2021

Today, the Shareholders’ Meeting of Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A., chaired by Marina Berlusconi, approved the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2021.

The Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Antonio Porro, presented the key figures for the year, as disclosed to the market last 16 March.
Specifically, the net profit, after minority interests, amounted to € 44.2 million, up sharply versus € 4.5 million in 2020.

Today’s Shareholders’ Meeting, in accordance with the proposal of the Board of Directors of 16 March 2022, which has already been the subject of disclosure, resolved to distribute a unit dividend of € 0.085 for each ordinary share (net of treasury shares) outstanding at the record date, for a total of approximately € 22.1 million[1] which corresponds to a pay-out of 50% of the consolidated net profit and a dividend yield equal to 4.2% (at 31 December 2021).
The dividend will be paid, in accordance with the provisions of the “Regulation of the markets organized and managed by Borsa Italiana S.p.A.”, from 25 May 2022 (payment date), with ex-coupon (no. 21) date on 23 May 2022, and with the date of entitlement to payment of the dividend, pursuant to Article 83-terdecies of the TUF (record date), on 24 May 2022.

The Shareholders’ Meeting resolved also on the following additional items on the agenda:

Report on remuneration policy and compensation paid
Pursuant to Article 123-ter of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998, the Shareholders’ Meeting, by means of a binding resolution, approved Section One of the Report on Remuneration Policy and Compensation Paid. The Shareholders’ Meeting also voted in favour of Section Two of the Report.

Renewal of the authorization to purchase and dispose of treasury shares
Following expiry of the term relating to the previous authorization resolved on 27 April 2021, the Shareholders’ Meeting renewed the authorization to purchase and dispose of treasury shares with the aim of retaining for the Board of Directors the applicability of law provisions in the matter of any additional purchase plans and, consequently, of seizing any investment and operational opportunities involving treasury shares.
To date, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A. holds a total of no. 1,049,838 treasury shares, equal to 0.402% of the share capital.
Here below is the information provided on the authorization issued by the Meeting, also with reference to the provisions of Article 144-bis of the Issuer Regulation no. 11971/1999:

• Motivations
  The motivations underlying the request for the authorization to purchase and dispose of treasury shares refer to the opportunity to attribute to the Board of Directors the power:
  – use the Treasury Shares purchased or already in the Company portfolio as compensation for the acquisition of interests within the framework of the Company’s investments;
  – use the treasury shares purchased or already held in portfolio against the exercise of option rights, including conversion rights, deriving from financial instruments issued by the Company, its subsidiaries or third parties and to use the treasury shares for lending, exchange or transfer transactions or to support extraordinary transactions on the Company’s capital or financing transactions that imply the transfer or sale of treasury shares;
  – to undertake any investments, directly or through intermediaries, including for the purpose of containing abnormal movements in share prices, stabilizing share trading and prices, supporting the liquidity of the share on the market, in order to foster  the regular conduct of trading beyond normal fluctuations related to market performance, without prejudice in any case to compliance with applicable statutory provisions;
  – to rely on investment or divestment opportunities, if considered strategic by the Company, also in relation to available liquidity;
  – to dispose of treasury shares as part of share-based incentive plans pursuant to Article 114-bis of the TUF, and of plans for the free allocation of shares to employees or members of the governing or supervisory bodies of the Company or to Shareholders.

• Duration
  The authorization to purchase treasury shares is set to last until the approval of the financial statements for the year ending 31 December 2022 and, in any case, for a period not exceeding 18 months after the Shareholders’ Meeting resolution, while the authorization to sell is granted to last for an unlimited period, given the absence of provisions in this regard pursuant to the provisions in force and the opportunity to allow the Board of Directors to make use of the maximum flexibility, also in terms of time, to carry out the acts of disposal of the shares.

• Maximum number of purchasable treasury shares
  The authorization allows the purchase, including in more than one tranche, of ordinary shares of Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A., with a par value of € 0.26 each, in one or more tranches in an amount freely determinable by the Board of Directors – up to a maximum number of shares – also taking into account the ordinary shares held, directly and indirectly, in the portfolio from time to time – of no more than 10% overall of the share capital.

• Criteria for purchasing Treasury Shares and indication of the minimum and maximum purchasing cap
  Purchases shall be made in compliance with Articles 132 of the TUF and 144-bis, paragraph 1 letter b) of the Issuer Regulation, and on regulated markets or multilateral trading systems, according to the operating criteria established in the organization and management regulations of the same markets, which do not allow the direct matching of buy orders against predetermined sell orders, and also in compliance with any other applicable law, including EU law. Additionally, share purchase transactions may also be carried out in the manner envisaged in Article 3 of EU Delegated Regulation no. 2016/1052 in order to benefit, if the conditions are met, from the exemption under Article 5, paragraph 1, of EU Regulation no. 596/2014 on market abuse with regard to inside information and market manipulation.
  Regarding the disposal of treasury shares, disposals may be made, on one or more occasions and even before having terminated the maximum number of purchasable treasury shares, either by selling them on regulated markets or according to other trading methods in compliance with the law, including EU law, in force and with the Admitted Market Practices, if applicable.
  Under the proposed authorization, the minimum and maximum purchase price shall be determined at a unit price not lower than the official Stock Exchange price of Mondadori shares on the day preceding the purchase transaction, reduced by 20%, and not higher than the official Stock Exchange price on the day preceding the purchase transaction, increased by 10%.
  In any event – except for any different price and volume determinations resulting from the application of the conditions set forth in the Admitted Market Practices – such price shall be identified in accordance with the trading conditions set forth in Delegated Regulation (EU) no. 1052 of 8 March 2016.
  In terms of consideration, sales transactions or other acts of disposition of treasury shares shall be carried out:
  – if executed in cash, at a price no lower than 10% of the reference price recorded on the MTA – Euronext Milan – organized and managed by Borsa Italiana S.p.A. in the trading session prior to each single transaction;
  – if executed as part of any extraordinary transactions in accordance with financial terms to be determined by the Board of Directors on the basis of the nature and characteristics of the transaction, also taking account of the market performance of Mondadori shares;
  – if executed to service the Performance Share Plans adopted by the Company in compliance with the terms and conditions set out in the resolutions of the Shareholders’ Meeting that establish the Plans and the related regulations.

2022-2024 Performance Share Plan
The Shareholders’ Meeting, pursuant to Article 114-bis of Legislative Decree 58/1998 and in keeping with the introduction of performance share plans approved in the past for the medium/long-term remuneration of executive directors and key management personnel, approved the adoption of a Performance Share Plan for the three-year period 2022-2024 intended for the Chief Executive Officer, the CFO – Executive Director and a number of managers of the Company who have an employment and/or directorship relationship with the Company or its subsidiaries at the date of allocation of the shares.
For a detailed description of the 2022-2024 Performance Share Plan, the beneficiaries and the main characteristics of the Regulation of the Plan, reference should be made to the Information Document pursuant to Article 84 bis of CONSOB Issuer Regulation no. 11971/1999, and the explanatory report of the Board of Directors, available on the Company website www.mondadorigroup.com, Governance/Shareholders’ Meeting section and on the authorized storage mechanism 1Info (www.1Info.it).

^[1] Rough estimate based on the number of shares outstanding to date.

Giallozafferano, the leading food media brand in Italy, continues to grow on social media, with a global fanbase that has now topped 35 million thanks to the acquisition of the Foodqood profiles.

Created by chef Khalid El Mahi, Foodqood is the world’s fourth largest cookery profile on TikTok by number of fans, and the top profile in Italy.
In little more than a year, Foodqood, which is also on Instagram, has accumulated more than 13 million followers, with an increase of 1 million fans in the last 30 days, attracted by short dynamic videos that have gone viral in Italy and around the world, with each one attracting an average of more than 6 million views.

Its success is due to the talent of its young creator, El Mahi, 37 years old, head chef at the Das Badl restaurant in Trentino – Alto Adige. The rapid growth of Foodqood’s social profiles is driven in particular by its fast and easy Italian and international recipes, illustrated in short dynamic videos, which are also available in English.

The acquisition has given a decisive boost to Giallozafferano’s position on TikTok and its international expansion. 

Giallozafferano was the first Italian food media brand to target TikTok – where it now has more than 2 million fans on three profiles – as a fundamental move to reach the new generations, experiment with new styles and collaborate with the top emerging talents in Italian cooking.

Meanwhile, at the beginning of the year, Giallozafferano successfully launched its international English-language version as a website and on social media, where today the brand has a community of more than 5 million fans on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.

«We are delighted to expand and diversify our social media presence with the acquisition of a hugely successful international young profile. The Instagram and TikTok profiles of Foodqood, which from today will be called GZ Foodqood, mean we can count on an overall fanbase on a par with the top world players,» said Andrea Santagata, general manager of Mondadori Media. «Furthermore, our strategic collaboration with young chef Khalid enables us to continue our on-going productive experimentation with new styles, with the focus increasingly on video shorts, a format that already lets us reach 150 million video views a month on social media. The purchase also strengthens our positioning as a Food Talent Factory. Giallozafferano believes in creators as an important ingredient to deliver fresh content and engage Millennials and Generation Z. This is why today Giallozafferano collaborates on a stable basis with over 50 of Italy’s best and most original food creators,» Santagata added.

With its latest acquisition, Giallozafferano continues to attract and select the most exciting talents on the web, a process that began in 2011 when it created the largest Italian food blogging community, attracting growing numbers of top chefs, influencers and creators.

This also enhances branded content opportunities for commercial partners, who, through the Mediamond space concessionaire, can target new audiences with innovative publishing formats, using the factory content of Giallozafferano and the unique team of food creators who work with the brand.

Christmas is a time for music and solidarity with Sorrisi Live – Un sorriso per Natale, the exclusive digital concert TV Sorrisi e Canzoni, the entertainment world’s landmark brand, will present this evening, Wednesday 22 December, so that readers, followers, and fans can enjoy the festive atmosphere together with the top names in Italy’s recording industry.

Following 2020’s great success, the event this year will see the participation of 9 of today’s most popular young artists, ready to offer special good wishes to all their fans from 7pm on the website and on the magazine’s Instagram and Facebook channels.

The artists performing on the Sorrisi Live stage will be Gaia, Francesca Michielin, Federico Rossi, The Kolors, Arisa, Deddy, Emma Muscat and Rocco Hunt, while one of the big names from last year’s concert, Francesco Gabbani, will be making a return appearance.

Hugely talented musicians and singer-songwriters, who will lead the Sorrisi audience into the warm and familiar Christmas mood with an exclusive acoustic version of songs from their personal repertoires.

A playlist of the voices most admired by the young generation, who will give the concert even greater appeal thanks to their popularity on the social networks, engaging an even larger audience and demonstrating the privileged relationship that has always existed between Italy’s best-selling weekly magazine and artists of every generation.

The concert – which can be watched and re-watched on Sorrisi.com and the magazine’s social profiles – will be presented by Gabriele Corsi, with the participation of the event’s host, Aldo Vitali, editor-in-chief of TV Sorrisi e Canzoni.

«This year once again we have the pleasure of offering our readers and social media followers a unique and special Christmas concert, with leading artistes who responded enthusiastically to our invitation and whom I thank most warmly. I’m especially grateful to them because the concert allows us to help many unfortunate children through the Dottor Sorriso Foundation,» said Aldo Vitali.

The concert will indeed provide an opportunity to offer a smile to the families who will be spending the festivities in hospital wards, thanks to the support Sorrisi has decided to give to the Dottor Sorriso Foundation. The foundation has been working in hospitals across Italy for more than 25 years, promoting the Smile Therapy to brighten small patients’ stay in hospital and help them cope with their illness with renewed optimism.

«For the second year, I have the honour and pleasure of joining the editor of Sorrisi to present the Christmas concert. This is turning into a wonderful tradition which, hopefully, we shall soon be able to hold live, » said Gabriele Corsi. «On television, on radio, at events, I always try to get people smiling. So what better occasion, as we celebrate Christmas, than the Sorrisi concert in collaboration with our friends from Dottor Sorriso?»

With the Sorrisi Live – Un sorriso per Natale concert, TV Sorrisi e Canzoni confirms its standing as a constantly evolving brand with the power to bring together artistes and entertainers, a public of 5.7 million readers and users a month (source: Nielsen Media Impact Data fusion, May 2021) and a community of 950,000 fans on the social networks (source: Shareablee e Insight, October 2021), thanks to an editorial offer comprising the magazine, the website, social media and events.

Click here for information on how to make a donation to the Dottor Sorriso Foundation project.

The Mondadori Group announces the completion today of the sale – by its subsidiary Mondadori Media S.p.A. – of the business units comprising the editorial activities of Donna Moderna and CasaFacile to Stile Italia Edizioni S.r.l., part of Società Editrice Italiana S.p.A. group.
In 2021, revenue from these activities is estimated at approximately € 17 million.

The transaction, which will be effective as from 1 January 2022, is in line with the Mondadori Group’s strategy – repeatedly disclosed to the market – of increasing its focus on the core business of books.

In accordance with the provisions of law, the procedure with the trade unions was put into effect.

More than 15 million unique users a month on the web, a global fanbase of 35 million on social media, 200 million video views a month: with these numbers Giallozafferano is celebrating 2021 as a very successful year.

A success achieved thanks to a distinctive positioning, which saw Giallozafferano become thefirst food media brand to focus on TikTok and on creators. Today, it collaborates with a team of more than 50 of the best and most original food talents.

The Giallozafferano young talents were the protagonists of the “GZ Creator Award” event held yesterday in Milan: a special acknowledgment for the creators and bloggers who distinguished themselves during 2021 by engaging growing communities of foodlovers, and achieving record-breaking views and interaction, and helped to foster the growth of Giallozafferano with their talent and content.

«For Giallozafferano, the creators, each with their own specific identity, are an increasingly central element: as publishers, the decision to create a team with the top Italian cookery talents has enabled us to strengthen and innovate our content offer and at the same time given them the chance to grow together with us, with the support of a brand leader and the expertise of our team, in a mutual beneficial relationship,» said Mondadori Media general manager Andrea Santagata. «We are proud to have become the home of Italy’s top food talents and we have created the GZ Creator Award specifically to thank all our creators and bloggers for their passion and extraordinary skills, » Santagata added.

The GZ Creator Award 2021 was presented in seven categories by Andrea Santagata together with starred chef Alessandro Negrini from the Vòce di Aimo e Nadia restaurant, which provided the venue for the event.

The Giallozafferano 2021 best blogger award went to Luisa Orizio (Allacciate il grembiule), whose dishes everyone can cook attract more than 4 million monthly visits to her blog and 1.2 million fans.

The creator with the highest like average is Andriana Kulchytska, who is always on the look-out for tempting dishes that will appeal to the fitness world, with an average of almost 50,000 “likes” per video.

The creator who attracted the highest number of comments in 2021 is Daniele Rossi, a Tuscan chef who seduces everyone with his choice of traditional popular dishes and raw materials of the highest quality, with more than 1,400 comments for his guacamole video recipe.

The most sustainable creator award, with the most viewed veg videos, was won by Diletta Secco, a young cook who promotes sustainability in the kitchen with simple, unique recipes.

The creator with the highest average for video reel views was Rafael Nistor with his live video recipes, where the sounds as he prepares the food create an original and hypnotic audio, with an average of 1.4 million views for each video.

The award for the highest overall number of views went to Cooker Girl, aka Aurora Cavallo, with her unmistakeable red apron and huge repertoire of “traditionally new” dishes, for more than 50 million views on Instagram Reels and TikTok.

The creator behind the most viewed video is Khalid El Mahi, now a permanent member of the Giallozafferano family of social profiles with the “GZ Foodqood” brand, a youthful, fast and dynamic approach to cooking: his recipe for pita bread attracted 8 million views.

The exclusive Giallozafferano event – devoted to cooking, creativity and entertainment – was compered by special host Guglielmo Scilla, known as Willwoosh. The guest of honour was singer Orietta Berti, who offered the guests an exceptional medley of her hits, including Mille, winner of five platinum disks and one of the songs most downloaded and listened to by generation Z, and her new single Luna Piena, composed in collaboration with Hell Raton and sung in public for the first time last night.

Giallozafferano’s success in 2021 confirms the brand’s unique ability to select web talents as part of a continuously evolving journey: one that began in 2011, when Giallozafferano created the largest Italian food blogging community, which today has transformed the brand into a veritable food talent factory – with contributions from more than 100 top chefs, bloggers and creators – and will continue in 2022 with an even more ambitious program.

The basis of its success is a benchmark brand for Italian foodlovers, a “top of mind” food medium, the best known, most frequently consulted, must-have name in the kitchen. This is confirmed by the constantly growing community, reflecting the ability of GialloZafferano to be of service throughout the day thanks to consolidated content and video production knowhow, the result of a special in-house social content production.

Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A. today announced, as per Art. 2.6.2 of the regulations governing markets organised and managed by Borsa Italiana S.p.A., the corporate events scheduled for 2022:

• Wednesday 16 March 2022: meeting of the Board of Directors for the approval of the Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2021;
• Thursday 12 May 2022: meeting of the Board of Directors for the approval of the Interim Management Statement at 31 March 2022;
• Thursday 28 July 2022: meeting of the Board of Directors for the approval of the Half-Year Report at 30 June 2022;
• Thursday 10 November 2022: meeting of the Board of Directors for the approval of the Interim Management Statement at 30 September 2022.

The Annual General Meeting of the Shareholders for the approval of the Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2021 will be held on first calling on Thursday 28 April 2022.

Presentations to the financial community of the results for the full year at 31 December 2021, the Half-Year Report at 30 June 2022 and the Interim Management Statements at 31 March 2022 and at 30 September 2022 will be held on the dates, as indicated above, of the respective meetings of the Board of Directors.

Any changes will be promptly communicated to the market.

Mention should be made that Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.A., as a company listed on the Euronext STAR segment of Borsa Italiana, will publish the Interim Management Statements at 31 March 2022 and at 30 September 2022 – pursuant to art. 2.2.3, par. 3, of the Borsa Italiana Regulations – within 45 days after the end of the first and third quarters of the year (with exemption from the publication of the interim report on the fourth quarter if the annual financial report 2021, together with the other documents referred to in art. 154-ter, par. 1, of the Finance Consolidation Act, is made available within 90 days after year end).
The structure, information and procedures for the publication of the documents are unchanged from the Interim Management Statements previously published pursuant to former Article 154-ter, paragraph 5, of the Finance Consolidation Act.

INTERNI, the Mondadori Group’s interiors and contemporary design magazine edited by Gilda Bojardi, presents XXX-Y 30 YEARS OF THE FUORISALONE, a book published by Electa that celebrates the most memorable designs, personalities and events that have characterised the creation and development of an event that is a symbol of the city of Milan. The story begins with the origins as the “Milano Designer’s Week” created in 1990 by Gilda Bojardi and INTERNI, which evolved and adopted the name FuoriSalone (also invented by the magazine’s editor) which then led to the explosion of temporary districts and its position as an authentic urban festival.

In 512 pages, 1000 images and the designs of over 2500 protagonists, the book covers the history of the most important event in the world of international design.

“It’s not enough to use the equation Design = Milano to understand the success of an event as unique as the FuoriSalone,” declared Gilda Bojardi, editor of INTERNI. “As the book explains, created 30 years after the first event which, on our initiative, structurally involved many of Milan’s key design locations, the FuoriSalone is a choral effort with a great number of protagonists involving a range of historical factors, geographic, productive and cultural. It is, in fact, the expression of a system that only in Italy, and only in Milan, could find such fertile ground. From 1990 to the present, the event has continued to grow, overcoming, both in terms of cultural vivacity and experimentation, the limits of an exhibition-market to become an exceptional urban festival that visitors, regardless of their professional interests, experience as an important spectacular and unmissable cross-cultural happening. The knock-on economic impact is such as to make it the most important week of the year for the city and, together with the Salone del Mobile – to which it is complementary – makes Milan the ideal place for the diffusion of a culture that places design at the heart of debates regarding innovation and the progress of society,” concluded the editor.

The book brings to life the various stages of its development and the most emblematic events that has marked the history of the FuoriSalone – a spectacular cultural and market model, copied around the world, based on a successful mix of performance, installations, and experimental exhibitions and expressions – and enabled Milan to become the recognised capital of international design.

The story is told chronologically and divided by decades (1990-1999, 2000-2009, 2010-2019), introduced by a chapter on the 1980s, and specifically the events that led to the creation of the FuoriSalone. Written by four leading design critics (Beppe Finessi, Deyan Sudjic, Paolo Ferrarini and Li Edelkoort) the book offers a general and personal account of the phenomenon, its evolution and significance. The decades, meanwhile, benefit from a historical and sociological introduction by university professor and scholar Andrea Davide Cuman, who tells the story of the event in relation to the evolution of taste and the transformations of the city.

The range of images – drawn from the INTERNI archives – is accompanied by contributions from around  50 personalities who with their first-hand accounts, memories and anecdotes, describe ‘their’ FuoriSalone: from the inventors of the big events that formed the basis for the FuoriSalone – such as Giulio Cappellini, Paolo Pallucco, Patrizia Moroso – to designers that created unforgettable installations – including Ron Arad, Andrea Branzi, Michele De Lucchi, Jacopo Foggini, Barnaba Fornasetti, Massimo Iosa Ghini, Antonio Marras, Fabio Novembre, William Sawaya and Paolo Moroni, Emiliano Salci – as well as the gallerists and curators whose spaces and initiatives have marked the evolution of this urban phenomenon – including Gisella Borioli, Rossana Orlandi, Antonia Jannone and Carla Sozzani.

XXX-Y 30 OF THE FUORISALONE will be presented in preview on Tuesday 21 December 2021 at the Triennale in Milan with the participation of: Stefano Boeri, Giulio Cappellini, Antonio Citterio, Stefano Giovannoni, Ferruccio Laviani, Piero Lissoni, Rosita Missoni, Paola Navone, Maria Porro and Patricia Urquiola.

XXX-Y 30 ANNI DI FUORISALONE will be in bookstores from 18 January.

INTERNI is grateful for the collaboration of: Videomobile, Moretti and Acqua Chiarella.

Focus, the Mondadori Group brand, leader in popular science, is strengthening its commitment to safeguarding the planet with a special issue produced in collaboration with the WWF.

An extraordinary project that sees Italy’s most widely read popular science monthly, a point of reference for science, nature and technology enthusiasts, travelling with the organisation’s researchers to examine – through the authoritative lens of the editorial team – the projects that for 60 years the WWF has pursued in order to protect and endangered land and species.

The project, which brings together Focus and the WWF, will lead to a special report that aims to share with the whole of the brand’s community – of 5.2 million users and readers (source: Nielsen Media Impact Data Fusion, May 2021) – the message that, now more than ever, our defence of the environment cannot be postponed. An initiative that is the first stage of a journey that in 2022 will see Focus celebrate its first 30 years with a series of activities and special events.

“Since 1961, the WWF has been fighting for the protection of nature and ecosystems. And it does so because it understood, before others, that humankind’s wonderful journey has also endangered the planet’s delicate balance. So, we travelled around Italy and the world with the WWF to learn more about the nature reserves they defend, the work they do, the wild places, the plants and the animals that live there. We observed the amazing nature of the earth so that we could tell you about it. And, once again, we did it in awe and admiration, with an amazement that we never want to lose.” said Raffaele Leone, editor of Focus.

“Focus proved to be an extraordinary travelling companion that enabled us to talk about the work we did in our first sixty years, from the challenges we have overcome to those we still have to face, aware that our wellbeing also depends on the wellbeing of the nature that surrounds us. Today we know that in the next 10 years we will have to do much more than what has been done in the last 60 years if we are to face the climate crisis and reverse the trend in biodiversity loss. In the last 60 years we have seen the world undergo profound transformations and even the WWF has changed in that time, but one thing will never change: our absolute determination to create a future where people can live in harmony with nature,” said Donatella Bianchi, president of the WWF Italy.

This initiative is the result of a multi-year commitment that Focus has been engaged in to raise awareness and promote the sustainable development goals of the UN 2030 Agenda through initiatives that involve readers, students and teachers across all its channels, which make the brand an important multimedia platform of reference for such issues.

At the heart of this special edition of Focus are reports, first-hand accounts and encounters by journalists from the magazine’s editorial team, exceptional protagonists of the expeditions conducted together with WWF experts.
A journey through the pages of the magazine that will accompany readers around the world with exclusive stories and a selection of unpublished images of the territories explored and their inhabitants.

In Paraguay visiting environments where nature still reigns supreme: an expedition to the heart of South America, which begins in the Chaco area, a territory increasingly threatened by the expansion of livestock breeding and extensive agriculture and which continues from the Pantanal area to the Atlantic forest.

And then in central Africa with a visit to the protected Dzanga-Sangha area where gorillas – overwhelmed by poaching and further threatened by both pervasive and silent deforestation and diseases such as Ebola – are protected and admired by tourists thanks to an “habituation” project launched by the WWF in the 1990s.

The issue also features the story of the search for whales and dolphins in the waters of our own seas: a direct testimony of the experience lived on board the Blue Panda, the WWF ambassador ship, which last summer crossed the Mediterranean Sea spreading its message on the importance of safeguarding the marine ecosystem.

Further enhancing the project, there is also a programme of special content available on the Focus.it website and on the brand’s social channels – which reach more than 3 million followers – with many additional insights, interviews and exclusive images and videos on WWF projects to satisfy the curiosity and interest of users.

A multichannel and circular offer which, from the magazine is developed and enhanced on Focus’s digital channels, confirming the brand’s successful formula that combines the contribution of authoritative voices of international standing with an always fresh and rigorous look with an unmistakably clear and direct style that is able to reach an ever-wider audience.

The Mondadori Group, in execution of the agreement signed and disclosed to the market last 12 July, announces that it has finalized the acquisition today of 100% of De Agostini Scuola S.p.A. through its subsidiary Mondadori Libri S.p.A..

Completion of the transaction follows the authorization issued by the Antitrust Authority as disclosed last 8 November.

The provisional price paid for the acquisition is € 135.7 million, defined on the basis of an Enterprise Value of € 157.5 million, net of the average normalized net financial position of 2020: the final price will be determined on the basis of the average normalized net financial position of 2021.

The agreed Enterprise Value of € 157.5 million is equal to 7.4 times the reported EBITDA of De Agostini Scuola in 2020.

Considering the financial impacts of the transaction (payment of the consideration and consolidation of the financial position of De Agostini Scuola), the Mondadori Group’s consolidated NFP before IFRS16 in 2021, which, on approval of the results at 30 September 2021, envisaged a positive pre-acquisition guidance of approximately € 35 million – is expected to amount to approximately € -100 million.

Accordingly, on a pro-forma level, the NFP/reported EBITDA ratio before IFRS16 – as per the definition of the covenant of the current loan lines – is expected to be lower than 1.0x, while the NFP/adjusted EBITDA ratio (IFRS16) is expected to be lower than 1.5x.

Thanks to this deal, the Mondadori Group strengthens its foothold in the education segment: De Agostini Scuola will in fact join, under the new name of D Scuola S.p.A., Mondadori Education and Rizzoli Education, bringing the total pro-forma 2021 market share to 32.9%.

The Group thus becomes the top player on the textbooks publishing market, leveraging on the names of three solid publishers, each with a distinctive identity and longstanding tradition, a point of reference in the world of teaching and learning, consistent with the strategy of focusing on the core business of books.

The consideration was settled in cash today by drawing on the acquisition-related line of credit, defined as part of the loan agreement signed on 12 May, and on available liquidity.

The balance sheet amounts of the investment will be consolidated as at 31 December 2021, with income statement effects as from 1 January 2022.

Studenti.it, the Mondadori Group brand that is a point of reference in the education segment, is launching, in collaboration with Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy’s leading banking group for households and businesses and one of Europe’s biggest banks, YounGOALS, a financial education programme aimed at young people, who are invited to test their knowledge in the field of business and economics.

This initiative will enable Intesa Sanpaolo to use its skills to bring young boys and girls closer to concepts such as saving and investment and make them more aware of the importance of their present and future financial decisions while taking advantage of the collaboration of Studenti.it to get in touch with Gen Zers and understand better their needs and interests.

The project – which has been developed with the support of Mediamond, the advertising sales company owned by Mediaset e and the Mondadori Group – is organised in different stages and demonstrates the strengths and ability of Studenti.it to interact with an increasingly broad community. In fact, for many years the brand has reached an audience of young people with innovative language and content, which now numbers over 3.7 million unique users per month (Source: Audiweb, average January-July 2021) and almost 1 million fans on social meda (Source: Shareablee + TikTok and Pinterest Insight, October 2021), of which 400,000 on TikTok alone.

This success is due to a unique and continuously updated editorial offer, elaborated with the contribution of a team of young creators working to engage students in a variety of learning experiences with lessons, audio and video clips, study guides, advice, notes and much more.

A THEMATIC ROADMAP IN A NUMBER OF STAGES – The project developed in partnership with Intesa Sanpaolo has the specific objective of helping young people to reinforce their knowledge about finance and the economy, making it easier to understand apparently complex issues and concepts.

“Learning how to manage savings is something that can be taught and learned from a very young age. And it can expand our opportunities, make us more independent and contribute to our future serenity,” explained Andrea Lecce, director of Sales & Marketing for Private clients and Retail Companies at Intesa Sanpaolo. “This is why financial education, provided in a concrete but fun way, as in the collaboration with Studenti.it, has always been a central focus of Intesa Sanpaolo. In recent years, a million young people, of which around 300,000 under 18s, have chosen to open an account with us, completely free of charges, so that they can become familiar with basic financial services. Around 30% of mortgages are for young people, with favourable condition to help them realise the dream of owning a home. And we are committed to offering them the best financial solutions, supporting them in their studies and, in the future, the most innovative tools to face the challenges of the world of work.”

“The financial education programme developed together with Intesa Sanpaolo allows us to further consolidate the role of Studenti.it in the training of young people,” said Pamela Carati, Brand Manager Entertainment & Science at Mondadori Media. “In fact, this collaboration is a demonstration of how much our brand has been able, in recent years, to become a point of reference across the entire period of the life of younger generations. Every day we strive to provide answers to their needs with innovative educational content, in dynamic language and formats and increasingly on social media. These are the strong points that enable us to identify and intercept the needs of Gen Z and maintain an open dialogue and fruitful exchange with all of them. A winning formula that, also thanks to the efforts of young creators, is rewarding us across all platforms, in particular on TikTok, where the brand has obtained truly extraordinary results and where we have shown, with all of the content marked as #imparacontiktok, that the platform is both light but also substantial, and has led to some 400,000 followers in just one year,” concluded Carati.

The campaign got started with an online survey that involved over 56,000 users between the ages of 16 and 25, and made it possible to identify the issues of most interest and put together the second stage of the initiative: a range of content on 6 different macro-themes, available with weekly updates on all of the channels where the Studenti.it offer is available: web articles, podcasts, videos on YouTube and contributions on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook, as well as a final quiz. Space for methods for the proper management of savings, tools for effective planning of expenditure, ways to make online purchases and those to protect against scams, as well as forms of insurance and the most common types of loans for foreign studies and training, and the search for the first sources of income, the sharing economy and sustainability.

A PROFILE OF YOUNG ITALIANS   But how much do young Italians really know about finance and economics? From the survey conducted by Studenti.it, in collaboration with Intesa Sanpaolo, in the first phase of the entire campaign it emerged that young people start to talk about money and savings in the family and, in fact, this is the primary source of information for 36% of the young people who took part in the survey.

For 26% the first ideas about finance come from school, while another 26% gets their information from digital platforms. Among the economic and financial topics they would like to know more about, almost 2/3 of the participants put savings plans top of the list in order to one day be able to make important purchases or pay for their studies (32%). As regards channels to find work and benefit from a source of income, 48% of the interviewees, are in no doubt: going to university and obtaining a qualification is a way of standing out on the market.

3 in 4 students have already started to save, but only 31% of them methodically plan their monthly spending. To manage their resources, 24% of the sample make use of pre-paid cards, 22% mainly use a bank current account and another 12% a post office current account. Finally, most of the participants believe that travelling far away from their families is the first real test of their ability to manage a budget: so it is not a coincidence that for 46% their main objective is to plan their spending in the best way so as not to run out of money, while for 21% the priority is to insure against theft, accidents or other unexpected events.

These results clearly show the need for a targeted and innovative educational process to which this project provides a response in a learning context that is increasingly social and digital.

All of the details of the YounGOALS project- which are continuously updated – are available here.