Alma Media’s Half-Year Report January–June 2022: Revenue and operating profit were increased by the strong performance of the recruitment business

Alma Media Corporation                       Half-Year Report 2022                  20 July 2022 at 8.00 a.m.

ALMA MEDIA’S HALF-YEAR REPORT JANUARY–JUNE 2022: REVENUE AND OPERATING PROFIT WERE INCREASED BY THE STRONG PERFORMANCE OF THE RECRUITMENT BUSINESS

Financial performance April–June 2022:

• Revenue MEUR 79.3 (71.6), up 10.7%.
• The share of revenue represented by digital business was 81.2% (77.6%).
• Adjusted operating profit MEUR 19.2 (16.6), up 15.7%.
• Operating profit MEUR 25.9 (13.0), up 99.0%.
• Alma Career: Strong demand for labour in all operating countries drove revenue to a new record high.
• Alma Consumer: Revenue was increased by the positive performance of digital media and reduced by the challenging situation in the automotive sector. Higher costs, particularly due to a number of product development projects, had a negative effect on operating profit.
• Alma Talent: Comparable revenue was on a par with the previous year. Operating profit was weakened by investments in the data business and digital housing transaction services, for example.
• Equity ratio 38.8% and gearing 93.7%.
• Earnings per share EUR 0.28 (0.12).

Financial performance January–June 2022:

• Revenue MEUR 155.5 (129.7), up 19.9%.
• The share of revenue represented by digital business was 80.5% (76.0%).
• Adjusted operating profit MEUR 38.9 (27.7), up 40.4%.
• Operating profit MEUR 45.7 (23.8), up 91.9%.
• Earnings per share EUR 0.48 (0.21).

The operating environment in 2022 and the impacts of the crisis in Ukraine

The economic growth outlook in Europe was strong at the beginning of the year, but Russia’s offensive war against Ukraine made the economic outlook substantially more negative at the end of February. The European economy has been adversely affected by sanctions, supply chain disruptions and problems associated with the availability of raw materials, among other things. The prices of energy, raw materials and food have increased very quickly, and market interest rates have gone up sharply at the same time. Combined, these developments have had a negative impact on household purchasing power, consumption and economic growth. However, at the same time, pandemic-related restrictions have been eased in Europe, which has a significant positive impact on activity in the service industries. The national economies of Finland and Alma Media’s other operating countries are still expected to grow this year, but growth has clearly slowed down. The European Central Bank (ECB) estimates that economic growth in the eurozone will average 2.8% this year. The ECB expects inflation to remain high this year – at 6.8% on average – and subsequently decline gradually from 2023 onwards. According to a flash estimate from Eurostat for June, inflation in the eurozone is currently the highest in Estonia, where annual inflation is 22 per cent. While economic development in 2022 involves uncertainty, the general economic situation in our operating countries is nevertheless moderate.

Outlook for 2022 (unchanged, updated on 8 July 2022)

Alma Media expects its full-year revenue and adjusted operating profit from continuing operations in 2022 to increase significantly from the 2021 level. In 2021, the full-year revenue of the Group’s continuing operations was MEUR 275.4 and the adjusted operating profit was MEUR 61.1.

Market situation in the main markets

According to Kantar TNS, the advertising volume in the first half of 2022 increased by 4.3% compared to the corresponding period in 2021. Advertising sales declined by 4.6% in newspapers and by 8.5% in magazines. Online advertising increased 7.4%. In June, the advertising volume declined 8.3% year-on-year. Advertising of job vacancies and retail advertising decreased both by 9.0%, in contrast, classified advertising grew by 12.1% year-on-year in June.

In terms of volume, the total market for afternoon papers declined by 5.2% (-4.2%) in the second quarter of 2022.

According to the Finnish Information Centre of Automobile Sector, the transaction volume for used passenger cars in Finland declined by 10.6% year-on-year in June, to 47,124 vehicles. The number of new passenger cars registered in June 2022 was 7,396, which is 25.6% lower than in the previous year. The order backlogs for new cars have reached record-high levels, but component shortages and production bottlenecks limit the automotive sector’s ability to meet demand.

According to the Federation of Real Estate Agency in Finland, the sales of used apartments in Finland in June 2022 represented a continuation of the trend that began in February, with the housing transaction volume having returned close to the long-term average after the unusually busy period that began from the pandemic. Compared to the corresponding period last year, the volume of transactions for used residential properties declined by 10.6% in the first half of 2022, with the total number of transactions being 33,119 - still 6.9% over the 5-year average. In Q2, the volumes declined 12.1% in a year. A total of 2,773 used apartments were sold in June, which is 3.7% higher than the five-year average. The transaction volume for terraced houses (1,455 units) was 0.6% higher, and the transaction volume for detached houses (1,416 units) 5.5% lower, than the five-year average. Compared to the high transaction volumes in 2021, the changes were -10.2% for apartments, -13.5% for terraced houses and -20.0% for detached houses.

Trade in new apartments decreased by 40.7% in the first half compared to the comparative period. There were 505 new dwellings sold in June, just over half of last year’s trade volumes.

In addition to Finland, Alma Media’s main markets are the Czech Republic and Slovakia in Eastern Central Europe. The European Commission published its latest GDP forecasts on 14 July 2022. According to the forecast, Finnish GDP growth (3.5% in 2021) will slow down to 1.8% this year, the Czech GDP will grow by 2.3% and Slovakia’s GDP will grow by 1.9%. The ECB predicts that the unemployment rate this year will be 7.2% in Finland, 2.6% in the Czech Republic and 6.7% in Slovakia.

CEO’s review: Business growth in a changing operating environment

Alma Media’s business performance in the second quarter was strong in spite of the economic impacts of Russia’s war of aggression. Revenue increased by 10.7% to MEUR 79.3 and adjusted operating profit grew by 15.7% to MEUR 19.2. At the beginning of July, we updated our guidance to state that we expect our full-year revenue and adjusted operating profit from continuing operations to increase significantly from the 2021 level.

The Alma Career segment had another record-breaking quarter. The continued strong demand for recruitment services increased revenue by 42.2% to MEUR 28.4. Adjusted operating profit grew by 52.8% to MEUR 11.8, representing 41.5% of revenue. The Career United project, which seeks to deepen internal cooperation, progressed as planned. We adopted a new organisational structure based on geographic regions and established a joint product organisation. The demand for recruitment services remained strong in all of our operating countries, and the positive development of added-value services related to recruitment – including system solutions, employer image advertising and the Seduo training platform – continued. The continued high level of activity in the recruitment market is driven by intense competition for labour. The low unemployment rate in our key operating countries also boosts demand for our added-value services. Customer invoicing has remained strong, and we expect to see continued growth during the rest of the year. However, we expect business growth to slow down towards the end of the year due to the strong revenue levels in the comparison periods.

In the Alma Consumer segment, costs increased by 6.6%, which reflects our investments in business development. The higher costs were attributable to investments in product development, especially in marketplaces and comparison services. Revenue increased by 2.1% to MEUR 27.1, with the rate of organic growth being 4.0%. Adjusted operating profit was MEUR 6.6, representing 24.4% of revenue. The share of revenue represented by digital business rose to 82.5%, and digital media advertising continued to develop favourably. Revenue from media and media-related services increased by 8.6%. Russia’s attack on Ukraine increased the demand for news and media consumption among the public, which had a positive impact on Iltalehti. The demand for the paid Iltalehti Plus service also developed favourably throughout the quarter. The synergies between the Nettix business and other Finnish marketplaces and media are becoming increasingly visible. In the housing business area, revenue increased by 13.1% in the second quarter. At the same time, global challenges in the automotive industry – including supply chain disruptions and component shortages – hampered the segment’s business growth.

We expect that consumer uncertainty may be reflected particularly in housing and automotive marketplaces and related advertising in the second half of the year.

The Alma Talent segment’s comparable revenue was on a par with the previous year. Revenue declined by 4.4% to MEUR 24.1 due to the divestment of the Baltic telemarketing business. The segment’s strong digital transformation continued, with the share of digital business rising to 60.3% of revenue. Adjusted operating profit declined by 15.2% to MEUR 4.3, representing 17.9% of revenue. Profitability was weakened by investments in future growth in areas such as the data business and digital housing transactions. In Alma Talent Media and Alma Talent Services, revenue was on a par with the previous year. Talent Media’s content revenue grew by 4.2%, as the 13.6% increase in digital content revenue exceeded the 9% decline in print media revenue. Other positive developments included the growth of Talent Services’ continuous services related to digital company information and law-related services, for example. The war in Ukraine and its economic impacts tempered the growth of the transaction volume for housing and other properties as well as new IPOs.

Our financial position has been strengthened as planned thanks to our excellent profit performance and strong cash flow. Our gearing at the end of Q2 stood at 93.7%, compared to 160.0% one year earlier, following our largest-ever investments. Our equity ratio increased from 29.4% to 38.8% over the same period. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has had a significant negative effect on economic growth, including in Alma Media’s operating countries. It reduces economic growth and keeps inflation high. Alma Media has no business activities or assets in Ukraine or Russia, hence only the indirect impact of the war affect us. We have supported refugees through aid organisations and offered free advertising space to the organisations. We have also supported Ukrainians in finding work by developing Workania.eu, a shared application for the Alma Career countries that helps Ukrainian refugees find work faster. The service now has thousands of jobs available to Ukrainians. It is also a demonstration of our ability to take quick cooperative action between our operating countries.

The volatile business environment in the recent years underscores the importance of agility, strategic flexibility and resilience for a company. Future growth requires not only continuous development of operations but also the courage to pursue new initiatives and investments. Alma Medians have shown the ability to quickly adapt to difficult circumstances and maintain excellent business performance even in weak economic conditions.

Kai Telanne
President and CEO

More information:
Kai Telanne, President and CEO, telephone +358 (0)10 665 3500
Juha Nuutinen, CFO, telephone +358 (0)10 665 3873

News conference and live webcast

A combined analyst, investor and media conference and webcast will be held in English by President & CEO Kai Telanne and CFO Juha Nuutinen today at 11.00–12.00.

The conference will be held in the Alma House (address: Alvar Aallon katu 3 C, Helsinki). To participate in the conference in Alma House, we kindly ask you to register beforehand by e-mail, kutsut@almamedia.fi.

The live webcast can be followed via https://almamedia.videosync.fi/results-q2-2022/register. Questions can be asked through the webcast chat function.

An on-demand version of the webcast and the presentation material will be available on the company's website today www.almamedia.fi/en/investors/reports-and-presentations/presentations.

Alma Media’s financial calendar 2022

• Interim Report for January–September 2022 on Thursday, 20 October 2022, at approximately 8:00 EET

ALMA MEDIA CORPORATION

Board of Directors

Distribution: NASDAQ Helsinki, main media, www.almamedia.fi/en

Alma Media in brief

Alma Media is a digital service business and media company with a strong capacity for renewal. We are building sustainable growth from media to services, providing content and services that benefit users in their everyday lives, work and leisure time. In Finland, our best-known brands include Kauppalehti, Talouselämä, Iltalehti, Etuovi.com, Nettiauto and Nettimoto. Our recruitment services include prace.cz and jobs.cz in the Czech Republic, Profesia.sk in Slovakia and mojposao.net in Croatia.

In Finland, our business operations include leading housing and automotive marketplaces, financial and professional media, national consumer media and content and data services for businesses and professionals. Alma Media’s international business in Eastern Central Europe, Sweden and the Baltic countries consists of recruitment services, an online marketplace for commercial properties and direct marketing services.

Alma Media operates in 11 countries in Europe and employs approximately 1,500 professionals. Alma Media’s revenue from continuing operations was EUR 275.4 million in 2021 of which the share of digital business was 76.9%. Alma Media’s share is listed on NASDAQ Helsinki. Read more at www.almamedia.fi/en/.