Interim Report January – March 2022

Report this content

Highlights

Financial highlights

  • Streaming revenue up 35% from Q1 2021 to 699 (517) MSEK, 33% with constant exchange rates
  • Group Net sales increased by 27% from Q1 2021 to 747 (588) MSEK
  • Gross profit of 288 (219) MSEK
  • Gross profit excluding items affecting comparability of 300 (219)
  • EBITDA of -149 (-28) MSEK equaling a -19.9% (-4.8%) margin
  • EBITDA excluding items affecting comparability of -33 (-28) MSEK equaling a -4.4% (-4.8%) margin
  • Basic and diluted earnings per share amounted to -3.43 (-1.01) SEK
  • First quarterly report post transition to function-based income statement and IFRS

Other highlights

  • Jonas Tellander stepped down as CEO - replaced by Ingrid Bojner as interim CEO
  • Storytel completed the acquisition of U.S. streaming service Audiobooks.com
  • Storytel announced decision to implement operational pause in Russia
  • An Extra General Meeting was held on February 11 at which Hans-Holger Albrecht was appointed Chair of the Board, replacing Stefan Blom who stepped down
  • Claus Wamsler-Nielsen appointed COO, Åse Ericson appointed CBO Nordics and Susanne Ekblom appointed interim CFO – all joined the management team
  • Storytel initiated a reorganization resulting in approximately 100 employees leaving the Company

Table 1: Key Performance Indicators

TSEK

Q1 2021

Q2 2021

Q3 2021

Q4 2021

Q1 2022

Q2 2022

Streaming Total1

 

 

 

 

 

Forecast

Revenue

517,075

545,451

583,084

605,128

698,599

698,000-705,000

Gross Profit

192,506

209,529

233,287

220,003

283,868

 

Gross margin

37.2%

38.4%

40.0%

36.4%

40.6%

 

Avg. Paying Subscribers2

1,540,600

1,626,900

1,724,000

1,784,600

2,051,000

 

ARPU

112

112

113

113

114

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Streaming Nordics1

 

 

 

 

 

 

Revenue

401,834

423,323

447,199

459,018

458,555

472,000-474,000

Gross Profit

151,715

161,457

179,074

171,791

165,788

 

Gross margin

37.8%

38.1%

40.0%

37.4%

36.2%

 

Avg. Paying Subscribers

957,500

983,600

1,024,000

1,047,900

1,061,000

 

ARPU 

140

143

146

146

144

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Streaming Non-Nordics

 

 

 

 

 

 

Revenue

115,240

122,128

135,885

146,110

240,044

226,000-231,000

Gross Profit

40,793

48,073

54,213

48,212

118,080

 

Gross margin

35.4%

39.4%

39.9%

33.0%

49.2%

 

Avg. Paying Subscribers

583,100

643,300

700,000

736,700

990,000

 

ARPU 

66

63

65

66

81

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Books

 

 

 

 

 

 

Revenue

125,189

149,962

180,116

204,316

149,305

 

Gross Profit

65,551

85,866

119,054

128,737

84,399

 

Gross margin

52.4%

57.3%

66.1%

63.0%

56.5%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Group total3

 

 

 

 

 

 

Revenue

587,936

611,202

680,855

740,805

747,170

 

Gross Profit

219,113

232,135

279,882

281,977

288,498

 

Gross margin

37.3%

38.0%

41.1%

38.1%

38.6%

 

1 Storytel Norway is included in the figures at 100%.
2 The definition of paying subscribers has been adjusted in the first quarter to include all subscribers, whereas heavily discounted subscribers were previously excluded (previously included in revenue, hence no revenue impact, adding approximately 14,300 subscribers).
3 In the consolidated accounts, Norway is reported in accordance with the equity method. As a result, the Streaming revenue listed in Table 1 is higher than in the consolidated statement of accounts in order to provide a more accurate figure for average revenue per subscriber. Please see Note 5 for additional details.


The full report can be found as an attachment.

For more information, please contact:

Andreas Lindblom, Head of Investor Relations
Tel: +46 72 506 14 22
Email: andreas.lindblom@storytel.com

Dan Panas, Head of Global Communications & PR
Tel: +46 70 186 52 90
Email: dan.panas@storytel.com

This information is such that Storytel AB (publ) is obliged to disclose in accordance with the EU Market Abuse Regulation (EU nr 596/2014). The information was provided, through the agency of the above contacts, at the time stated in this press release, by Cision.

FNCA Sweden AB is the company’s certified adviser. FNCA can be reached at info@fnca.se or +46 8 528 00 399.

About Storytel
Storytel is one of the world’s largest audiobook and e-book streaming services and offers over 700,000 titles on a global scale. Our vision is to make the world a more empathetic and creative place, with great stories to be shared and enjoyed by anyone, anywhere and anytime. The streaming business within the Storytel Group is conducted under the brands Storytel, Mofibo and Audiobooks.com. The publishing business is managed by Storytel Books, and by the audiobook publisher StorySide. The Storytel Group operates in over 25 markets. The headquarters is located in Stockholm, Sweden.