Year-end report January – December 2022

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Highlights

“The fourth quarter of 2022 served as a bookmark to a truly remarkable year for Storytel. We completed the transformation of our strategy, a significant restructuring of our activities and organization, and strengthened our balance sheet, and implemented our focus on profitable growth. We achieved another strong EBITDA margin in Q4 and positive EBITDA for the entire year. And, we ended 2022 as a more focused company with clear priorities on profitability and growth in our core markets, and a strong strategic commitment to expanding our content leadership and marketing capabilities” says Johannes Larcher, CEO, Storytel.”

Q4 Financial highlights

  • Streaming revenue up 23% from Q4 2021 to 742 (605) MSEK, 27% excluding Russia 
  • Group net sales increased by 17% from Q4 2021 to 867 (741) MSEK 
  • Gross profit of 322 (282) MSEK, equaling a 37.2% margin (38.1%) 
  • EBITDA of 39 (-86) MSEK equaling a 4.4% (-11.6%) margin 
  • EBITDA excluding items affecting comparability of 53 (-86) MSEK equaling a 6.1% (-11.6%) margin 
  • Basic and diluted earnings per share amounted to -1.26 (-1.99) SEK 
  • Successfully completed a directed share issue and thereby raised gross proceeds of approximately 400 MSEK 

Q4 Other highlights

  • Kristin Widell appointed Chief People Officer
  • An Extraordinary General Meeting was held on 28 November at which Tranche 2 of the directed share issue resolved by the Board of Directors on November 9 was approved

Highlights after the End of the Quarter

  • The Board of Directors resolved to reschedule the Annual General Meeting to May 4, 2023. The Annual General Meeting was originally planned to be held on 2 May 2023 
  • Anna Etzler appointed SVP Operations 
  • Peter Messner appointed Chief Financial Officer, assuming role no later than August 11

Table 1: Key Performance Indicators

TSEK

Q4 2021

Q1 2022

Q2 2022

Q3 2022

Q4 2022

Streaming Total1,2

 

 

 

 

 

Revenue

605,128

698,599

704,454

742,426

742,283

Revenue excl Russia

584,495

679,654

693,464

732,837

742,374

Gross Profit

220,003

283,868

278,554

307,463

304,594

Gross margin

36.4%

40.6%

39.5%

41.4%

41.0%

Avg. Paying Subscribers

1,784,600

2,051,000

2,031,000

2,064,000

2,036,000

ARPU (SEK/month)

113

114

116

120

122

 

 

 

 

 

 

Streaming Nordics1

 

 

 

 

 

Revenue

459,018

458,555

469,390

492,765

498,336

Gross Profit

171,791

165,788

177,354

189,289

184,767

Gross margin

37.4%

36.2%

37.8%

38.4%

37.1%

Avg. Paying Subscribers

1,047,900

1,061,000

1,078,000

1,129,000

1,132,000

ARPU (SEK/month)

146

144

145

145

147

 

 

 

 

 

 

Streaming Non-Nordics

 

 

 

 

 

Revenue

146,110

240,044

235,064

249,662

243,947

Revenue excl Russia

125,477

221,099

224,074

240,073

244,038

Gross Profit

48,212

118,080

101,190

118,173

119,828

Gross margin

33.0%

49.2%

43.0%

47.3%

49.1%

Avg. Paying Subscribers

736,700

990,000

953,000

935,000

904,000

ARPU (SEK/month)

66

81

82

89

90

 

 

 

 

 

 

Books

 

 

 

 

 

Revenue

204,316

149,305

156,999

147,199

193,069

Gross Profit

128,737

84,399

78,185

81,916

85,141

Gross margin

63.0%

56.5%

49.8%

55.6%

44.1%

 

 

 

 

 

 

Group total2

 

 

 

 

 

Revenue

740,805

747,170

780,730

805,819

866,663

Gross Profit

281,977

288,498

290,363

311,907

322,377

Gross margin

38.1%

38.6%

37.2%

38.7%

37.2%

 

1 Storytel Norway is included in the figures @ 100%.
2 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, Senior Director Corporate Communications
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 contact persons, at the time stated in this press release, by Cision.

FNCA Sweden AB is the company’s certified adviser.


About Storytel
Storytel is one of the world’s largest audiobook and e-book streaming services and offers more than one million 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.