The media group increased its turnover, but its operating profit fell after high investments.
Updated today 11:03
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Schibsted’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes and write-downs) ended at NOK 620 million in the second quarter, down from NOK 743 million for the same period last year.
An EBITDA result of NOK 655 million was expected in advance, according to average estimates from TDN Direkt.
Revenue landed at NOK 3.9 billion, up from NOK 3.6 billion in the second quarter of last year. Here, the estimate was NOK 3.8 billion.
Before tax, the company had a profit of minus NOK 6.35 billion, down from NOK 362 million last year.
The loss is related to Adevinta, of which Schibsted owns 35 percent. Schibsted is now taking an additional NOK 6.6 billion in write-downs (losses) related to the share fall in Adevinta, after writing down values of NOK 13.5 billion in the previous quarter.
High investment costs
In the interim report, Schibsted CEO Kristin Skogen Lund writes that the decline in ebitda of 17 percentage points is due to large investments in several places in the group. In addition, there is a decline in the e-commerce industry after a long period of growth in connection with the pandemic.
She emphasizes that she feels confident that the investments in the longer term will put the group in a better position, by ensuring future growth and increased value creation in the long run.
– We are aware that in the future there must be a better balance between investments, costs and profitability, and we have identified and begun to implement cost-reducing measures with effect from the third quarter onwards, the interim report states.
Continued growth in job portals
The Nordic marketplaces (including Finn.no) delivered an EBITDA growth of 12 per cent in the second quarter to NOK 549 million. Here it is especially the job portal in Norway that did well, but also in real estate there is improvement.
The increase in turnover for marketplaces in Norway was 20 per cent, with EBITDA growth of 25 per cent. Revenue growth for Nordic marketplaces was 10 per cent compared with the same period last year.
For the news media, there was an underlying revenue growth of 6 percent in the second quarter, while the EBITDA margin fell by 9 percentage points due to ongoing investments, in addition to higher paper prices. The increase in turnover is due to more advertising revenues and digital subscribers.
New billion losses on Adevinta
Since the turn of the year, Schibsted has fallen by more than 50 per cent, to a market value of just under NOK 37 billion. Adevinta has fallen by around 45 per cent, to a market value of NOK 79 billion.
Adevinta are the international marketplaces, which were spun off by Schibsted in 2019, and which now include the Ebay Classifieds Group.
The media group Schibsted includes Aftenposten, VG, Stavanger Aftenblad and Bergens Tidende in Norway, and Aftonbladet and Svenska Dagbladet in Sweden. In addition, a number of digital services are included, such as Finn.no.
E24 is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Schibsted Group. Some journalists in E24 own shares in Schibsted through the group’s share savings program.
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