Alma Media’s Interim Report January–September 2023: Revenue almost at last year’s level in Q3, operating profit improved due to costs savings

Alma Media Corporation                      Interim Report                 19 October 2023 at 8.00 a.m.

ALMA MEDIA’S INTERIM REPORT JANUARY–SEPTEMBER 2023: REVENUE ALMOST AT LAST YEAR’S LEVEL IN Q3, OPERATING PROFIT IMPROVED DUE TO COSTS SAVINGS

Financial performance July–September 2023:

• Revenue MEUR 73.4 (74.5), down 1.5%.
• The share of digital business was 83.9% (82.3%) of revenue.
• Adjusted operating profit MEUR 20.5 (19.3), up 6.2%.
• Operating profit MEUR 20.8 (19.3), up 7.7%.
• Alma Career: Revenue was on a par with the previous year. Operating profit improved due to reduced marketing spending.
• Alma Consumer: As in the first half of the year, profitability was weighed down by the decline of advertising revenue in media and marketplaces. Revenue increased in comparison services and digital content sales.
• Alma Talent: Operating profit increased, driven by the strong performance of Talent Services. The profitability of the media business declined as a result of a decrease in advertising and print content sales.
• Earnings per share EUR 0.19 (0.20).

Financial performance January–September 2023:

• Revenue MEUR 226.9 (230.0), down 1.4%.
• The share of digital business was 82.8% (81.1%) of revenue.
• Adjusted operating profit MEUR 56.9 (58.2), down 2.2%.
• Operating profit MEUR 57.2 (65.0), down 12.1%.
• Earnings per share EUR 0.55 (0.68).​
• On 29 June 2023, Otava Ltd published an offer document for a mandatory public tender offer for all Alma Media shares. On 5 July 2023, Alma Media’s Board of Directors issued a statement on the Tender Offer as required by the Securities Markets Act. The Tender Offer process ended on 21 July 2023. The outcome of the process was that Otava Ltd’s holding of Alma Media shares increased by 2.0 percentage points, to 31.18%.

​Key figures

* Alma Media has revised the classification of revenue between marketplaces and service revenue. The corresponding adjustments have been made to the comparison figures.

Operating environment in 2023

Declining economic growth was apparent in the operating environment in the first three quarters of the year. The European economy continued to be adversely affected by sanctions, supply chain disruptions and problems associated with the availability of raw materials, among other things. High inflation continued, although at a slower rate, while market interest rates increased year-on-year. This challenged consumer confidence and the real purchasing power of households. According to the European Commission, the European economy has been able to mitigate the negative impacts of Russia’s war of aggression and other negative economic factors. In its latest Economic Bulletin, the Commission projects that the eurozone economy will grow by 0.8% this year and 1.3% next year. Last year, GDP, which is an indicator of the standard of living, increased by 3.3%.

The Commission notes that weak domestic demand, particularly with respect to consumption, indicates that the high and still-rising consumer prices of most goods and services are having a more negative impact on the economy than previously predicted. The European Commission projects inflation of 5.6% in the eurozone this year, with inflation falling to 2.9% next year. For the EU as a whole, the Commission projects average inflation of 6.5% this year and 3.2% next year. The projected inflation figures for Finland are substantially lower.

Market situation in the main markets

According to Kantar TNS, the total media advertising volume decreased by 3.5% in January–August 2023. In August, media advertising decreased by 9.8% and job advertising by 25.4% compared to August 2022. The industries with the largest year-on-year increases in media advertising compared to August 2022 were tourism and transport and motor vehicles. Media advertising declined the most in telecommunications services, the financial sector, clothing and apparel, and oil and energy.

In terms of volume, the market for afternoon papers decreased by 8.6% in the third quarter of 2023.

According to the Finnish Information Centre of Automobile Sector, a total of 68,580 new passenger cars were registered in the first nine months of the year, which is 9% higher than last year. The number of registrations for the period in question is still approximately 14% below the long-term average. Battery electric vehicles accounted for 33.3% of the first registrations of passenger cars, while plug-in hybrids accounted for 19.9%. Car dealerships’ transaction volume for used cars has been approximately 5.5% higher than last year. The total number of first registrations of passenger cars for the year is projected to be only about 85,000, in spite of order backlogs having been exceptionally high in the early months of the year.  Order backlogs had increased in the previous years, but they have declined quickly as automotive manufacturing has recovered from component shortages. The order backlog is being reduced particularly by the weak demand for new cars, with customer orders this year being at roughly half of the normal level.

According to the Central Federation of Finnish Real Estate Agencies, the year 2023 will be very weak in the housing market – even weaker than the years 2008 and 2009, which were marred by the financial crisis. Real estate agencies and construction companies reported a total of 3,822 housing transactions to the KVKL price monitoring service maintained by the Central Federation of Finnish Real Estate Agencies in September 2023. The number of transactions in September decreased by 31.4% compared to the previous year. The figures for the third quarter did not point to a recovery, as the main drivers of the market – transactions for apartments in the Helsinki metropolitan area and sales of newly built housing – remained subdued.

The Central Federation of Finnish Real Estate Agencies considers the main reasons for the challenging situation in the housing market to be inflation and the historically rapid rise in market interest rates. Household purchasing power has declined and expenses have increased. Rising costs have led to uncertainty in the housing market.

Growth in the national economies of Finland and Alma Media’s other operating countries is expected to slow in 2023. Economic growth in Finland is falling substantially behind the rest of the EU. The European Commission predicts growth of 0.2% this year and 1.4% next year.

In addition to Finland, Alma Media’s main markets are the Czech Republic and Slovakia in Eastern Central Europe. The Commission expects GDP growth in the Czech Republic to decrease to 0.2%, rising to 2.6% next year. In Slovakia, the Commission expects GDP growth of 1.7% this year, followed by growth of 2.1% next year.

The Commission estimates that, in 2023, the unemployment rate in Finland will be 7.1%, in the Czech Republic 2.8% and in Slovakia 5.8%.

Outlook for 2023 (unchanged, updated on 16 February 2023)

Alma Media expects its full-year revenue and adjusted operating profit of 2023 to remain at the 2022 level or to decrease from the 2022 level. The full-year revenue for 2022 was MEUR 308.8 and the adjusted operating profit was MEUR 73.4.

CEO’s review: Improving profitability against headwinds

Alma Media’s business developed well in the third quarter in spite of slowing economic growth, high inflation and rising market interest rates. Although revenue decreased by 1.5% to MEUR 73.4, adjusted operating profit improved by 6.2% to MEUR 20.5. Profitability improved in spite of lower sales, which was due to the measures taken by Alma Media to adjust costs, among other factors.

Over the first three quarters of the year, the ratio of operating profit to revenue rose above the long-term target (over 25%).

In the Alma Career segment, profitability in the third quarter was close to a record-high level. Revenue was on a par with the comparison period at MEUR 27.4, but adjusted operating profit increased by 19.5% to MEUR 12.0, representing 43.8% of revenue. Total expenses decreased by 10.8%, particularly due to sales and marketing spending decreasing from the exceptionally high level in the comparison period.

The Career United project, which seeks to deepen internal cooperation, continues to progress. System architecture, brand, finance and ICT harmonisation has progressed according to plan, and the integration of HR systems has begun.

The labour market cycle is expected to remain challenging in the Baltic countries and particularly in Finland. However, among the Group’s key operating countries, the labour market situation is stable in the Czech Republic, and the recruitment market saw brisk growth in Slovakia (18.4%) and Croatia (13.8%) during the reporting period. The high level of activity in the recruitment market is driven by intense competition for skilled labour and low unemployment. We expect the segment’s revenue for the fourth quarter to be at least on a par with the comparison period.

The Alma Consumer segment’s revenue decreased by 3.0% to MEUR 24.7 in the third quarter. Adjusted operating profit decreased by 15.5% to MEUR 5.8, representing 23.4% of revenue. The share of digital business was 82.2% of total revenue. Revenue from comparison services and sharing economy services showed strong development, but revenue from media and media-related services decreased by 5.1%. Advertising sales declined to a significant degree (-11.7%), and the expected recovery of the advertising market is likely to be delayed until next year. Among the business areas, revenue in the housing segment was particularly affected by the low market cycle (a decrease of 6.5%), but the automotive and mobility segment was close to the level seen in the comparison period.

General interest in news has remained strong due to geopolitical tensions and war news. Driven by the development of targeted and personalised content, the number of subscribers to the paid Iltalehti Plus service was above of 47000.

Baana, the digital used car auction service between consumers and car dealers that we developed this year, has achieved an established position in the market.

In spite of the difficult market situation faced by the segment, we made determined progress with our development projects, particularly with regard to sales system development in the automotive and housing segments, the OviPro system for digital real estate agency, system projects in the automotive and mobility segment, and other key projects related to transactional commerce. The strategically significant implementation of a payment transaction system reached the production stage.

In the Alma Talent segment, operating profit increased by 7.2% to MEUR 5.1, but revenue decreased by 2.7% to MEUR 21.5. Cost-cutting measures were carried out across the Alma Talent business, and expenses decreased by 5.4%. The strong digital transformation continued, with the share of digital business rising to 66.5% of revenue.

The operating profit of Talent Services increased by 29.2% to MEUR 2.7. The growth of continuously invoiced services in law-related services, among other areas. The strong development in business premises marketplaces in Finland and particularly in Sweden demonstrates that the segment has successfully established a second cornerstone in scalable digital services aimed at businesses. The operating profit margin for services rose to 31.6% due to active product portfolio management.

Nevertheless, the economic cycle did not improve. Instead, it remained challenging for financial media during the past quarter. The segment’s media advertising declined significantly (-14.8%). Consequently, Talent Media’s revenue decreased by 6.7% to MEUR 11.3 and operating profit decreased by 9.7% to MEUR 2.0.

Alma Media is in a good position

Our financial position continued to strengthen thanks to our strong profit performance and cash flow. Our gearing at the end of September stood at 72.7% (80.8%) and our equity ratio was 46.1% (41.6%).

We aim to accelerate growth by developing operational operations and and pursuing new initiatives. In the marketplace and service business, we are moving towards advanced digital trading platforms and seamless purchasing paths, facilitating smooth transactions between businesses and consumers, and providing convenient and secure solutions for buying and selling products and services.

We have maintained strong performance in spite of the slowing of economic growth in our operating countries. Our agility, past strategic decisions, successful digital transformation and investments in marketplaces, among other areas, are now producing positive results. Most of our revenue streams are derived from digital businesses that have strong market positions and robust competitiveness. We are in an excellent position to achieve strong value creation over the long term.

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

An analyst and investor webcast will be held in English by President & CEO Kai Telanne and CFO Juha Nuutinen 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 to: kutsut@almamedia.fi.

The live webcast can be followed via https://almamedia.videosync.fi/q3-2023-results/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 on the same day www.almamedia.fi/en/investors/reports-and-presentations/presentations.

Alma Media’s financial calendar 2024

• Financial Statements Bulletin for the financial year 2023 on Friday, 16 February 2024 at approximately 8:00 EET
• Interim Report for January–March 2024 on Friday, 19 April 2024, at approximately 8:00 EET
• Interim Report for January–June 2024 on Thursday, 18 July 2024, at approximately 8:00 EET
• Interim Report for January–September 2024 on Friday, 18 October 2024 at approximately 8:00 EET
• The Financial Statements, Report by the Board of Directors, Auditor's Report, Sustainability Report and Corporate Governance Statement for the financial year 2023 will be published on Friday, 15 March 2024.
• The Annual General Meeting is planned to be held on Friday, 5 April 2024. The materials related to the Annual General Meeting will be available on the Alma Media website.

ALMA MEDIA CORPORATION

Board of Directors

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

Alma Media in brief

Alma Media is an international company of digital media, marketplaces and services with a strong capacity for renewal. We inspire human curiosity and choice by creating services that combine technology and content with a local heart. In Finland, our best-known brands include Kauppalehti, Talouselämä, Iltalehti, Jobly, 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 and an online marketplace for commercial properties.

Alma Media operates in 12 countries in Europe and employs approximately 1,700 professionals. Alma Media’s revenue from continuing operations was EUR 309 million in 2022 of which the share of digital business was 81%. Alma Media’s share is listed on NASDAQ Helsinki. Read more at www.almamedia.fi/en/.