Company’s records, books and accounting entries.

Annexes:

1. Consolidated balance sheet;
2. Consolidated income statement;
3. Consolidated income statement – III quarter;
4. Group cash flow;
5. Glossary of terms and alternative performance measures used.

[1] GFK, September 2022 (Week 39)

^[2] GFK (in terms of value)