2020

Carla Vanni, director of the Grazia International Network, the global multi-channel system created by the Mondadori Group for the launch of the Grazia brand around the world, has received the “Tao Award Excellence 2020 for Journalism” as part of the Taomoda Awards.

This recognition underlines the special characteristics of an extraordinary journey during which Carla Vanni, after a series of leading roles in Italian magazines, was able to successfully accompany the spread of Grazia also at an international level.

A journey that has enables the Mondadori Group magazine to become, in just a few years, the leading 100% Italian fashion brand, with twenty editions around the world; from Europe to China, and reaching every month an overall community of 15 million readers, with sales of over 10 million copies every month, 35 million unique users and around 20 million followers on social media.

Carla Vanni has been the director of Grazia International Network since 2005. After graduating in law from the University of Milan she began her journalistic career on the fashion staff Grazia, of which she was the editor from 1978 to 2006. Over her career, Carla Vanni has also been the editor of Grazia Casa and editorial director of important magazines, including Marie Claire, Cento Cose Energy, Donna Moderna. Other prices she has received include:  a Montenapoleone d’oro, for best fashion journalist (1970); The Oner, as journalist of the year (1987); the Premio Gullace (1995), “for her constant attention to the problems of women”; the literary prize Castiglioncello Costa degli Etruschi (2001); the Premio Milano for fashion (2003); the Premio Forte dei Marmi Dietro la bellezza (2003); the Premio Fondazione Marisa Bellisario (2003); the Premio Pitti Immagine for her career (2008) and the Mayor of Milan’s Prize (2010) given to women who, thanks to their work, contribute to the development and the life of the city.

The Tao Awards 2020 ceremony was held during the Gala di Taomoda, an international event organised by the Region of Sicily, of which the patron if the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana (the Italian Chamber of Fashion) and organised in collaboration with the offices of the regional councillors for Tourism, Sport and Entertainment, the Department of Productive Activities and the Depertment for Cultural Heritage.

GialloZafferano, Italy’s food media brand leader, continues its path of di innovation with new functions to help Italians to cook in an increasingly personalised way.

Every day GialloZafferano enters the homes of millions of people to promptly respond to their needs – from the website to social media and smartspeakers – with a catalogue of 5,500 recipes and 1,300 high-definition videos, from today also “made-to-measure” thanks to artificial intelligence.

“The new tools developed by GialloZafferano confirm the brand’s extraordinary vocation for innovation and capacity to constantly evolve, while always maintaining our focus on the needs of foodlovers,” declared Andrea Santagata, general manager of Mondadori Media. “Underlying these results lies continuous research into people’s tastes and easy to prepare recipes, always tried out in the GialloZafferano kitchens, alongside a specialised digital team, operating 365 days a year, to always be able to respond to users’ requests.”

Now the new homepage of the site, using an advanced machine learning algorithm, will, at any moment, be able to provide up-to-date content based on the most popular search items and personal tastes, in this way being able to offer an even more precise experience. The algorithm will show the recipes of greatest interest in a set period of time, viewable on a carousel “The recipes of the moment” and “Most popular”,and will select recipes in relation to the surfing patterns of each users in “Suggested for you”.

The site’s search engine has also been enhanced so that users can access even more rapidly access the GialloZafferano content of most value in response to searches carried out.

Plus, for the first time, step-by-step recipes in a podcast: from this month 100 top GialloZafferano recipes will be available on all platforms (Spotify, Spreaker, Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Deezer), from Bolognese sauce to tiramisù.

“These new solutions confirm the constant attention of our Group to the most innovative and engaging technological developments and, as always, in the context of premium quality and high level of recognition of our bands. We are already working with our “Brand On Solutions” team on the creation of ad hoc branded content for our clients, who will be able to benefit from a perfect synergy between technological efficiency and our enthusiastic and reactive communities,” commented Davide Mondo, chief executive of Mediamond.

GialloZafferano currently reaches an audience of 18 million unique users every month (Source: Audiweb, average Jan-Jun 2020), with an extraordinary total of 10 million hours spent cooking with the site (Source: Audiweb, average Jan-Jun 2020) and 11.7 million fans on social media.

Making its debut this evening, CasaChi is a new social media talk show social conceived by Chi, that every week will bring together special guests in the exclusive salon of the magazine edited by Alfonso Signorini, to follow and discuss the new series of Grande Fratello Vip. Who will win? Who will go to the vote? What dynamic will emerge between the contestants? In each episode CasaChi will play an active role in the debate, with curiosities, behind the scenes features, forecasts and fun.

The CasaChi salon will welcome an alternating series of protagonists from GFVip: from the show’s presenter Alfonso Signorini, to the commentators Antonella Elia and Pupo and contestants from the last series. In the studio will be Chi journalists Azzurra Della Penna, Valerio Palmieri and Gabriele Parpiglia, moderated Gilberto Savini.

Guests of the first two episodes, together with the host Alfonso Signorini his two commentators, will be the winner of the last series Paola Di Benedetto and one of the most-loved couples that were born during the  programme, Luca Onestini and Ivana Mrázová.

The new Chi format will, of course, include unseen backstage footage and a gossip corner, where secrets will be revealed about what is really going on inside and, above all, outside the house.

“CasaChi is a unique opportunity to discover what is really happening behind the scenes of TV’s most popular reality show, also the things that the cameras never show you. We will give people the latest news, previews and scoops about the contestants and you can hear comments and confessions from GFVip live in viva voce from the commentators, the winners and the protagonists of previous series. Only on CasaChi!,” explained Alfonso Signorini, editor of Chi.

CasaChi #GFVip will be available every Tuesday and Thursday on the Facebook and Instagram profiles of Chi, where the brand reaches a community of more than 650,000 followers. Moreover, the social media profiles of the magazine also offer extra content, such as surveys, quizes, stories, behind-the-scenes coverage and video clips with interviews with contestants and the public.

An unmissable appointment for fans and an opportunity to get a close-up look at the show business and entertainment personalities that every week animate the pages of their favourite magazine. The new Chi format will also offer partners new communication opportunities that align with the exclusive world that revolves around Italy’s most widely read people magazine.

The project has been developed thanks to the partnership with Orogel, Italy’s leading producer of frozen vegetables, grown directly by the company’s 1,616 associated farms, operating exclusively in the most fertile areas of Italy. Quality, flavour and wellbeing are the basis of all of the Orogel recipes that allow the contestants of GFVip to enjoy healthy, light and tasty cooking.

NostroFiglio and PianetaMamma, the Mondadori Group brands, leaders in the world of parenting, are renewing together to reinforce their integrated system on the web, on social media and now also through podcasts: a unique offer of content and services to be even more on the side of new generations of parents and to accompany them every day and at every moment in the adventure of their children’s growth.

Points of reference for mothers and fathers on issues that range from conception to pregnancy and the early years of a child’s life, the two sites actively engage a community of  3 million unique users (Source: Audiweb May 2020) and over 1.2 million fans on Facebook and Instagram, with an overall weekly reach of 4 million people.

“Today, one in three parents get information from NostroFiglio and PianetaMamma: two authoritative brands widely recognised by the public, and in a leading position in the market of reference for all issues related to parenting. With these important new changes, we are offering our audience an even more complete system that is more detailed, innovative and gives advertisers the possibility of interacting with a sizeable and highly profiled target,” declared Andrea Santagata, general manager of Mondadori Media.

Mediamond has responded with great enthusiasm to these new features: “Since the launch of Mediamond we have made consistent efforts to develop the parenting market, and we are increasingly convinced that digital is an important and highly relevant element in the daily life of all parents. Today, the editorial quality of NostroFiglio and PianetaMamma is shared and appreciated by both users and advertising clients, who find in both brands contexts of great value for the development of targeted projects,” declared Davide Mondo, chief executive of Mediamond.

What’s new in NostroFiglio and PianetaMamma

From today, there are six new features that characterise NostroFiglio and PianetaMamma, starting from a new look, for a more homogenous identity and recognisable style, thanks to the use of pastel colours and “baby” mood.

Enhanced editorial content, with up to date services and information, thanks to the introduction of a scientific board that brings together experts from the fields of pedagogy, psychology, gynaecology and paediatrics in order to provide advice and answers to questions of most interest, as well as a pool of 30 family influencers, among the most followed in Italy, to share true stories and direct experience.

There are also new sections on the most requested news requested by users, such as green issues, sustainability, animals and children, and loads of ideas about fun activities to organise with the little ones.

Plus, for the first time NostroFiglio and PianetaMamma will deliver content through podcasts, with three series, available on Spreaker, Apple, Google and Deezer: Favole per i bambini (Children’s Fairy Tales), Storie delle mamme (Mother’s stories) and Risposte in 2 minuti (2-minute answers).

There is also a new positioning  for the Facebook and Instagram pages, with useful tips for daily life for the whole family: new activities and formats, including quizzes and inspirational cards, along with a weekly schedule of live social media events presented by experts. Space is also given to mums and dads with a weekly video and a new story every day for first-hand accounts by the parents of the community. The challenge will also continue to engage the fanbase, following the outstanding participation obtained by the “Andrà tutto bene” (All will be well) initiative, with the drawings of rainbows done by kids, and successfully amplified by NostroFiglio during the lockdown. To mark the re-opening of the schools, NostroFiglio and PianetaMamma have launched the hashtags #primogiornodiscuola and #finalmenteinsieme, to collect photos as Italy goes back to school.

The new parenting system will consequently offer also to its partners new integrated storytelling tools for their products on different channels, thanks to new features such as the podcasts, live events, video and the activation of the pool of family influencers for special projects.

Ferrero, with its product Kinder Fetta al latte and the “Insieme si riparte” (Together we can get going again) initiative, will accompany the re-launch of NostroFiglio and PianetaMamma for 3 weeks: a hub dedicated to the return to school, full of suggestions on how to prepare in the best way, including articles, videos and podcasts, as well as the involvement of the team of family influencers.

The re-launch of Nostrofiglio and Pianeta Mamma is supported by a communication campaign on print, digital and social media and leading B2B titles and is overseen by Casiraghi Greco &.

Donna Moderna is on newsstands with an exclusive double-cover dedicated to Annalisa, who is also the protagonist of a fashion feature in the magazine. This week Donna Moderna has chosen to put alongside an image of the artists in a new minimal look pose a second cover, a sort of grunge version, dedicated to young millennial women and their dreams, desires and aspirations, for which the songs of Annalisa are an exceptional voice. It is the original portrait that the singer-songwriter has also chosen for the cover of her latest album “Nuda”, released by Warner Music Italy on 18 September, drawn from the shooting for the women’s weekly edited by Annalisa Monfreda.

A special story, in which the singer-songwriter uses a shot from a magazine fashion feature as the image for her album.

The singer, who at the same time today revealed to fans on social media the genesis of the album cover, will be interviewed by the editor of Donna Moderna Annalisa Monfreda this evening at 6 pm live on the magazine’s Instagram channel, where an exclusive backstage video of the photographic feature is also available.

On the set, Annalisa decided to “bare herself”, playing and having fun with unusual outfits. For the shot that also became the album cover, the artist is wearing grunge-inspired clothes, a sweatshirt and boots, with, in the background, graffiti, produced in collaboration with a tattoo artist, and words that indicate feelings, memories, suggestions.

“We are delighted that our shooting has inspired one of the most important artists on the Italian music scene. On the set a great mutual feeling was immediately established and this unexpected result is naturally very flattering. We have dedicated this week’s double-cover to Annalisa because with her music she speaks to all our hearts and those of our readers, examining the truths of normality, also with its small imperfections and fragilities,” commented Annalisa Monfreda, editor of Donna Moderna.

This is a continuation of a series of initiatives by Mondadori Group brands that began in July and that will continue with new special issues, this month and in October, in an ongoing dialogue with the its community. This week Donna Moderna reaches out to an even broader audience thanks to a much-loved personality with a large and younger following and an established presence on social media.

Thanks to a unique mix of practical advice, first-hand testimony, stories and daily live events, Donna Moderna remains always close to its readers and their needs. Through the magazine and its web channels it reaches a total net audience of 14.6 million users each month (Source: Nielsen Media impact, data fusion March 2020), to which should be added over 2 million fans on social media with 1.3 million monthly interactions (Source: Fanpage Karma, August 2020), confirming its position as the point of reference in the women’s segment.

Icon, the Mondadori Group male lifestyle brand, has dedicated the latest issue of the magazine to restarting, from the world of cinema to fashion, two of the sectors that symbolise the rebirth of the country’s system.

A special issue, with over 264 pages of di stories, exclusive interviews and features that the editor Andrea Tenerani has entitled Starring: “Being protagonists, which doesn’t necessarily mean being celebrated, but rather going where things are happening, becoming – at least partly – masters of one’s own destiny, transforming dreams into projects.”

Icon will be presented at the Venice International Film Festival with an exclusive event organised by the brand, in collaboration with Bulgari: a reserved Gala Cocktail, to be prudent, at the splendid location of the Aman hotel, the sumptuous rooms of which will welcome guests in a unique context characterised by frescoes by Tiepolo and rococo works of art.
The protagonist of the event will be the actor Alessandro Borghi, a much-loved face to whom Icon has dedicated the cover of the new issue.
Also taken part in the event will be the photographer Max Vadukul, who shot the cover for Icon, and is known around the world for his unique work, able to transform reality into art. 

In an exclusive interview for the magazine, on newsstands from Wednesday 16 September, Borghi talks about himself in the round: his origins, in Rome, his early life, gratitude, and commitment. But also: friendships, the roles he has played, the actors’ craft, and a possible future far from the cinema. “The age component doesn’t worry me, I’m sure that at a certain point I will cease to be fascinated by this kind of work, and it with me. I’m in favour of generational change, and I know that to make space for someone else, a place needs to be vacated. I’m not concerned about having to invent a different kind of life,” the actor reveals in the interview.

At the heart of the issue, as well as cinema, is fashion, with a detailed look at the world of boutiques and retail in general in this particular historical moment: plus a special feature inside the magazine called “New shop experience” with a survey on how shops are changing, how they are getting going again and how customers’ shopping experience will change in the future.

Naturally, there are also interviews with celebrated individuals, including an icon of boxing, Mike Tyson, who tells Icon that he is preparing to return to the ring: “I’ll be back in the ring for a good cause. I haven’t done it for years, but I’ll be ready, and I can’t wait.”

The content of the September issue also features a homage, created for the magazine by the extraordinary photographer Bruce Weber, to John Lewis, the Afro-American civil rights activist who died in July.

Gilda Bojardi, editor of INTERNI, the Mondadori Group’s interiors and contemporary design magazine, was today awarded the Compasso d’Oro prize for her career Carriera as part of the XXVI Compasso d’Oro ADI. This prestigious design award was first given in 1954 and based on an idea by Gio Ponti with the aim of enhancing and supporting Italy’s rich creativity.

Gilda Bojardi was recognised by the jury as an undisputed protagonist in the culture of Italian design, “a solid point of reference for information about the ever-expanding world of design, able to anticipate complex phenomena with an approach to the contemporary that is never banal or ideological along with a critical position that is as constructive as it is original. She has also been able to interpret transformations in the publishing sector and made a fundamental contribution to the creation of ways of popularising and expanding the audience, also through events, which thanks to her vision have become international in scale.”

Under her leadership, the Mondadori Group magazine has become an authentic point of reference in design and thanks to her creative energy has developed a system of parallel publications that have transformed the title from a monthly magazine into a brand able to create events, starting the FuoriSalone in Milan, and other initiatives, also abroad.

“I have to express my great thanks for all of the encounters, both chance and sought after, that life has given me,” said Gilda Bojardi,  “and to all those people that I have had the possibility to get to know much better in my working life and who have enriched and stimulated me in the discovery, as a lawyer manqué, of the wonderful world of design and architecture, and satisfying more than generously my curiosity.”

In fact, she is a qualified lawyer, with a degree in law from the University of Milan. Her professional relationship with INTERNI began in 1980, and in 1990 she was made editor of the ‘Annual’ monographs published as supplements to the magazine and became editor of the monthly in 1994. She conceived the FuoriSalone, began as an experiment in 1990, the Design Week that now animates the city of Milan every year in the month of April with a wide range of events. For her commitment to the spread – both nationally and internationally – of the culture of design she has already received a number of prestigious awards, including: Officier des Arts et des Lettres (French Ministry of Culture – 2006); Ambrogino d’oro (City of Milan – 2007); 1° Prix Designer’s Day (Paris – 2008); Premio ITA Italian Talent Award (Italian Chamber of Deputies, Rome – 2014). She has also been the Ambassador of Italian Design for the “Italian Design Day” in March 2017 in Mexico City, and in March 2018 and 2019 in Madrid. In October 2019 she received the Medalla Anáhuac en Diseño 2019 during the international conference “Diseñar para la Humanidad” in Mexico City.

The award was given this morning in preview at the headquarters of the ADI which hosts the new ADI Design Museum-Compasso d’Oro. The museum, which will open in December, is in the former industrial area of via Ceresio 7, and will feature a permanent exhibition “Mettere Radici” with prize-winning design objects from1954 to the present.

Lessons? Better in the classroom. 57% of students want to go back to the classroom: this is what emerges from a survey conducted by Studenti.it involving some 18,150 1^st and 2^nd level high school students and aimed at finding out what they think, how they are experiencing the current situation if and how their habit will change. In fact, for those interviewed they miss contact with both classmates and teachers and there is a great desire for a return to normality.66% even think that online classes and damaging because of connectivity issues and inadequate tools that have hindered effective interaction between students and teachers.

The end of the 2019-2020 school year was anomalous: only 30% of those interviewed told Studenti.it that there were students who had failed the year or had to do re-sits. There does not appear to have been big gaps and a need for recoups, given that just 38% of students organised revision lessons. In the 2018-2019 school year, on the other hand, all schools organised revision courses, having faced 21% of students required to re-sit in September and 6.8% who failed the year.

Regarding single study chairs on wheels, for most kids (86%) in the Studenti.it survey, they are likely to be used inappropriately by students and therefore create additional problems. For the remaining 14%, meanwhile, they are seen as a good solution that can guarantee adequate distancing.

The majority of kids, finally, don’t want to change their habits to get to school. According to the Studenti.it survey, 23% would find an alternative method of getting around compared to the  pre-Covid period, while 77% would continue to use the same means of transport to get to school: of these 40% would use public transport, 32% would move by car, 18% would go to school on foot, 4% by motorcycle, and 6% by bicycle of scooter.

Studenti.it has continued to be constantly on the side of students during all phases of the school year in lockdown, increasing its offer with thousands of items of free content, from video lessons with study tips, to live social media events with experts and YouTubers and the “Te lo spiega Studenti” podcasts, a new way of exploiting notes online. In the first six months of the year, the  Mondadori Group brand recorded a 30% increase in traffic on its site compared with the previous year (Source: Google Analytics, average March-April-May), reaching, in April, a month of total lockdown, 5 million unique users, +34% compared with April 2019 (Source: Total Audience April 2020), and YouTube views that were up by 50% compared with the same period of the previous year.

Today, the meeting of the Board of Directors of Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A., chaired by Marina Berlusconi, reviewed and approved the Half-Year Report at 30 June 2020, presented by CEO Ernesto Mauri.

Highlights of first half 2020
The first half of 2020 was inevitably marked by the effects of the COVID-19 emergency.

Starting from the first ten days of March, in fact, the gradual and increasingly widespread application of restrictive measures has significantly curtailed most of the activities related to the businesses where the Group operates as a leader.

From 12 March up to the end of April, the government measures to contain the pandemic led to the closure of bookstores throughout Italy, with the resulting suspension of the activities related to the Group’s Retail business.

Parallel to that and over the same period, the Trade Books business had to tackle the shutdown of the physical channel for the marketing of its products and, consequently, could only rely on the online channel.

The emergency measures concurrently led to the closure of museum sites, archaeological parks and relating bookstores across all Italian regions, with the resulting interruption of the Group’s activities in managing services for museums and cultural heritage.

Lastly, the Media business[1] too recorded declines following closure of part of the newsstands in Italy and the reduction of advertising investments.

In order to tackle this situation, the Mondadori Group has set up and implemented a series of actions and measures aimed, first and foremost, at guaranteeing the safety of its people, enabling them, where possible, to perform their work remotely (smart working), and at alleviating the impacts of the measures adopted by the authorities, in order to safeguard the company’s operating and financial profile.

To this end, the Group has:

• taken steps to contain and cut operating costs also by renegotiating contracts and reviewing rates, with total savings estimated at € 13 million for the entire year;
• implemented actions to reduce the cost of personnel, estimated at approximately € 15 million for the entire year, by using outstanding holidays and resorting to social safety nets, as well as resolving to reduce the variable remuneration of the Group’s Management for 2020 and, lastly, suspending remuneration and hiring policies;
• placed particular emphasis on the Group’s working capital (with specific actions on customers and suppliers);
• implemented a policy of deferred payments in favour of the book chains, independent and franchised bookstores of the Retail Area, aimed at safeguarding the strength of the distribution channels and supporting the production chain in the Group’s area of operation.

For the different business activities:

• in the Trade Area, the editorial plans have been reshaped and rescheduled;
• in the Educational Area, school textbooks were affected only to a small extent, while actions have been taken to curb or eliminate the costs related to the stoppage and canceling of museum and archaeological park activities;
• in the Media Area, a different scheduling of magazines at newsstands and a strict policy has been adopted to reduce production costs;
• in the Retail Area, a plan has been implemented to streamline the units of the area and the points of sale.

Performance at 30 June 2020
Starting from May, with the lifting of lockdown restrictions, the Trade Books market has shown stronger and stronger signs of recovery with double-digit growth rates that marked the last six weeks of the half-year period and still in progress.

The recovery has propelled the growth of the Trade and Retail businesses, allowing them to partly regain the revenue lost in the March-April period.

As a result of the outlined context, the Group’s operating and financial profile at 30 June 2020 is as follows:

• consolidated revenue amounted to € 288.9 million, down by -24% versus € 380 million in the same period of 2019. Net of the changed scope of consolidation of the Media Area in 2019, the drop stands at -22.2% and is attributable mainly to the effects of COVID-19;

• IFRS 16 adjusted EBITDA amounted to € 11 million versus € 21.8 million in the prior year (down by approximately € 10.9 million versus the same period of 2019).

Also at the adjusted EBITDA level, the decline basically reflects the consequences of COVID-19 as well as the first positive effects of the countermeasures adopted by the Group.

The cost reduction measures for € 31.8 million have contained the impacts from the contraction in revenue and margins caused by the COVID-19 emergency;

• IFRS 16 EBITDA amounted to € 8.4 million versus € 20.6 million at 30 June 2019;

• IFRS 16 EBIT amounted to € -17.2 million, down by € -19.3 million versus 30 June 2019, due mainly to the trend of the abovementioned components and the write-down and start of the amortization process of a number of titles;

• The consolidated result before tax amounted to € -30.9 million versus € -1.6 million in first half 2019, due also to financial expense (€ 4 million), the adjustment of the investment in Reworld Media (€ -6.6 million) and the loss of the associates consolidated at equity (€ -3.4 million);

• The result from continuing operations amounted to € -25 million versus € -4.6 million at 30 June 2019 (€ -20.4 million). The decline was strongly affected by the above non-operating and extraordinary cost components, which total approximately € 22 million, only partly offset by tax income of approximately € 5.9 million recorded by the Group during the year;

• The Group’s net result amounted to € -25 million versus € -1.9 million in first half 2019 (which had also included € 2.7 million from discontinued operations);

• Net debt (before IFRS 16) amounted to € -130.1 million, improving strongly versus € -204.2 million at 30 June 2019 (€ +74.1 million), due also to the proceeds (€ 62.8 million) from the disposal completed in July 2019 of Mondadori France and the positive cash generation from ordinary operations in the last 12 months (€ 36.7 million net of discontinued operations), despite the highly deteriorated context.

The IFRS 16 Net Financial Position stood at € -219.5 million and includes the IFRS 16 impact of
€ -89.4 million.

At 30 June 2020, the number of employees in the context of the Mondadori Group’s continuing operations amounted to 1,928 units, down by approximately -9% versus 2,117 units at 30 June 2019, as a result of the disposal of a number of titles in the Media Area (in December 2019) and activities aimed at increasing the efficiency of the individual business areas.

Despite the significant stress put on the global economic system at this moment in time, the Group’s financial situation and medium-term prospects allow it to maintain a positive attitude towards business developments, even in an economic framework inevitably affected by the COVID-19 emergency.

Business outlook
To date, Group forecasts reflect, on the one hand, the encouraging signs coming from the market, particularly in the Group’s main business areas of operation and, on the other, do not include any effects from a fresh outbreak of the pandemic, such as new lockdown measures on a national scale.

Based on the current scenario, the Group estimates a drop in revenue by between 16% and 18% versus 2019, due also to the trend of the various businesses; a solid double-digit (adjusted) EBITDA margin (approximately 11%-12%) and positive cash generation, albeit down versus the past.

The trend of the Group’s financial debt at the end of the period will depend on the amount of restructuring costs that will be financed through the cash flow from ordinary operations, with an estimate of the Group’s net financial position in any case no higher than € -55.4 million at 31 December 2019.

Performance of business areas

• BOOKS

At the beginning of May, the gradual reopening of independent bookstores and book chains allowed the Trade Books market to make a strong recovery: in the last six weeks of the half-year period, book sales grew double-digit, reaching +13.5% in June alone versus the same period of the prior year.

This upswing allowed the market to mitigate and make up for the fall recorded in March (-29.2%) and April (-45.8%), bringing the overall contraction in terms of value at 30 June 2020 to -10.1%.

Against this backdrop, the Mondadori Group retained its leadership position with an overall market share of 24.8%[2] in Trade, outstripping the market performance by more than six percentage points in the last six weeks of the half-year period.

Revenue in the Books Area amounted to € 145.9 million at 30 June 2020, down by 20.6% versus € 183.8 million in first half 2019. Specifically:

In the Trade Area, revenue amounted to € 90 million, down by -15.8% versus € 106.8 million at 30 June 2019, due to the abovementioned COVID-19 effects.

To cope with the closure of the distribution channel, the Group has revised its publishing schedule, pushing back the launch of new works by some of the most prestigious and successful authors to the second half of the year.

E-books and audiobooks (9% of total publishing revenue) bucked the trend versus physical books, with revenue up sharply during the lockdown period (+37%) versus the prior year.

Listening hours of the audiobook catalogue jumped by over 75% versus 2019, while downloads of e-books increased by 45%.

Revenue in the Educational Area amounted to € 52.8 million, down by -27.1% versus € 72.4 million in the same period of 2019.

School textbooks suffered a low impact from the pandemic, given the typical seasonal performance of the business that sees sales squeezed in the second half of the year following the adoption campaign.

The decrease in revenue in the Educational Area is attributable mainly to the closure of museums and archaeological sites under concession due to the health emergency, which prevented the museum business from achieving the expected results.

IFRS 16 adjusted EBITDA in the Books Area amounted to € 10.9 million versus € 16.2 million in 2019, a deterioration attributable to the negative trend in revenue, only partly mitigated by the cost containment actions implemented by Management.

IFRS 16 EBIT amounted to € 3.9 million versus € 9.7 million in 2019.

• RETAIL

As mentioned, in the first six months of 2020 the Trade Books market (which accounts for over 80% of Retail revenue^[3]) fell sharply versus the same period of the prior year (-10.1%^[4]) as a result of the COVID-19 emergency.

The gradual reopening of bookstores has allowed the market to rebound strongly, with an increase in June alone of +13.5%.

Revenue in the Retail Area in the first six months of the year amounted to € 59 million, down by 27.5% versus € 81.4 million in the same period of the prior year, due to the government measures to tackle COVID-19.

The market share stood at 10.9% in the first half of the year, as the Group’s performance was hindered by the fact of being able to operate only through its online channel during the lockdown period.

In June, the Group followed the same strong trend of the market: revenue in the Area, versus the same month of the prior year, dropped by only -4.1%, and the market share – in the month – stood at 12.1%, thanks, in particular, to the positive performance of the franchised stores.

Mention should particularly be made of the performance of the online channel, whose sales in the first 6 months grew by +71.6% versus first half 2019, and by as much as approximately 190% during the lockdown period.

IFRS 16 adjusted EBITDA amounted to € -2.8 million versus € -0.6 million in the same period of 2019.

Despite the drastic drop in revenue, the impact in terms of EBITDA was contained thanks to careful cost management and a deep organizational and process revision, involving both the central units and the points of sale, carried out in the second half of 2019 and continued even during the harshest period of COVID-19.

Excluding the lockdown months, Mondadori Retail improved margins both in the first two months of the year (€ +0.3 million versus the same period of the prior year) and in June alone (€ +0.7 million versus the same period of the prior year).

IFRS 16 EBIT amounted to € -8.2 million (versus € -6 million in first quarter 2019).

• MEDIA

The May surveys show that the advertising market was heavily impacted by COVID-19, with declines reported across all channels, including digital down by -17.2% and magazines by -41.5%[5].

In terms of circulation, the Italian magazines market fell by 11.3% during the period[6].

Against this backdrop, the Mondadori Group retained its position as market leader with a share in terms of value of 23.7%[7] and as the leading multimedia publisher in Italy on the web, with a reach of 84% (approximately 33 million unique users in May)[8], and in social media with an aggregate fan base of 33.5 million spread across 100 social profiles[9].

At 30 June 2020, revenue in the Media Area amounted to € 95.8 million (-26.8% versus € 130.9 million in 2019). Net of the disposal of a number of titles, the decrease came to -21.5%.

Specifically:

• circulation revenue fell by approximately -23%, a performance affected by both the COVID-19 impact and the disposal of a number of titles in 2019; net of these discontinuities, the decline is estimated at approximately -9%.
• advertising revenue, of which the digital component accounts for over 50%, was down by approximately -42% overall.

This is the class of revenue most affected by COVID-19 and the lockdown, which led to the cancellation of such a significant event as the Salone del Mobile, and a decrease in proximity marketing solutions (AdKaora). On a like-for-like basis and net of COVID-19 impacts, the change in advertising revenue would be approximately -4, -5%.

• other revenue, which includes distribution activities, fell by -9.6% versus the prior year, reflecting both the performance of the circulation market and the drop in royalties generated by the international editions of Grazia.

Adjusted EBITDA stood at € 2 million, down by approximately € -5 million only versus first half 2019, as the marked slippage in revenue was offset by effective measures to contain operating costs.

IFRS 16 EBIT, which reflects the write-down and the start of the amortization process of a number of titles (for a total value of € 7.3 million), amounted to € -7.9 million versus € 3.7 million in first half 2019.

The documentation relating to the presentation of the results at 30 June 2020, is made available through the authorized storage mechanism 1Info (www.1info.it) and in the Investors section of the Company website www.gruppomondadori.it.

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 (in the complete pdf):

• Consolidated balance sheet
• Consolidated income statement
• Consolidated income statement – II quarter
• Group cash flow
• Glossary of terms and alternative performance measures used

[1] As from 1 January 2020, the activities referring to Mondadori Group magazines and websites, as well as the investments in the Magazines Italy Area, were transferred to the wholly-owned subsidiary Mondadori Media S.p.A.

[2] GFK (in terms of value at June)

^[3] Product revenue excluding Club revenue

^[4] GFK (in terms of value at June)

[5] Nielsen, cumulative figures at May 2020

[6] Internal source: Press-di, figures at May 2020 (newsstands + subscriptions channel) in terms of value

[7] Internal source: Press-di, figures at May 2020 (newsstands + subscriptions channel) in terms of value

[8] Comscore (May 2020)

[9] Shareablee (June 2020)