Nordic Entertainment Group Stock price
Compare with Peer Group
📊 Peer Group
📈 What is it?
The peer group consists of the companies with the most similar business model. They serve as a benchmark for putting a stock into context.
🧮 How is it selected?
Based on similarity of business model, meaning companies from the same industry with comparable products and a similar customer base. That's the only way to compare apples to apples.
🏛️ Why does it matter?
Whether a stock is cheap or expensive is best judged by comparison. A P/E of 18 or an EV/FCF of 20 can look cheap or expensive depending on the yardstick. The peer group gives you the most accurate one: companies with a similar business model that operate under the same conditions.
🎯 What does it mean for investors?
When a metric sits below the peer average, the stock is valued more cheaply relative to its competitors, and above the average more expensively. A discount to the peer group can be an opportunity, but it can also have a reason (for example lower growth). The comparison is a starting point, not a verdict.
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Key metrics
📘 Market Capitalization
📈 What is it?
Market capitalization shows how much a company is currently worth on the stock market.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps classify companies by size (Large, Mid, Small Cap) and indicates their market presence and relative stability.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Large-cap companies tend to be more stable, often pay dividends, but may grow more slowly.
- Smaller firms may offer higher growth potential but come with more volatility.
- Market capitalization is a useful indicator of company size — but not a measure of whether a stock is undervalued or overvalued.
📘 Enterprise Value (EV)
📈 What is it?
Enterprise Value represents the total cost to acquire a company — including its debt and excluding its cash reserves.
🧮 How is it calculated?
(= Market Cap + Net Debt)
🏛️ Why is it important?
EV gives a more complete picture of a company's value than market cap alone and is used in key valuation ratios like EV/FCF or EV/Sales.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Enterprise Value shows the true cost of buying a company, including all financial obligations.
- It is more accurate than just looking at market cap, especially when comparing companies with different levels of debt or cash.
- Professional investors prefer EV-based multiples because they better reflect the company’s full financial footprint.
📘 Net Debt
📈 What is it?
Net Debt shows how much debt remains after subtracting a company’s available cash reserves.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It indicates how dependent a company is on borrowed money and how easily it can service its debt in the short term.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Low or negative net debt signals financial strength and flexibility.
- Companies with strong cash positions are better positioned in crises.
- High net debt increases financial risk — especially in environments with rising interest rates or economic downturns.
📘 Cash
📈 What is it?
Cash represents all liquid assets a company can access immediately — including cash, bank deposits, and short-term investments.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It reflects a company’s financial flexibility and resilience — enabling investments, buybacks, or buffer in downturns.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A strong cash position means greater room for maneuver and crisis resistance.
- Cash-rich companies can invest, pay down debt, or repurchase shares.
- But excess idle cash might indicate a lack of growth opportunities.
📘 Shares Outstanding
📈 What is it?
Shares outstanding represent the total number of a company’s shares currently held by investors — excluding treasury stock.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It’s the basis for key metrics like Earnings Per Share (EPS), Market Capitalization, or the Price/Earnings ratio (P/E).
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Fewer shares in circulation typically increase earnings per share — making each share more valuable.
- Share buybacks reduce the number of shares and boost per-share metrics.
- Issuing new shares does the opposite — diluting shareholder value and lowering per-share figures.
📘 Price-to-Earnings Ratio (P/E)
📈 What is it?
The P/E ratio shows how many times a company's earnings per share are reflected in its current share price — in other words, how "expensive" the stock appears relative to its profits.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The P/E ratio is one of the most widely used valuation metrics. It helps investors assess whether a stock appears cheap or expensive compared to its earnings power.
🧮 Calculation
📊 P/E (TTM) = Based on earnings from the last 12 months (Trailing Twelve Months):🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low P/E may indicate undervaluation — or signal underlying issues.
- A high P/E may reflect strong growth expectations — or an overvalued stock.
📘 Price-to-Sales Ratio (P/S)
📈 What is it?
The P/S ratio shows how much investors are paying for $1 of the company’s revenue – regardless of profitability.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
P/S is especially useful for evaluating growth companies or businesses not yet profitable. It reflects how the market values the company’s sales.
🧮 Calculation
Market Cap = kr6.08b | Revenue (TTM) = kr19.79b
Market Cap = kr6.08b | Estimated Revenue = kr22.05b
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low P/S may indicate undervaluation — or low profitability.
- A high P/S can reflect strong growth expectations — or excessive optimism.
- Especially helpful when evaluating companies where profits are low, volatile, or negative.
📘 Enterprise Value to Sales (EV/Sales)
📈 What is it?
EV/Sales shows how much investors are paying for $1 of revenue — considering not just equity, but also debt and cash. It’s the capital structure–adjusted version of the P/S ratio.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It’s ideal for comparing companies with different levels of debt. It reflects a company's true cost relative to its revenue.
🧮 Calculation
Enterprise Value = kr11.54b | Revenue (TTM) = kr19.79b
Enterprise Value = kr11.54b | Forward Revenue = kr22.05b
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- EV/Sales allows for capital structure–neutral company comparisons.
- A lower ratio may indicate undervaluation; a higher one may signal strong growth expectations or overvaluation.
- Especially helpful when evaluating high-growth companies with low or negative earnings.
📘 Enterprise Value to Free Cash Flow (EV/FCF)
📈 What is it?
EV/FCF shows how many years it would take for a company to "pay back" its enterprise value using its free cash flow.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It focuses on real cash generation, ignoring accounting noise — ideal for assessing profitability and value based on liquidity, not earnings.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low EV/FCF may signal undervaluation and strong cash generation.
- A high EV/FCF might reflect weak recent cash flow or aggressive growth expectations.
- Best suited for stable, mature businesses with predictable free cash flows.
📘 Price-to-Book Ratio (P/B)
📈 What is it?
The P/B ratio compares a company’s market value to its book value — showing how much investors are paying for each dollar of net assets.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
P/B is commonly used for asset-heavy industries like banks or industrials. It helps assess whether a stock is trading above or below its net asset value.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A P/B below 1 may signal undervaluation — or weak profitability.
- A P/B above 1 implies the market expects future value creation (e.g., brand, IP, growth).
- Best used for companies with tangible assets and strong balance sheets.
📘 Dividend per Share (DPS)
📈 What is it?
Dividend per Share shows how much cash a company pays out to shareholders for each share they own – usually on an annual or quarterly basis.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
DPS is the absolute value of the payout per share – crucial for income-focused investors and dividend strategies.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A stable or growing DPS often signals a strong, shareholder-friendly business.
- DPS alone doesn’t tell you how attractive the payout is – the stock price also matters (→ see Dividend Yield).
- Long-term dividend growth is often a hallmark of high-quality companies – like the dividend aristocrats.
📘 Dividend Yield
📈 What is it?
Dividend yield shows how large a company’s dividend is in relation to its current share price.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It allows investors to compare dividend payouts across stocks, regardless of price or payout size.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A stable yield can reflect reliable distributions.
- Comparing 1Y and 5Y yield shows whether dividend growth keeps pace with stock price appreciation.
- A low yield isn’t always negative – it can signal strong past performance or growth focus.
📘 Dividend Growth
📈 What is it?
Dividend growth shows how much a company has increased its dividend per share over time.
🧮 How is it calculated?
5Y: Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)
🏛️ Why is it important?
Consistently rising dividends are often a sign of financial strength and shareholder orientation – especially relevant for long-term investors.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Stable dividend growth is a sign of sustainable earning power.
- High dividend growth can significantly boost your total return:
- If a company pays $1 in dividends and increases it by 15% annually over 5 years, you’ll receive $2 per share in year 5 – twice as much as at the start!
📘 Payout Ratio
📈 What is it?
The payout ratio shows what percentage of a company’s earnings (per share) is distributed to shareholders as dividends.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps assess whether the dividend is sustainable – especially in relation to the company’s profitability.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low payout ratio means the company retains more earnings for reinvestment – typical for growth companies.
- A moderate payout (e.g. 25–50%) indicates a healthy balance between returns and reinvestment.
- High payout ratios may seem attractive but can carry risk if earnings decline.
📘 Consecutive Dividend Increases
📈 What is it?
This metric shows how many consecutive years a company has raised its dividend per share – without any cuts or pauses.
🧮 How is it calculated?
(Special dividends are not considered.)
🏛️ Why is it important?
A long track record of increases reflects financial strength, consistency, and shareholder commitment.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A long dividend increase streak builds confidence – especially in volatile markets.
- Such companies are seen as reliable and income-friendly investments.
- The longer the streak, the stronger the company’s dividend discipline.
📘 Revenue
📈 What is it?
Revenue shows how much a company earns in total from selling its products and services – the gross income before any costs are deducted.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Revenue is one of the key figures to assess a company’s size, market position, and growth potential.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growing revenue indicates rising demand and can be an early signal of future earnings growth.
- Comparing actual and expected revenue reveals trends in the market environment and analyst sentiment.
- Note: Strong revenue alone isn’t enough – margins and profitability matter just as much.
📘 EBITDA
📈 What is it?
EBITDA stands for “Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization.” It reflects a company’s operating profit before the effects of financing, taxes, and accounting depreciation.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBITDA is widely used to evaluate a company’s operating performance – especially across capital-intensive sectors or international comparisons.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high or growing EBITDA indicates strong operational profitability – independent of taxes, interest, or accounting methods.
- It’s especially useful for comparing companies across sectors or geographies.
- Important: EBITDA is not a net income figure – it excludes key costs like depreciation and interest.
📘 EBIT
📈 What is it?
EBIT stands for “Earnings Before Interest and Taxes.” It reflects a company’s operating profit after depreciation, but before interest and tax expenses.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBIT is a core profitability metric that shows how well the company performs in its main business operations – independent of capital structure and tax environment.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBIT indicates strong profitability from the company’s core business – before financial and tax effects.
- It allows better comparison between companies with different debt levels or tax structures.
- Compared to EBITDA, EBIT already accounts for depreciation and reflects capital intensity more clearly.
📘 Net Income
📈 What is it?
Net income is the company’s total profit – the amount left after all expenses, taxes, interest, and depreciation have been deducted.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net income is the most comprehensive measure of a company’s profitability – showing how much actual profit remains after all business and financing costs.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growing net income indicates that the company is managing all of its costs efficiently.
- It directly influences valuation metrics like P/E ratio and the company’s dividend capacity.
- Over time, net income trends reveal how resilient and profitable the business model really is.
📘 Free Cash Flow (FCF)
📈 What is it?
Free Cash Flow shows how much actual cash remains after a company covers its operating expenses and capital expenditures.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
FCF reflects a company’s real financial strength – regardless of accounting profits. It shows how much flexibility a company has for dividends, share buybacks, or debt reduction.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- High free cash flow means the company generates real, usable cash – independent of reported net income.
- It’s often the most reliable base for sustainable dividends and buybacks.
- Declining FCF can be an early warning sign – even when profits appear stable.
📘 Revenue Growth
📈 What is it?
Revenue growth shows how much a company’s sales have changed compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on forward projections.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected revenue ÷ Revenue in prior year − 1) × 100
Forward growth is based on analyst estimates for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Rising revenue signals growing demand, business expansion, and market share gains – especially important for growth-oriented companies.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Growth is the engine of long-term value creation – especially in tech and growth sectors.
- What matters is not just current growth, but its sustainability.
- Forward projections reflect whether analysts expect continued momentum – or a slowdown.
📘 EBITDA Growth
📈 What is it?
EBITDA growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) has increased or decreased compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected EBITDA ÷ EBITDA from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate is based on analyst projections for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Growing EBITDA indicates improving operational profitability – regardless of financing or accounting effects.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Strong EBITDA growth signals operational efficiency and scalability – especially during growth phases.
- EBITDA growth can be an early indicator of margin and earnings expansion – but should be assessed alongside revenue and EBIT.
📘 EBIT Growth
📈 What is it?
EBIT growth shows how much a company’s operating profit (after depreciation, but before interest and taxes) has increased compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected EBIT ÷ EBIT from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate is based on analyst projections for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
EBIT growth is a direct indicator of a company’s business performance – taking into account capital intensity through depreciation.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Rising EBIT signals improving operating profitability – even after accounting for depreciation.
- It’s especially important for evaluating companies with significant capital expenditures.
- Combined with revenue and EBITDA growth, EBIT growth provides a well-rounded view of operational progress.
📘 Net Income Growth
📈 What is it?
Net income growth shows how much a company’s bottom-line profit has increased or decreased compared to the previous year – both on a trailing basis (TTM) and based on analyst projections.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Forward = (Expected net income ÷ Net income from prior year − 1) × 100
The forward estimate reflects analysts’ expectations for the current fiscal year.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net income is the ultimate measure of profitability. Growing net income signals stronger efficiency, cost control, and sustainable earnings power.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Stronger net income boosts valuation, dividend potential, and investor confidence.
- If profits stall while revenue grows, it may signal margin pressure.
📘 Free Cash Flow Growth
📈 What is it?
Free cash flow (FCF) growth shows how a company’s available cash – after covering operating expenses and capital expenditures – has changed compared to the previous year.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Free cash flow reflects real financial strength. Growing FCF indicates more flexibility for dividends, share buybacks, and reinvestment.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Declining FCF may point to rising investments, increasing costs, or weaker operating performance.
- Especially for dividend investors, FCF growth is critical – since dividends are paid from actual available cash.
- A negative trend isn't always bad, but it deserves closer attention.
📘 Gross Margin
📈 What is it?
Gross margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains after deducting the direct costs of goods sold (like materials and production). It represents the company’s “raw profit” before fixed costs, taxes, and interest.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Or simply: Gross Margin = Gross Profit ÷ Revenue × 100
🏛️ Why is it important?
Gross margin indicates how efficiently a company can produce or procure what it sells. It is a key measure of product-level profitability and pricing power.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high gross margin suggests strong pricing power and efficient production.
- Falling margins may signal rising input costs or competitive pressure.
- Compared to peers, gross margin offers insights into the quality of a business model.
📘 EBITDA Margin
📈 What is it?
The EBITDA margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as operating profit before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.It reflects operating efficiency without being distorted by financing or accounting factors.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The EBITDA margin reveals how much operating income a company generates per dollar of revenue – independent of capital structure and tax effects.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBITDA margin reflects strong core profitability – before accounting distortions.
- It allows for effective comparisons across companies and sectors.
- A stable or growing margin signals efficient cost control and business scalability.
📘 EBIT Margin
📈 What is it?
The EBIT margin shows what percentage of revenue remains as operating profit after depreciation but before interest and taxes.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
The EBIT margin reflects a company’s core profitability while accounting for capital intensity (e.g. machinery, infrastructure). It’s especially useful for comparing businesses with different levels of depreciation.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high EBIT margin shows that the company remains efficient even after factoring in depreciation.
- It’s especially relevant for capital-intensive industries.
- Stable or rising EBIT margins over time are a strong indicator of pricing power and business quality.
📘 Net margin
📈 What is it?
Net margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as bottom-line profit after deducting all costs, interest, taxes, and depreciation.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
Net margin reflects a company’s overall efficiency – across operations, financing, and taxation. It shows how much actual profit is generated from each dollar of revenue.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high net margin means the company is not only strong operationally but also manages financing and taxes efficiently.
- Peer comparisons reveal business quality and competitiveness.
- Declining margins despite revenue growth can be a red flag for rising costs or inefficiencies.
📘 Free cash flow margin
📈 What is it?
The free cash flow (FCF) margin shows how much of a company’s revenue remains as actual free cash after covering all operating expenses and capital expenditures.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
This margin reflects the true liquidity generated by the business – independent of accounting rules or depreciation. It’s especially relevant for dividends, buybacks, and reinvestment decisions.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high FCF margin means a company consistently generates strong cash flow.
- It’s a positive signal for financial stability and shareholder returns.
- The long-term trend is key – a declining margin may indicate rising investments or weakening operating efficiency.
📘 Equity Ratio
📈 What is it?
The equity ratio indicates what portion of a company’s total assets is financed by shareholders’ equity – in other words, how much it relies on its own capital.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
A high equity ratio reflects financial strength and stability, especially during downturns. It’s a key indicator of a company’s solvency and long-term risk profile.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Companies with high equity ratios are generally more resilient and less dependent on external debt.
- Low equity ratios can signal higher risk or aggressive financial strategies.
- Important: Always assess the equity ratio in combination with the return on equity (ROE). This shows not just how stable the company is – but also how efficiently it uses shareholder capital.
📘 Return on Equity (ROE)
📈 What is it?
Return on equity (ROE) shows how efficiently a company uses its shareholders’ equity to generate profit. In other words: how much net income is earned per dollar of equity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROE is a core profitability metric. It helps investors understand whether a company delivers attractive returns on the capital provided by its shareholders.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROE indicates that the company is using its capital efficiently and profitably.
- It’s especially meaningful for capital-intensive businesses or firms with high equity bases.
- Important: A very high ROE can also result from high debt levels – always interpret it alongside the equity ratio to assess financial health.
📘 Return on Capital Employed (ROCE)
📈 What is it?
ROCE measures how efficiently a company generates profits from its total capital – including both equity and interest-bearing debt.
🧮 How is it calculated?
It evaluates the return on all capital employed, regardless of how it’s financed.
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROCE is ideal for comparing companies with different financing structures. It shows how well management uses capital to create value for both shareholders and creditors.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROCE means the company uses its capital efficiently – regardless of whether it's funded by debt or equity.
- The higher the ROCE compared to peers, the more value the company creates with its invested capital.
- Especially relevant for capital-intensive sectors like industrials, energy, or infrastructure.
📘 Return on Invested Capital (ROIC)
📈 What is it?
ROIC measures how efficiently a company generates returns from the capital invested in its core operations – regardless of whether the capital comes from equity or debt.
🧮 How is it calculated?
- NOPAT = Net Operating Profit After Taxes
- Invested Capital = Operating assets minus non-interest-bearing liabilities
🏛️ Why is it important?
ROIC is one of the most accurate indicators of capital efficiency. Unlike return on equity, it is not distorted by leverage and shows how much value is created for all capital providers.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high ROIC shows how effectively a company uses the capital that is truly invested in its core operations.
- Unlike ROCE, ROIC focuses only on the capital that is actively used to run the business – and that requires a return (i.e. interest-bearing).
- Especially useful when comparing companies with large amounts of excess cash or non-interest-bearing liabilities – giving a more realistic picture of capital efficiency.
📘 Leverage Ratio (Debt-to-Equity)
📈 What is it?
The leverage ratio indicates how much a company relies on interest-bearing debt (such as loans and bonds) relative to its shareholders’ equity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
This ratio helps assess a company’s financial structure and risk profile. High leverage can enhance returns – but also increases exposure to interest rate changes and financial stress.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A low leverage ratio signals financial strength and independence.
- A higher ratio can improve returns in good times but increases risk during downturns or rising interest rate periods.
- 👉 Always interpret in the context of industry, capital intensity, and interest rate environment.
📘 Earnings per share (EPS)
📈 What is it?
Earnings per Share (EPS) shows how much profit is attributable to a single share – and is one of the most important metrics for evaluating a company's performance.
🧮 How is it calculated?
The diluted share count reflects potential new shares that could be issued through options, convertible bonds, or other rights.
🏛️ Why is it important?
EPS is the basis for many key valuation metrics like P/E ratio, PEG ratio, or payout ratio. It enables comparisons of profitability across companies, regardless of their size.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- EPS captures per-share profitability and is especially useful for comparisons over time or with analyst estimates.
- Rising EPS may signal consistent growth or share buybacks.
- Important: Always use diluted EPS for more realistic valuations – especially in companies with stock-based compensation.
📘 Free cash flow per share (FCF per share)
📈 What is it?
Free Cash Flow per Share shows how much free cash flow a company generates per outstanding share – after investments, but before dividends or debt repayments.
🧮 How is it calculated?
Free cash flow is calculated as operating cash flow minus capital expenditures (CapEx).
🏛️ Why is it important?
FCF per Share reveals how much real cash is available per share – useful for dividends, buybacks, or reducing debt. Unlike net income, free cash flow is harder to manipulate and often seen as a more reliable metric.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- High FCF per share signals strong financial flexibility.
- It shows how much capital the company can effectively reinvest or return to shareholders.
- Particularly relevant for dividend payers and capital-efficient businesses.
📘 Short interest
📈 What is it?
Short interest indicates how many shares of a company are currently sold short – that is, borrowed and sold by investors who expect the price to decline.
🧮 How is it calculated?
It reflects the percentage of a company’s shares that are being shorted relative to the total shares available.
🏛️ Why is it important?
Short interest serves as a sentiment indicator: A high value may signal skepticism or bearish expectations – but also increases the potential for a short squeeze if prices rise unexpectedly.
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- Low short interest usually indicates market confidence in the company.
- High short interest can be a warning sign – or an opportunity if sentiment shifts.
- Especially relevant in volatile markets or ahead of key earnings releases.
📘 Employees
📈 What is it?
The employee count shows how many people a company employs worldwide – offering insights into its size, structure, and business model.
🧮 How is it calculated?
🏛️ Why is it important?
It helps assess operational scale, labor intensity, and cost structure. Combined with revenue and profit, it enables key metrics like revenue per employee or productivity.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high headcount can signal operational complexity – but also significant growth capacity.
- Revenue per employee is a key indicator of efficiency.
- Especially useful for comparing tech, industrial, or service-heavy companies.
📘 Turnover per employee
📈 What is it?
Revenue per employee indicates how much revenue a company generates on average per employee – a key measure of efficiency and productivity.
🧮 How is it calculated?
The employee count is typically taken from the most recent annual report.
🏛️ Why is it important?
This metric helps compare business models – especially between labor-intensive and technology-driven companies. A high value suggests automation, operational efficiency, or strong value creation per head.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 What does this mean for investors?
- A high revenue per employee indicates a scalable and margin-strong business model.
- A low figure may reflect labor-intensive operations or lower value-add.
- Especially helpful when comparing tech companies to industrial or service sectors.
Nordic Entertainment Group Stock Analysis
Analyst Opinions
7 Analysts have issued a Nordic Entertainment Group forecast:
Analyst Opinions
7 Analysts have issued a Nordic Entertainment Group forecast:
Nordic Entertainment Group Events
Past Events
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JUL
17
Q2 2026 Earnings Call
2 months ago
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APR
23
Q1 2026 Earnings Call
5 months ago
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FEB
19
Q4 2025 Earnings Call
7 months ago
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OCT
22
Q3 2025 Earnings Call
11 months ago
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Nordic Entertainment Group — Q2 2026 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to today's Q2 2026 results conference call. [Operator Instructions] My name is Matthew Hooper, and I will be your host today. Joining me here on the call are our CEO, Jorgen Lindemann; and our CFO, Johan Johansson. Welcome, gentlemen.
Our presentation will be followed by a Q&A session on the telephone dial-in line, and you can find our results materials, including the presentation deck and detailed fact sheet on the Investor Relations section of our website.
As usual, the deck is for your information, and our remarks and commentary will not follow it slide by slide. Please be advised that today's conference call is being recorded.
I will now hand the call over to Jorgen to walk through the results. So over to you, Jorgen.
Thank you, Matthew, and good morning, everyone. So we made further progress along our transformation path in Q2 and the Allente integration is proceeding according to plan. The combination of the Viaplay and Allente groups has created a larger group with more customers, more content monetization potential, and more cash flow generating capacity to deliver our strategic transformation and goals.
The combined sales of SEK 10.8 billion for our core operations for the first half of this year is almost 25% higher than what we reported on a stand-alone basis for first half last year.
Our combined first half EBITDA before ACIs and IACs of SEK 560 million compares with a loss of SEK 50 million in first half last year. The integration of the Allente Group is running according to plan, and we have now taken the majority of the costs relating to the restructuring.
The resulting cash cost synergies are as expected. They are starting to come through and will be at their full year run rate level from the start of next year as planned. There will also be sales synergies, which our teams are exploring fully and carefully in areas such as customer acquisition and retention, marketing and promotion, product packaging and development, content utilization and monetization, and how we make the most of our tech stacks and CRM activities.
More broadly, we are making progress with our strategic transformation. On the sales side, our streaming subscription sales were up 7% year-on-year on an organic basis with both our D2C and B2B sales growing. The total Viaplay subscriber base was stable year-on-year and down quarter-on-quarter, as usual due to the seasonally quieter summer sales period.
Both D2C and B2B ARPU levels were up year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter due to the growth in the number of premium sports subscribers, as well as the continued focus on value over volume in the extension of our agreement with key distribution partners. More D2C and B2B customers are choosing our sports offering because we have much high-quality, wide-ranging, and year-round offering of the very best sports content. And we have more coverage of major sport this year than ever before.
This quarter featured the exciting combination of the English Premier League football season and the Danish Superliga, the Ice Hockey World Championship, the final rounds of the UEFA Club Championships, Formula 1 Motor Racing and golf from the 3 of 4 majors, the Masters, the PGA Championship, and the U.S. Open.
Our non-streaming revenues comprise the Allente DTH business as well as our own linear pay TV channel sales to third-party networks. The number of linear platforms and channel subscribers is in long-term structural decline due to the shift in consumer preference to streaming services, but scheduled appointment viewing still has a large and loyal following.
The vast majority of the Allente subscribers already have Viaplay bundled with their subscription. So they have the best of the scheduled live and on-demand viewing worlds in their existing subscriptions. The Allente DTH subscriber base continued to decline in Q2, but Allente also -- has also added new content to make the product even stronger and raise prices, which partially offset volume declines. In total then, our non-streaming subscription sales were down 3% on an organic basis.
Our total advertising sales were up slightly on an organic basis, which again reflected the combination of strong digital sales through our AVOD and HVOD offerings and growing radio advertising sales, which were offset by the ongoing structural decline in linear TV advertising. Our content offerings remain very attractive, and we will invest further in our offerings.
We successfully launched -- we successfully launched several new local productions across our markets during Q2. In Norway, Helvetesuka premiered and has become one of the strongest performing local titles ever on the platform.
We also launched Skjærgårdsfeber spin-off from one of the most successful franchise in Norway, Charterfeber. In Denmark we introduced the Danish version of Charterfeber, while Middag på Michelin-restauranterne also stood out as a strong local launch.
Our international slate was further strengthened by the premiere of the international hit, Sandokan, which has been particularly well received by subscribers who engage with Outlander earlier this year. Our movie offerings also continued to differentiate the service during the quarter. Standout titles included, Materialists starring the Dakota Johnson, Chris Evans, and Pedro Pascal; as well as our Swedish original movie, Det är något som inte stämmer, based on the best-selling novel by Martina Haag.
Finally, the other sales line comprises our sports sublicensing business, where we sublicense our sports rights to third-party broadcasters and streamers in our core markets and our scripted content sales business, where we sell our portfolio of original scripted content to broadcasters and streamers around the world. Sales were down 15% year-on-year on an organic basis as reflected the lower volume of scripted content sales in particular.
Overall, our core operation sales were up 0.7% year-on-year on an organic basis. When excluding the positive currency effects, our core operation costs were up 2% on a pro forma basis.
The primary operating cost driver is content, which accounts for 3/4 of our total cost base. The largest part of this is sports content, where our costs have continued to rise due to the inflation built into our multiyear legacy agreements. As we prolong these agreements on competitive market terms or find alternatives, the inflation will be less in the second half of the year and also increase less next year. We offset some of this increase by reallocating capital to more profitable areas and with SG&A savings, including some synergies from the Allente Group integration.
The ongoing transformation, disciplined capital allocation, sales and cost management and the negotiation and extension of key content and distribution partnership agreements on commercial and competitive terms, all the securing of alternative options are the major drivers of our longer-term ambition to deliver a double-digit EBITDA margin in 2028 compared to the 5.3% that we delivered last year on a pro forma basis.
Our Q2 EBITDA was up year-on-year when compared to the pro forma number, including Allente Group's result last year, and then this included an approximate SEK 110 million currency tailwind due to the strengthening of the Swedish krona reporting currency.
The recently announced sale of the Dutch operations will focus us operationally on the Nordic markets where we have the greatest scale advantages and synergy potential, and we will also provide cash to reduce our net debt and strengthen our financial profile.
We remain totally focused on rebuilding as relevant and a resilient Nordic business as possible, one that both entertains and creates sustainable value for our customers, our people, our partners, and our owners. We are doing this by crafting competitive products and commercial partnerships to stand the test of time and enable us to achieve our transformation objectives. We still have a lot to do to deliver our short- and long-term goals, but we are making progress and remain fully focused on making this transformation happen.
This is it for my comments for now, and I will now hand the call over to you, Johan, for your comments on our financial performance and position before we take questions.
Thank you, Jorgen, and good morning, everyone. As a reminder, the quarterly fact sheet on our website provides the usual relevant historical and backup information.
In the report published today, we have provided the pro forma information for prior periods in 2025 to include Allente Group as if it had been consolidated from the beginning of last year. So this is so that you can see the organic development.
The FX effects are shown as usual in the APMs at the back of the report. We have focused the commentary in the report on key sales and EBITDA numbers for our core operations as we discontinued the last of our non-core operations last summer.
When it comes to cash flow and balance sheet commentary, we have provided group numbers as we still have a cash drag from legacy content agreements that are yet to expire in markets that we have already exited.
The year-on-year FX improvements -- FX movements have big impact again this quarter with approximately SEK 80 million positive impact on the reported core operation sales as the Norwegian kroner in particular strengthened against our Swedish krona reported currency.
Reported core operation costs benefited from the net positive FX tailwind of approximately SEK 30 million due to the strength of the Swedish krona against the euro and the dollar in which we have the vast majority of our costs. The net result of this was an approximate SEK 110 million positive year-on-year FX effect on our core operations EBITDA in Q2.
We do still have significant currency exposure in the second half of the year, primarily in NOK. So these numbers can still move materially in either direction during the rest of the year.
Depreciation and amortization amounted to SEK 152 million for the quarter and included approximately SEK 100 million of PPA amortization charges, which we flagged previously and are the result of the consolidation of Allente Group. The SEK 52 million of items affecting comparability in Q2 primarily compromised SEK 242 million of redundancy and restructuring costs relating to the integration of Allente Group as well as SEK 10 million of currency translation effects.
We have previously guided for total integration cost of SEK 270 million to SEK 330 million, with the majority being taken as IAC in the first half of this year. So the SEK 203 million of IAC in the first half of the year was well in line with this. We have almost no associated company income or dividends now that we have fully consolidated Allente Group.
When looking at our interest costs, please remember that the cost for the EUR 646 million of balance sheet bank guarantee facility that we canceled in November last year were included in other financial items, not the net interest, whereas now almost all of our borrowing costs are included in the net interest. So although the net interest costs were up year-on-year, other financial items were also significantly down.
Moving on to the group cash flow. We reported a minus SEK 52 million working capital development, which primarily reflected the payments that we made for legacy content agreements in markets that we have exited. This non-core operation cash drag, which we talked about previously, is included in the working capital and is expected to amount to approximately SEK 500 million this year, SEK 400 million next year, and SEK 200 million in 2028.
The year-on-year swing in working capital reflects the smooth and more stable setup that we have now. The payment terms in our new commercial arrangements reduced the cash flow volatility between quarters. Previously, there were substantial swings to payment timing differences.
Our cash flow from operating activities totaled SEK 145 million in Q2, and included SEK 115 million of cash interest cost and SEK 78 million of cash tax costs. We invested SEK 32 million of CapEx in Q2 and reported a positive free cash flow result of SEK 113 million, of which SEK 176 million from the core operations and minus SEK 63 million from the non-core operations.
The SEK 187 million cash flow to financing activities included the quarterly amortization of Allente Group related borrowings, which will total SEK 420 million this year and next year as well as changes in the usage of the SEK 2.8 billion RCF, which we have had to drawn SEK 700 million at the end of the quarter compared to SEK 750 million at the end of Q1.
The net change in cash and cash equivalents, therefore, amounted to minus SEK 74 million in Q2. When looking at the second half of the year, we do expect working capital to be negative in Q3 and positive -- as the positive effect in the first half of the year will reverse and we expect to be positive in Q4.
For the year as a whole, when excluding the non-core operations cash drag, we expect the working capital to be broadly neutral, and we are constantly working on to improve the working capital profile. We continue to expect CapEx to be at or about the same SEK 150 million level for the combined group as last year. Cash tax payments will benefit from the carried forward tax losses that we have and our annual cash interest costs are now running at approximately SEK 450 million.
After the scheduled debt repayment of SEK 105 million of total borrowings, excluding the RCF, we are now under SEK 5.8 billion compared to SEK 5.9 billion at the end of Q1. You can see the usual debt maturity profile chart in the slide pack on the website.
Aside from the scheduled repayments this year and next, all of the rest of our debt facility mature in 2028. Our financial net debt when excluding leases, were largely unchanged at SEK 5.12 billion at the end of the period compared to just under SEK 5.2 billion at the end of Q1 and compromised SEK 6.5 billion of borrowings and SEK 1.3 billion of cash.
Our net debt to trailing 12 months pro forma EBITDA, excluding associated company income and IAC was 4.5x at the end of Q2 compared to 4.7x at the end of Q1. The recently announced divestment of our Dutch operations for EUR 142 million on a cash and debt-free basis will enable us to reduce our net debt once the transaction closes after the various regulatory and other approvals.
The further deleveraging of our balance sheet depends on the strengthening of our cash flows through the effective doubling of our EBITDA margin between 2025 and 2028 and the ending of our non-core operations cash drag in 2028. We are making progress and the margin improvement still requires a lot of work, including the work with our suppliers, partners to move all the agreements on to commercially competitive market terms or find alternatives.
We are focused on executing all of the various initiatives we have in place to deliver the transformation plan and make the required efficiency gains, including driving sales growth, cost reductions and managing our working capital to be as positive as possible and allocate our investment capital to generate as positive returns as possible.
And that concludes my remarks. So now back to you, Matthew.
Thank you very much, Johan, and we are now ready to take your questions. [Operator Instructions] So the first question comes from Kristoffer at Kepler Cheuvreux.
2. Question Answer
I would like to start with the Dutch divestment there. Can you please talk to us about why you struck this deal now and why it did not happen perhaps 2 to 3 years ago when you were shrinking your footprint? And maybe also talk to us about the time line you mentioned a bit, but also how positive you are on receiving a green light from the regulator, where we have seen some, should say, non-pro-business decisions before from the Dutch regulator.
Yes. So, as you can say, in general, it is part of the transformation that we are making. The same goes also with the acquisition of Allente. So the idea is, of course, to build a very strong and focused Nordic business. And as I said as well, that is also where we have the biggest scale and we can realize the biggest synergies.
So we did receive a number of unsolicited offers and in the end decided to take clearly the best price and also where we saw the biggest the certainty and also where we had speed because clearly, the rights is also beginning now in August, September. So we wanted to make a speedy process so that the new owner -- potential new owner can capitalize on those rights as well.
And when it comes to the process on the competition authorities, that takes -- there is, as you know, a structure in that and the path which they're laying out how to go about this. So that is what we are following. So that is ongoing, and I will not comment on any historical decisions in Netherlands.
Fair enough. And you mentioned this Nordic story back to the roots where you have a clear right to win, which we think we all applaud, right? Can you give us a bit more on that strategy? Is this back to the old star Viaplay in the Nordics where you have a strong sports portfolio, more seasoned with your own local content like going back to the Viaplay originals or will you continue with this sort of say, non-scripted route you've taken in recent years?
I think important for us is, of course, that our offering is commercially attractive. And that is not only the non-scripted or the scripted or sport whatever. So it is a big variety, whatever is call, of content that we have. It needs to be relevant clearly, and it needs to be commercially attractive yes. So that is the key criteria.
And we have linear TV, as you know, we have radio. We have AVOD. We have SVOD offering, the Viaplay offering. We have DTH. We have our broadband offering as well through Allente and so forth. So there's a lot of revenue opportunities that we're having for our content. So that is clearly something which we are exploring, as we say as well, that we have not even explored the sales synergies as well with Allente.
So what is it that we can do more together? And how is it that we can capitalize even more on the relevant content that we are producing? So it is like in all other media companies about relevance. And we have a very strong sports position. We have a very strong local content position, and we have a very strong acquired position as well from Northland and so on. And luckily, we have a lot of distribution platforms where we can capitalize on that content as you see with the Nordic business and the revenue coming out of the Nordics.
And you mentioned sports and your strong portfolio, but we recently learned that you lost out on extending the UEFA Champions League rights in Sweden from H2 next year, which I think is a worry for the market, right? So can you please talk to us about how you can mitigate possible impact or possible negative impacts in terms of churn and you not being able to raise prices, et cetera?
I think that is just normal. I don't think that we will be winning all the competition, all the auctions that we're going into. As we also have had in the past, it's about a disciplined approach where you actually understand your business case and when the business case is not supporting increased offers, then you leave it. And that I have done also in the past last time where we see. So that is a discipline you would see us continue to do. And then it is up to us to find alternatives.
We have a very strong football offering as well. Don't forget in Sweden alone, we have the FA Cup, we have the Premier League, we have the National team matches and so forth. So there's a lot we have to offer still. And then we will then find alternatives if that is needed, but we will not enter into crazy bidding in these processes and competition we're used to. There might have been others than just Disney in that process as well. So that has always been the case.
Got it. If I turn to the cash flow side, fantastic development in H1, positive SEK 150 million in my model here. And you're guiding for a neutral free cash flow for the year, excluding the non-core cash drag. What I'm struggling to understand is this non-core cash drag and the timing, because if my math are correct, that implies a negative SEK 400 million cash drag in H2, which is very different to the seasonality we're used to in non-core cash drag. So maybe you can help us understand that.
We have different payment schedules for that sort of cash drag. So -- but it is correct that it is the SEK 400 million in the second half of the year for that, yes.
Okay. On streaming subscribers, it was a bit negative in Q2 here with roughly 200,000 outflow. I know there is a seasonality, but it was a bit more pronounced than I had expected. Can you talk about the mix there in B2B and B2C in terms of the subscriber decline?
Yes. I think, as you say yourself, there's seasonality in that as well, like all other years, has been the same. And we continue to see the sport actually continue to grow fairly well when it comes to both the D2C and also the B2B part to be fair. So the campaigns we have with our B2B partners seems to be working very well. So we are happy about that. But it is linked, of course, to many times that when the leagues are expiring, which they did a little bit earlier this year as well due to the World Cup of football as well. So that, of course, had an impact.
Got it. And maybe a last one. You mentioned, Jorgen, some of the building blocks for the EBITDA margin to expand to the double digits in 2028. But I missed part of that. Can you remind us of the big building blocks?
Yes, but that is several building blocks, to be fair. And as we said, it is -- first of all, is the relevance of the content, and the sales related to that content. Then it is also quite important that the content that we are buying is also on market terms. And clearly, as you can see, as I also said, a lot of the legacy contracts we're having, we are prolonging those on market terms or we find alternatives for those as well. So it is a mix of many things, which we would like to see happen in order for us to get into double digits in 2028.
The next question we will take is from Alex at SB1 Market. So Alex, over to you to ask your questions.
Can you guys hear me?
We can.
Perfect. Great. Most of my questions were actually already answered, which is good. So I just have maybe one follow-up on the Dutch sale. I was wondering if there's any detail you guys can give on the net leverage impact post the sale. I'm not sure how much you can disclose there, but any color on the Dutch business EBITDA, just to know kind of how we should model the business post the sale.
Yes. It's not something that we have disclosed at this time. So what we have provided is the historical sort of sales, you can see the sales multiple. And then on the leverage, I mean, we have not disclosed the cash flow nor the profits.
Okay. Is that something we should expect once the deal closes then, I'm guessing?
Yes. I mean, I think, we'll have to see, Alex, what we're able to give you then. But you can see quite clearly on the front page of our earnings release. If you look at the financial net debt and you look at the proceeds of the sale, it represents quite a significant amount of our financial net debt. I guess you can deduce something from that.
Yes. Okay. That's good. And then just kind of the core sales bridge after the Dutch sale. I'm not sure if you guys mentioned this, but once Netherlands is sold now, how should we think about kind of the core sales base and growth profile? I know you mentioned you haven't changed anything with regards to your guidance for this year, but maybe looking forward, is the Nordic-only perimeter expected to be more stable? Or does the loss of Dutch streaming revenue change the organic sales bridge at all for you?
I mean, I think on the organic sales side, I mean, obviously, organics will imply then that we take Netherlands out of the mix, right? So the comparison then will be excluding Netherlands. And we said we're not changing the assumptions around a stable year-on-year growth rate. So that doesn't really change. And it just focuses everything back on to the Nordic business, whereas you know, we have a similar profile.
And it's a mixture of this growth on the streaming side, you saw a slight improvement on the advertising side, but this is offset by the linear subscription market. And then obviously, our sublicensing has been a bit volatile, but has been operating in this quarter around the level it was in the latter half of last year. So it seems more in the sort of zone there. So it's a bit of a mix, I'm afraid. But overall, the prognosis for stability in sales remains the same. You may see a bit one way or the other, but it's around stable, organic.
Okay. That's perfect. That's all for me.
And I think that's it actually for the Q&A today. We're conscious it's a busy earning day today for lots of people. So I'd just like to say thank you very much for your time and for your questions. We do really appreciate your interest and always welcome the feedback. We are available for follow-up questions and meetings. So please don't hesitate to reach out if you would like to schedule a meeting now or after the summer and if you have any further questions. So I think that's it for today.
Thank you again. We wish you a great summer, and goodbye for now.
Nordic Entertainment Group — Q1 2026 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to today's Q1 2026 results conference call. [Operator Instructions] My name is Matthew Hooper, and I will be your host today. Joining me here on the call are our CEO, Jorgen Lindemann; and our CFO, Johan Johansson. Welcome, gentlemen. Our presentation will be followed by a Q&A session on the telephone dial-in line, and you can find our results materials, including the presentation deck and detailed fact sheet, on the Investor Relations section of our website. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.
I will now hand the call over to Jorgen to walk you through the Q1 results. Over to you, Jorgen.
Thank you, Matthew, and good morning, everyone. So, this is our first set of results to include a full-quarter contribution from Allente Group, which we consolidated 100% in November last year by buying the remaining 50% of the company that we know so well as a long-term owner, partner, and operator. The combination of Viaplay Group and Allente Group has created a much larger group with more customer contact points and even stronger offerings for our partners, more content monetization potential, and more cash-flow-generating capacity to deliver our strategic transformation and goals.
To put this in context, the sales for our core operations are almost SEK 1.1 billion, or more than 25% higher in Q1 this year than last year. Our EBITDA before ACI and IAC has swung from a loss of SEK 175 million to a profit of just over SEK 100 million, and our group free cash flow has swung by over SEK 700 million from negative SEK 671 million to positive SEK 37 million, even when including the SEK 48 million negative cash flow from the non-core operations. There have been considerable currency impacts on these results, but the direction of travel is clear.
The integration of Allente Group is running according to plan, and we continue to expect the resulting cash cost synergies to amount to between SEK 300 million to SEK 400 million on a full-year run-rate basis from the start of next year. There will also be sales synergies from putting our customer bases, our products and content offerings, our tech stack, CRM, and marketing activities together, and we are carefully exploring all of these opportunities.
More broadly, we are making progress with our strategic transformation. On the sales side, we saw 7.9% organic growth in our streaming subscription sales. The year-on-year growth was driven by growth in our D2C subscriber base, as well as higher ARPU levels for both D2C and B2B offerings. The ARPU increase were not so much an effect of pricing, although we have raised prices for certain packages in certain countries, but more the fact that we have a higher proportion of D2C and B2B customers taking our premium sports offering and a lower proportion of lower-ARPU B2B customers now that we have new prolonged agreement in place.
Our B2B subscriber base was down year-on-year, which reflected our focus on value over volume when it comes to extending our distribution agreements. As you know, we have been gradually prolonging these multiyear deals on commercial terms that benefit both parties and, where that is not possible, we find alternative options. Our B2B subscriber base has grown since the end of last year following changes in agreements that take effect this year. This value-over-volume strategy is an important part of our transformation strategy.
More D2C and B2B customers are choosing our Sports offering because we have such a high-quality, wide range and year-round offering of the very best sports content. And we have more coverage of major sports this year than ever before. This quarter featured English Premier League and Championship football, the Best Nordic and Alpine skiing, live Darts action, the new Formula 1 season, the European Handball Championship, and the qualifiers for this year's Football World Cup. Our streaming revenue now comprise the Allente DTH business -- our non-streaming revenue now comprise the Allente DTH business as well as our own linear pay-TV channel sales to third-party networks.
The number of linear platforms and channel subscriber is, in general, gradually declining as they move over to streaming services like Viaplay. The vast majority of Allente subscribers already have Viaplay bundled with their subscriptions. The Allente DTH subscriber base continued to decline in Q1, but less than in Q1 last year. Allente has also added new content such as Apple TV this quarter and has therefore also been able to strengthen the consumer offer and raise prices to partly offset volume declines.
In total, then, our non-streaming subscription sales were down 4.6% on an organic basis. Our total advertising sales were down 1.3% on an organic basis, which again reflected the combination of strong digital sales through our AVOD and HVOD offerings and healthy radio-advertising sales, which were offset by the ongoing decline in linear-TV advertising markets. We have a clear focus and ambition to capitalize on the accelerating shift to digital advertising.
The combination of local storytelling, international formats, and the best acquired content and Sports are what drives sustained audience and subscriber engagement on Viaplay and our linear channels. Our local production continued to perform well in Q1 with local versions of Paradise Hotel in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, alongside returning lifestyle category favorite Luxury Trap, and the factual show also remained as key strength.
With season 2 of [ Sjukhuset ] Hospital supported by a successful launch of Swedish Farmers, as well as the consistency of crime titles such as Wanted and Swedish Cases. We have also expanded our local scripted offering with new additions, including Veronika and End of Summer, both classic Nordic Noir, alongside topical drama, Harald and Sonja about the Norwegian Royal family. This slate is complemented by a solid lineup of series and movies from leading global studios.
Finally, the other sales line comprises of our sports sublicensing business, where we have sublicensed our sports rights to third-party broadcasters and streamers in our core markets, and our scripted content sales business, where we sell our portfolio of original scripted content to broadcasters and streamers around the world. Both categories were down in the quarter and jointly reported a 17% organic sales decline, as repeat and new sales were not at the same level as last year.
Overall, our core operations sales were stable year-on-year on an organic basis in Q1, which is in line with our guidance for the current year and moving forward. When excluding the positive currency effects, our core operating costs were up 2%, or SEK 132 million, on a pro forma basis. The primary operating cost driver is content, which accounts for 3/4 of our total cost base. The largest part of this is sports content, where our costs have continued to rise due to inflation built into our multi-year agreements.
As we prolong these agreements on market terms or find alternatives, the inflation will be less in the second half of the year, when then taper further next year. We made further savings in SG&A as we continue to become more fit-for-purpose. The ongoing negotiations and key extension of key content and distribution partner agreements on current and commercially competitive terms or the securing alternative option is a major driver of our longer-term ambition to deliver double-digit EBITDA margin in 2028, compared to the 5.3% that we delivered last year on a pro forma basis.
Our Q1 EBITDA was up year-on-year when compared to the pro forma number, including Allente Group result from last year, and this included a significant SEK 140 million currency tailwind due to the strengthening of the Swedish krona reporting currency. Our EBITDA would have been down year-on-year when excluding these currency effects as a consequence of the content inflation that we have been facing.
We are totally focused on relevance and resilience with commercial partnerships and competitive products so that we build on our position and fulfill our potential. There's still a lot for us to do to deliver our short- and long-term goals, and we are focused on making the transformation happen. That is for my comments for now, and I will now hand the call over to Johan for his comments on our financial performance and position before we take your questions. Over to you, Johan.
Thank you, Jorgen, and good morning, everyone. We have further simplified and shortened our quarterly report materials this quarter to reflect the integration of Allente into our numbers. This is to focus on the key business drivers and to provide relevant historical backup information in the fact sheet, which you will find on our website. We have provided the pro forma information for prior periods in 2025 to include Allente Group as if it had been consolidated from the beginning of last year. This is so you can see the organic development.
The FX effects are shown as usual in the APMs in the back of the report. We have also focused our commentary on the key sales and EBITDA numbers for our core operations, as we discontinued the loss of our non-core operations last summer. And we have given you group numbers for cash flow as we still have a cash drag from legacy agreements that are yet to expire in these markets that we have already exited. The year-on-year currency movements had a big impact this quarter as the strength in our Swedish krona reported currency had a negative impact of SEK 125 million on the translation of our core operation sales from other currencies.
Reported core operation costs, however, benefited from a net positive approximately SEK 270 million FX tailwind due to the relative strength of the Swedish krona against the Norwegian krona, the euro, and the dollar, in which we have the vast majority of our costs. The result was SEK 140 million positive year-on-year FX effect on our core operation EBITDA in Q1. For the full year, and based on where we are today, we would expect a positive FX tailwind of around SEK 300 million. This compares with the more than SEK 100 million estimate that we provided at the Q4 results 2 months ago.
But we still have an exposure on NOK and euro. So, these numbers can still move materially in either direction over the year. D&A amounted to SEK 151 million for the quarter and included approximately SEK 100 million of PPA amortization charges, which we flagged previously and are the result of the consolidation of Allente Group. The SEK 184 million of items affecting comparability in Q1 primarily compromised SEK 161 million of redundancy and restructuring costs relating to the integration of Allente Group, as well as SEK 3 million of transaction and advisory costs and SEK 20 million of currency translation effects.
We have previously guided for a total cash integration cost of SEK 270 million to SEK 330 million, with the vast majority being taken as IAC in the first half of this year. So, the Q1 result was well in line with this. We have almost no associated company income or dividends now that we have consolidated Allente Group. When looking at our interest costs, please remember that the cost for the EUR 646 million off-balance-sheet bank guarantee facility that we canceled in November last year were included in other financial items, not net interest. So, although the net-interest costs were up this quarter, other financial items were also significantly down.
Moving on to the Group cash flow. We reported a positive working capital development this quarter, which partly reflected underlying improvements, but also some changes in timing of payments to later in the year. This translated into positive free cash flow of SEK 37 million, even when including the SEK 48 million cash drag from the non-core operations and SEK 112 million of cash interest cost. There is no change in the anticipated level of non-core cash drag moving forward, where we estimate this year to land at SEK 500 million, next year at SEK 400 million and 2028 at SEK 200 million. When looking at the remaining quarters of this year, we continue to expect the intra-quarter core operations working capital swings to be less volatile than in the past.
This is due to improved terms for our commercial agreements. The positive change in working capital in Q1 reflected both these new terms and changes in timing of payments. This will reverse during the rest of the year, but we are constantly working to improve the working capital profile. And please remember that the non-core cash drag does flow through the working capital line as well. CapEx will be at or around about the same level for the combined Group, which was approximately SEK 150 million for 2025 on a pro forma basis.
Cash tax payments will benefit from the carry-forward tax losses that we have, and our annual cash interest costs are now running at approximately SEK 450 million. Our long-term indebtedness, excluding the RCF is now SEK 5.9 billion, compared to SEK 6 billion at the end of last year. And you can see the usual debt maturity profile chart in the slide pack. We have scheduled repayments of SEK 420 million, both in 2026 and 2027, and all the rest of our debt facilities mature in 2028.
Our financial net debt, when excluding leases, amounted to just under SEK 5.2 billion at the end of the quarter and compromised SEK 6.6 billion of borrowings and SEK 1.3 billion of cash. SEK 750 million of our SEK 2.8 billion RCF was drawn at the end of the quarter. The effective doubling of our EBITDA margin between 2025 and 2028 requires a lot of work and collaboration with suppliers and partners to agree on commercial market terms or find alternatives, as Jorgen said.
The strengthening of the profitability profile, together with the ending of the cash drag for non-core operations in 2028, will enable us to gradually delever the balance sheet. Execution and efficiency remain our key focus areas. We have clear objectives, so we must continue to deliver on the sales growth and cost-reduction initiatives, constantly improve our working capital efficiency, and allocate capital with discipline and clear return requirements. We have made a lot of progress, and there is still much to do. That concludes my remarks.
And now so back to you, Matthew.
Thank you very much, Johan and Jorgen, and we are now ready to take your questions. [Operator Instructions] So, we'll take the first question today from Kristoffer from Kepler Cheuvreux. So over to you, Kristoffer.
2. Question Answer
I have a few, so maybe go one by one here. If we start with streaming revenue, that was quite impressive to see you move to an 8% organic growth, a clear step-up from Q4. I believe you mentioned there were some price increases in there. Can you remind me what these are and what you have in the pipe for '26?
Yes. I think what we also said in connection to that growth, it was not just price increase. It was also related to the blend and the fact that we have a higher proportion of high-ARPU premium sports subs and then subsequently a lower number of lower-ARPU B2B subs. So, we have increased prices where we feel that we want to rightsize the pricing given the competitiveness of the market and that we have done in different shape and form in our different markets that being Norway and some other packages in some other markets also introduced new packages. So, it is not simply just to point at one price increase [indiscernible] that. So, it comes from the combination of more premium subs and then subsequently also some higher-ARPU and then lower -- less lower-ARPU subs.
And the product mix that we've talked about before, Kristoffer, but what we'll do is we'll come back to you on the individual price-points because there's quite a lot of different things in different markets. So, we'll come back to you on that offline, if that's okay.
Understood. Maybe a bit more technical one. I read that you have a net intake of streaming subscribers of roughly 90,000 in Q1. How much of those are Allente streaming subscribers?
I don't think we have split it up, to be fair, but Allente is also growing their subscriber base in Q1, as we are as well in Viaplay. So, the combination is the growth, yes.
Understood. And may I just go back to what you talked about maybe a year ago, so the crackdown on password sharing and piracy efforts. What have you seen so far? And how can we -- what can we expect incrementally over the next year or so?
What we have seen is there's a bigger focus, which is great from a range of key ISPs as well, and so forth. So, there is legislation coming as well, and also the fact that we see more motivated parties who is actually blocking as well these pirates. So, it is an ongoing battle. As you know, we have different forums where we are discussing this, where also rights-owners like Premier League is part of it. We are clearly utilizing best-practice also from our shareholders in CANAL+, who also experienced that in some of their markets.
So, they also have a quite refined set -- a refined way of dealing with that. So, it is something where also the industry comes together because, clearly, it is not sustainable long-term that we continue to invest in these products and people are not paying for it. So, I think it is much higher on the agenda for all parties, and I think that's good news. And clearly, if we can eliminate some of that, that should benefit us all that goes without saying. So, it's a joint effort from peers, from content partners, and from ISPs.
One on linear or should I call it, non-streaming revenue, you call it these days. We saw at the end of '25 at Allente, the decline in sales really accelerated to roughly 7% year-on-year in Q3 and Q4. Can you help us understand how this trend has developed in the first quarter of '26?
Yes. I think as we said, we have increased one of the price-increases has been in Allente, and that is due to increased product value as well. We have added Apple to the offering. And I don't think we can be specific, to be honest, on Allente quarterly development. I don't think we have that guidance specifically. But clearly, it do help, but it does help the fact that we are enhancing the offering, as you can imagine. And that price-increase we also had will -- should also mitigate the effect of the declining-base to some extent. I cannot recall [indiscernible].
Understood. Maybe one on sublicensing and other. We saw that revenue drop to roughly SEK 180 million. Can you please talk about if this is a fair proxy for like underlying revenue trends? And also, I think you mentioned that you're expanding your scripted content. Please correct me if I was wrong there. But maybe you can talk about your strategy around scripted content versus the non-scripted, and if there has been any change recently?
Yes, there's been no change, you can say, in our approach to storytelling per se. And that is whether it is scripted or non-scripted or whatever sport, it is about relevance and it is also about return of investment, which we have a great focus on. So, the content that we are producing, we want to make sure that it has a very broad commercial appeal. And if it has that, then clearly the chances of getting a good ROI on that specific content is larger. So, that has not changed.
I think that the decline in sublicenses is many things. First of all, as you know, we have sold out quite a lot historically of the product that we couldn't use ourselves. And that, of course, we can't sell it twice per se. So once you have sold it, you -- clearly, there's less to sell, and that is also impacting the figures that you see in terms of the scripted content that we have sold a lot so far. And then secondly, the Sport part, which also is part of that, the Sports sublicense part of that revenue line has not sold as much in Q1 as it did last year in Q1.
There might have been some one-offs last year Q1, which we don't have this year. But it is an area where we want to continue to offload content that we can't use. So, it is still a focus area for us, and we just also want to make sure we sell it at the right price. And that might then result in some quarters will go down and some quarters it will be a little bit better.
If I may have a few on the free cash flow as well. It was great to see you move into positive territory already in Q1. A bit surprising to me, the working capital development, of course, as Johan mentioned already. But maybe you can help us understand what you're expecting in terms of working capital effect for the full-year and how to think about the phasing over the course of '26?
Yes, sure. I think as we have said also in Q4 and also this time, we expect the working capital to be less lumpy between the quarters this year compared to what it was last year. So that's one thing, and that is because of the -- all the improvements that we have made to a range of commercial agreements. So less lumpy. And then how you should look at that, I mean, we hope and we will try to be more neutral on the working capital development for the full-year when excluding the cash drag component of it. But in Q1, there are some timing effects that will unwind during the rest of the year.
And may I just follow up then on the -- I guess, you referred to the non-core cash drag. I guess that was not too burdensome in Q1. Is there any quarter like Q2 and Q4 or Q3, for example, is that going to be more heavy cash outflow?
I don't think that we have been specific about that profile between the quarters. But the combination of the working capital, as I said, will be less lumpy, less volatile between the quarters during this year compared to last year.
Yes. And you can see, Kristoffer, that the -- I mean, what the residual is for the estimated non-cash drag for the rest of the year is pretty clear. So, you know that now. So, you can figure that for the remaining 3 quarters, right?
Absolutely. And then just to the content agreement. You mentioned in the CEO that renegotiating the content agreements are key to your EBITDA growth and in particular, to reach double-digit margins in '28. So, can you remind us of the key upcoming sports broadcasting rights auctions here in the near term? I guess, the Champions League rights from '27 onwards is one to watch.
Yes. I think that -- I think they come ongoing, and you have seen us prolonging the rights that we -- as we said, on market terms that we wanted to continue and also on conditions that we felt was the right in the market. So, that is ongoing. I don't think there's any specific deadlines for all the rights coming out to be fair. But it is a matter for us when these rights are coming, we look at them. We understand the impact of the subscriber base. We understand what it can do to our product, how it can enhance the value of our product and the consumer experience.
And then we would clearly attribute the right investments to that. And if that is not happening and the same goes for the prolongation of rights, then we need them. And then we find luckily new options. So, that is an ongoing, which we have done for many, many years. As you know, we have a lot. We have bought a lot, we have too much. And that is why a lot of the things that we have will not prolong if it is not on terms that we are comfortable with that we can capitalize on. So, that is a discipline we'll keep on having.
Maybe a last one. You mentioned that you actually -- that you do cooperate with one of your key shareholders in CANAL+ when it comes to, for example, piracy and crackdown on password sharing. Can you please elaborate a bit more how much are you working with the CANAL+?
Yes. No, but it's not only CANAL+, it is also PPF. Clearly, both of them are strategic investors. So, they are in markets, and, of course, we would be more than normal stupid not to share those on developments that we are seeing when it comes to tech development, or piracy, and so forth. And also CANAL+ is a very big DTH operator as well, from whom we can learn a lot. Now we used to run Viasat. So, clearly, DTH is also familiar area, familiar space of product for us. But of course, there is definitely things that we want to learn.
We want to stay curious on opportunities we're having and super thankful of the generosity that we see from CANAL+ and PPF in supporting us on our transformation journey and also helping us understand the trends that they see globally. And a lot of things are happening. So, I think it is always helpful to have investors who understand those trends and to have good discussions in the boardroom as well with the people. So, I'm very thankful for that.
Thank you very much, Kris. And just to clarify again, the subscriber number we give in the Q reports is just for Viaplay subscribers. So, any commentary around Allente, as we've said in the past, that subscriber base continues to decline, structural decline over time. But when you look at Viaplay, you can see the growth that's there. And as we highlighted, that's coming primarily from the D2C side.
So Kris, you were our Q&A session today. So thank you very much for that. And that really concludes the question-and-answer session for today's call. Thank you all for your time and for your questions. We really appreciate your interest and always welcome your feedback. We're available for follow-up questions and meetings, so please don't hesitate to reach out if you would like to schedule a meeting or have any further questions. So, that's it for today. Thank you again, and goodbye for now.
Nordic Entertainment Group — Q4 2025 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to today's Q4 2025 results conference call. [Operator Instructions] My name is Matthew Hooper, and I will be your host today. Joining me here on the call are our CEO, Jorgen Madsen Lindemann; and our CFO, Johan Johansson. Welcome, gentlemen.
As usual, our presentation will be followed by a Q&A session, and you can find our results materials, including a presentation deck and detailed fact sheet on the Investor Relations section of our website. We will not follow the slides, but the presentation deck and fact sheet do provide useful information for you. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. [Operator Instructions]. I will now hand the call over to Jorgen to walk you through the Q4 results. So over to you, Jorgen.
Thank you, Matthew, and good morning, everyone. So Q4 was another important quarter for us as we made further progress in our strategic transformation. We have met or exceeded the targets that we set out for the pro forma combined results of Viaplay and the Allente Group for the full year. We completed the acquisition of the remaining 50% of Allente Group in mid-November. This is a company that we know well as an owner, partner and operator.
Back in July last year, we announced that we would buy the remaining 50% of Allente for SEK 1.1 billion. Allente then paid out SEK 500 million of dividends to Telenor and SEK 500 million to us. So we ended up paying SEK 600 million to Telenor in Q4 to complete the 100% consolidation. We are now in the process of integrating the business, and we expect full run rate cash synergies of SEK 300 million to SEK 400 million from 2027, which will further support our transformational journey, our profitability and cash flows.
We have reconfirmed our intention to deliver double-digit EBITDA margins in '28 compared to the 5.3% that was delivered for '25 on a pro forma basis. This still requires a lot of work in collaboration with partners to agree mutual beneficial B2B distribution terms and prolonged content agreements on commercial market terms. We have already negotiated and extended a number of our agreements with content partners and with B2B distribution partners that include Viaplay and our TV channels in their customer offerings. As mentioned, we continue to work with our partners to rethink these relationships so that they work well for both parties moving forward.
On the content side, which represent 80% of our OpEx, we have received great and important support from our key partners in order to drive our transformation and to build our future continued partnerships. We have prolonged agreements where we have been able to agree mutually beneficial commercial terms. And in some instances, we have exited or replaced the legacy agreements where this has not been possible. The work we have done with our content partners to enhance our product offering resulted in 2% organic growth for our streaming business.
Our D2C subscriber base has continued to grow quarter-on-quarter, driven by our premium sports offerings, while our B2B base has remained largely stable quarter-on-quarter as we continue to prioritize value over volume. ARPU levels were up for both our D2C and B2B basis, again, reflecting the growing share of our premium sports offering.
Our Q4 programming slate was more attractive and relevant than ever with English Premier League Football, Formula 1 Motor Racing, Darts and Winter Sport continue to drive viewer engagement. Our content cooperation in Norway with TV2 has resulted in growth for our price package. Thanks to the support from our partners and with the existing contract -- and within the existing contract terms, we have also now just become the first broadcaster in the world to show all 552 games from the English Football League Championship each year, and we are further extending our coverage of Formula 1 races weekends and Winter Sports in 2026.
On the non-sports side, local storytelling has combined with international formats and new releases to support not only Viaplay, but also our free TV channels, which have grown their audience shares in each market in '25 versus 2024. The latest series of local versions of proven relative formats such as Paradise Hotel, Expedition Robinson have again led the way together with Crime Thursday and [ Efterlyst ] and Svenska fall in Sweden; [indiscernible] in Norway and popular acquired TV franchise shows across our markets.
The work we have done to transform our advertising business also paid off in Q4. Our digital advertising sales were up 38% as we continue to push both our HVOD and AVOD products. Linear advertising markets remain under pressure, and we are working hard to maintain our market shares. Total advertising sales were stable year-on-year in Q4. We increased our listening share in our Norwegian radio business and we were broadly flat in our Swedish radio business. We have just been awarded a prolongation of our national radio license in Sweden from 2026 for 8 years, which is the same license as we have today.
The sales of our linear channels to telcos and other distributors were up slightly, and this reflects the investments that we continue to make in these products as well as the renegotiation of legacy agreements that I mentioned earlier. We have either prolonged these agreements on improved commercial terms or we have exited and replaced them where that is not possible.
The 37% decline in our sublicensing and other sales is the major reason that our total sales were down 2% on an organic basis in Q4. We have referred before to the exceptional high sublicensing sales that we had last year when we made a number of one-off scripted content sales and sublicensing deals in Q4. This year's sales are at more normalized level, and we have been consistent quarter-on-quarter this year.
Looking forward into 2026, we have today guided for a stable group sales when excluding currency effects with accelerated growth in streaming sales expected to offset the continued decline in Allente's DTH sales. Our profits in Q4 were impacted by the consolidations of Allente's profit for half of the quarter and by adverse currency effects.
On an underlying basis, when excluding these effects, our profit would have been slightly down year-on-year and reflect the closing down of the noncore businesses last summer. We reduced the OpEx for our core operations by 2% before currency effects, which was in line with the 2% organic sales decline for our core operations. We have today guided for between SEK 1 billion to SEK 1.4 billion of EBITDA in 2026. The range reflects a number of moving parts, including some synergies from Allente Group integration, which we expect to be full run rate from 2027. We will provide more information about this once integration is finalized.
To conclude then, we have delivered the guidance for 2025, and we are now a group with almost SEK 22 billion of annual sales and over SEK 1 billion of EBITDA. Our products are stronger than ever with more relevant content than ever, and we are consistently working to enhance, exit or replace the legacy agreements and partnerships while maintaining as lean an SG&A cost base as possible. We are totally focused on relevance and resilience with commercial partnership and competitive products so that we can secure our position and future. There's still much to do -- for us to do to deliver the double-digit EBITDA margins in '28 that we're aiming for, and we are clear about what needs to happen for that objective to be achieved.
That is it for my comments, and I will now hand over to Johan for his comments on our financial performance and position before we take your questions.
Thank you, Jorgen, and good morning, everyone. Our guidance metrics for 2025 were based on the full year pro forma performance of the group as if Allente Group had been consolidated 100% from 1st of January 2025. Jorgen has been through the achievements of our core sales and our core EBITDA metrics, and we have closed down the remaining noncore operations last summer.
A few words on the Q4 numbers specifically. Our reported sales of [ SEK 4.978 billion ] included SEK 578 million of Allente Group sales, net of internal eliminations following the acquisition of the remaining 50% of Allente Group in mid-November. And our reported EBIT before associated company income and IAC of SEK 158 million included SEK 31 million from Allente Group.
The Viaplay sales to Allente as a key distribution partner have been eliminated in the sales line, as you can see from the segmental results from our core operations, and there is no elimination on the EBIT line. The noncore operations had no sale and no EBIT in the quarter compared to SEK 198 million of sales and negative SEK 36 million of EBIT in Q4 2024.
Currencies continue to affect us as a stronger Swedish krona had a negative impact on the around SEK 133 million on the translation of our core sales in other currencies into our SEK reported currency. Reported core operation costs, however, benefited from a net positive FX tailwind. The total FX impact on the core EBIT was negative by approximately SEK 40 million, which was in line with our previous expectations for the full year FX headwind on the core EBIT of SEK 100 million to SEK 150 million, where we came in at approximately SEK 125 million for the full year.
When looking at the organic cost development, when excluding Allente and FX, we achieved savings in almost all categories, apart from some key legacy contracts where we have built in inflation and a substantial reduction in scripted content sales also resulted in a reduction in associated costs.
The SEK 642 million of items affecting comparability in the Q4 primarily comprised noncash write-down of legacy nonsport content as well as transaction costs related to the Allente acquisition. Net financial items totaled minus SEK 281 million and included SEK 121 million of accelerated interest payment and written off prepaid borrowing costs related to the renegotiation of our banking agreements and the cancellation of the guaranteed facility. A further minus SEK 6 million related to net lease liabilities. Other financial items totaled minus SEK 57 million and included a minus SEK 20 million of costs related to the renegotiation as well as facility fees and FX impact on revaluation.
Moving on to cash flow. We also met a third of the full year pro forma guidance metrics, which relates to the group rather than to the core operations. We reported SEK 804 million of pro forma adjusted operating free cash flow when compared to the guidance range of SEK 500 million to SEK 750. This metric excludes acquisition costs, interest, dividends and extraordinary one-off working capital effects. The SEK 804 million included a positive adjusted free cash flow of SEK 1.169 billion for the core operations and the SEK 365 million drag from the noncore operations due to the content contracts that are yet to expire.
The SEK 365 million cash drag was lower than the SEK 500 million that we previously expected and is a function of timing where we have managed to defer some of the payments into 2028. Our Q4 reported cash flow from operations primarily reflected the SEK 1.533 billion negative change in working capital, which included a previously flagged an extraordinary SEK 2.5 billion negative working capital effect as well as a positive change in the timing of payments when compared to 2024. Excluding this SEK 2.5 billion one-off effect, the Q4 changes in working capital would have been positive.
We also received SEK 300 million of cash dividends from Allente Group prior to the acquisition on top of the SEK 200 million that we received in Q3, which are included in the cash flow from operations. Cash flow from investing activities primarily reflected the Allente acquisition, while the cash flow from financing activities primarily reflected the refinancing as well as the drawings on the RCF.
When looking forward into 2026, it's worth noting that we expect the core operations working capital swings to be less volatile between quarters due to a range of new commercial agreements with partners. The anticipated noncore operations cash drag for 2026 has not changed from the SEK 500 million figure that we provided before. CapEx will be at or about the same level for the combined group, which was approximately SEK 150 million in 2025 on a pro forma basis.
Cash tax payments will benefit from the carryforward tax losses that we have and our annual cash interest costs are now running at approximately SEK 450 million. This is only a slight increase in our total cash financing costs when compared to the cost before Allente deal. The SEK 300 million to SEK 400 million of full annual run rate cash synergies that Jorgen mentioned in relation to the integration of Allente will be at full run rate from 2027. We are now in the process of integrating the business and expect the cash cost of that integration to be between SEK 270 million and SEK 330 million, which will be reported as an IAC during 2026, with the majority coming in Q1 and Q2.
In connection with the Allente Group transaction, we refinanced the balance sheet in order to improve our debt structure and to reflect the fact that we are now a group with over SEK 1 billion annual EBITDA. This effectively involve securing a new SEK 1.726 billion term loan to replace the debt that Allente brought to the table, canceling the SEK 7.1 billion guarantee facility, establishing the new SEK 2.5 billion working capital facility and reducing the size of the RCF from SEK 3.392 billion to SEK 2.817 billion. The [ SEK 1.58 ] billion of bonds and notes is unchanged.
We already amortized SEK 100 million on the SEK 1.726 billion loan in Q4. So our total long-term indebtedness, excluding the RCF, is now at SEK 6 billion. We will make further repayments of SEK 420 million on this loan in both 2026 and 2027 and all the rest of our debt facilities mature in 2028. Our financial net debt when excluding leases amounted to SEK 5.246 billion at the end of the quarter and comprised SEK 6.422 billion of debt and SEK 1.132 billion of cash. SEK 500 million on the RCF was drawn at the end of the quarter.
The effective doubling of the EBITDA margin between now and 2028 required a lot of work and collaboration with our partners to prolong legacy agreements and partnerships on commercial market terms or find alternatives. The strengthening of this profitability profile and the ending of the cash drag from the noncore operations in 2028 will enable us to gradually delever the balance sheet.
Execution and efficiency remain our key focus area. We have clear objectives, so must continue to deliver on sales growth and cost reduction initiatives, must constantly improve our working capital efficiency and must allocate capital with discipline and clear return on investment requirements. We have made a lot of progress, and there is still much to do.
That concludes my remarks. So now back to you, Matthew.
[Operator Instructions] So if we take the first question from the message board. This question comes from Emil at MediaWatch. And it's one for you, Johan, I think, which is, can you please explain why the group's net debt has risen from SEK 1.1 billion in 2024 to SEK 5.2 billion in 2025?
So I think as we have said, a part of the Allente transaction, we have refinanced the balance sheet, which included this reshape of the capital structure with these components that we have talked about. And it is a combination of all those items that I mentioned just in my note there.
Yes. So remember, Emil, that we had the refinancing, which we announced in conjunction with Allente. There are a number of factors there, including the new working capital facility, the old guarantee facility went away. So there's a lot of reshaping that's gone on there, but it's all been laid out. So it should be fairly straightforward to understand, hopefully.
There's another question from Emil, probably one for you, Jorgen, which is how much do you expect content cost to increase in 2026 due to the multiyear legacy agreements?
Yes, we have not been specific on the amount. But clearly, we have some new contracts kicking in, and we do see inflation in those contracts, but we are not specific around the amount.
Yes. And I think as Johan mentioned, I mean, we've had cost savings in this period in Q4 related to almost all categories and including SG&A as well, not just the content costs. So hopefully, that shows you a direction of travel and what we're doing on the majority of the cost items.
Another one from Emil again, Jorgen, for you. Do you expect a continued net loss of Viaplay subscribers in the core markets in 2026?
Yes. So far, as you can see, the Viaplay subscribers, we have now grown quarter-on-quarter. And that is something clearly we would like to continue to do. So we have strong traction right now on the products. And as you have seen as well, our sports -- particularly our sports high ARPU sports portfolio has grown quite significantly. So the aim is, of course, to continue to get more customers on board. So that is the focus.
Okay. And just the final question from Emil now is how important will price increases be for meeting the guidance for 2026?
Yes, but it is a combination of more customers, as we said, and also clearly also price increases where we find that we can increase prices. So we are still competitive or adjust prices, so we are competitive. So that is clearly a part of the way to get to the guidance.
Okay. [Operator Instructions] So we'll continue with the message board for now. And a question from Alex at SB1 Markets. You reiterate the ambition of a double-digit core EBITDA margin by 2028. What are the 2 to 3 biggest quantified levers to get you there? And you suggested some for us, pricing ARPU, content cost optimization, OpEx, tech efficiencies, Allente synergies. And then the second half of the question is what annual milestones should we track in '26 to '27 to show the direction of travel?
Yes. But I think it is clearly that we want to grow our D2C and also grow our B2B streaming business. I think that is quite important. And also that growth, of course, should flow straight down to the bottom line. Clearly, the improvement, as we talked about as well in different content agreement or distribution agreement, Johan mentioned as well or Matthew right now as well, the savings, the more being fit for purpose and then also the synergies from Allente Group integration as well. So those is, of course, what should bring us in the end to the double-digit margin in -- as we have set out as an ambition in '28.
Okay. And then a follow-up from Alex. Q4 had extraordinary -- actually one for you, Johan. Q4 had extraordinary working capital effects. What should we assume for normalized working capital seasonality for the combined group in '26? And are there really any structural changes here post Allente plus any anticipated full year working capital headwind or tailwind?
Yes. So as I mentioned, I think we -- in 2025, we had this extraordinary working capital effect of SEK 2.5 billion. And then we have also had a positive effect from improved commercial agreements and that effects 2025. So when we go into 2026, we will have less volatility between the quarters on the working capital. And it will be more stable if you look during the year. We will have a few hundred million buildup during the year. But there's many moving parts in this, and we need to come back to it and give more updates on that during the course of the year.
Yes. So overall, less lumpy.
Overall, less lumpy during the year.
Yes. Then we have a question from Kristoffer from Kepler Cheuvreux. On Viaplay streaming, you have previously indicated low to mid-single-digit annual growth in '26 and beyond. Can you explain how you see the balance between subscriber intake and price adjustments? One for you, Jorgen?
We have not been specific on that. But as I said earlier as well, it is a combination of mix of the products clearly, and we are increasing prices or making sure that we are competitive on pricing where we need, at the same time, making sure that we also are getting customers in by being competitive. So we have not been specific on the 2 specific levers there, which what each of them will drive. But it is a combination as we see today, where higher ARPU products and increased subs that is driving the growth as we see right now.
Okay. And a follow-up from Kristoffer, which I think is one for you, Johan. You previously said we should expect gradual free cash flow growth from the '25 level. Is that still the case? Or will it look different in 2026?
I mean the gradual increase is still our long-term ambition. But please remember that it depends on the EBITDA outcome as well. But the pro forma 2025 of SEK 804 million had this positive underlying effect. And then we will also, as I mentioned, have -- I mean, 2025 included a benefit of the lower noncore cash drag, which in '26 expected to be around SEK 500 million at this point. But remember as well that we have the integration cost and restructuring costs within this year.
Okay. And then from Kristoffer one of you, Jorgen, on HVOD and your crackdown on password sharing, could you update us on your progress and the benefits that you've seen so far?
Yes. They have, in all fairness, been quite significant, particularly in both areas actually. So the account sharing has clearly benefited our sales and also the fact that we ask people to play fair. And if you're buying one subscription, that is actually not shared with everybody. So that has helped in all fairness as well. Same goes for the HVOD, which has proven to be a very good customer acquisition tool as well. We're looking at it right now, we're looking at whatever, 15% to 20% of the base as it is right now is actually coming from HVOD as well. So it is a tool which gives us opportunity to get a very strong product in the market at a good price and at the same time, also capitalize on digital advertising. So that has worked well for us.
And I think along the same vein, [indiscernible] Media is asking, how large of sums do you estimate that you have lost to piracy in 2025? And what are you doing to change that trend?
Yes. That is, of course, the biggest issue for all of us in all fairness. And in all fairness, we're looking at it right now, it looks like it's just continued to increase the piracy as well. There's a range of things that we are doing amongst others dynamic blocking with Sweden's 4 largest ISPs now targeting focused illegal IPTV services.
So there's a range of measures, which we're doing right now. There's legislation of as well in the government, which prevents -- should prevent and make it a serious crime to be a pirate as well. So that is a range of measures that we're doing and something clearly we will continue to fight. I think -- if you read some statistics, I think it is -- some statistics suggest that it has increased, as I said earlier, around [ 16% ] from last year, and we should eventually see now around 1.3 million households being private in the Nordics, which is quite significant to be fair. So we are losing a lot there and something clearly everybody, which we are doing also with our partners here, our colleagues in different media companies, but also the government do need to act on this.
Going back to Kristoffer from Kepler Cheuvreux. It's a question for you, Johan. I believe you indicated 2% OpEx reduction in '25. What further steps can you take to continue reducing the OpEx base?
I think it comes back to Jorgen said as well, I think we are working across our sort of cost base to optimize. And I think now with the integration of Allente, we also have these things that we are doing to optimize the setup we have, which we need to come back to and on the effect, which is why I think we have -- as we have guided for now with the run rate synergies from 2027. So -- but it is a range of things that we are doing on the cost base.
Okay. I'll come back to you in a minute, Johan, with a question on specifying the rise in net debt level, just so we've clarified that for someone who's asked the question. But before we get to that, Kyle from Arctic has asked, Jorgen, is there anything you can mention on the competitive environment of sports renewals in the Nordics?
I don't know specifically what that could be. Clearly, we have succeeded in prolonging the agreements that we wanted to prolong and they are strong like the skiing we have prolonged, like the Formula 1 we have prolonged. So those 2 are very important product for us as well. In Netherlands, it's important as well. We have prolonged the Darts as well. So -- and that has been done in close partnership and close collaboration with the partners and understanding how we can utilize and how we can get more out of the product, and they have been super helpful in all fairness to open up a range of new opportunities for us in connection to these prolongations.
And also like the skiing, we have much more content than we used to have. And as I said earlier, now with the British -- with the football with the championship in the U.K., we've now got 550 matches that we can show within the same contractual framework that we have today. So a lot of support from the partners. So we have been lucky that we have managed to continue our partnership with the key rights owners that we work with. I think that is as much as I can talk about the competitive environment.
Okay. Thanks, Jorgen. [Operator Instructions] So back to you, Johan, just to specify the increase in net debt, please, for Daniel>.
As a reminder, I think we -- at the time of recapitalization in 2024, we had about SEK 15 billion package, which included on and off GSA and RCF facilities. And now the financing package is much smaller. Based on that, we have closed down the GSA and then taken up the loan for acquiring Allente as well as this new working capital facility.
And so net debt at the end of the year stood at...
The net debt at year-end stood at SEK 5.5 billion.
Alex, from SB1 has asked a very detailed question on the cost of each of the various facilities we have. And I think rather than going to that in detail, we have given you an indication of what we expect the financing costs to be during 2026, which is around the SEK 450 million level. And we've said clearly that, that doesn't make much of a change versus what we had in '25, where you need to remember that it's not just the interest cost, but it was also the cost for the guaranteed facility that we had previously. So those 2 things are more or less the same despite the fact that we've taken on SEK 1.7 billion of debt for the -- what was effectively Allente's debt. So financial costs moving into '26, to be very clear should be around the sort of SEK 450 million level.
But Alex, if you have any follow-ups, just please let me know. Jorgen, there's a question from 2 people here really on the sports sublicensing side and whether we have anything more that we'd want to do there? And if we could explain a little bit more what the difficult comp was in Q4 '24 that led to a reduction in Q4 '25 versus that period. So what was it that was sublicensed then that caused the comp?
Yes. I think when it comes to the sublicense part, it is -- it comes in many shapes and forms to be fair. So it might be so that we find it beneficial to sublicense content in order eventually to get new content in where we find new content, which can enhance our position. So not necessarily incremental cost because you sublicense something, get cash for that and then subsequently buy something else. So that is one element.
The other element is, of course, that we have a lot, and we have also too much to be fair. So it is really a treat for customers in all fairness, and we would like to offload some more content clearly to the right partners. But also we will never do it in a way which will harm our commercial proposition. That is also important to understand. We have good partners who we have sublicensed with, and it is very good relationships that we're having there in all fairness, long-term relationships as well. So that is something we will continue to do.
So either we will sublicense or we will then sublicense from others or license from others as well that can also be the case. There was some special events in Q4 last year, some sports sublicense we did which we didn't do in Q4 '25. I think that is as concrete as I want to mention that. But there were some events which didn't come into Q4 '25.
Okay. And then we have a question from Kristoffer, Kepler, regarding Allente sales. And his question is Allente sales declined faster in 2025 than in previous years. Could you help us understand why and what you can do to improve this trend moving forward into '26, '27 and '28?
Yes, I can talk a little bit about the product. So clearly, what we want to do with Allente is, of course, to enhance the product. That is quite important. And also, we have great marketing opportunities as well through our channels as well to promote all the fantastic offering that Allente offers on the DTH business as well. We have just launched 2 movie channels as well in Allente and more will come. So the partnership with Allente and the content offering now that we can exploit our content so much broader also on Allente definitely should benefit as well. And that is a key focus we're having to preserve these very valuable DTH customers for us and nurse them in a much greater way than it has been done historically. And specifically on the revenue, if there's anything?
No, I think it's -- as you say, Jorgen, it is about working with the customer base -- serving the customers with a good product offering that is fit for purpose, with a fit for purpose price and work on the churn reduction measures.
And we do also envisage to create new products clearly as well. That is part of the strategy as well. There are definitely things we can do or will do also with some of the Allente offerings that they are having today, which fit very well into the current Viaplay offering. You don't forget that we used to run Viaplay, we used to run a DTH platform. And there, we had a range of partnerships and a range of very strong product offerings to the market, which benefited us also to the customers. So that is, of course, something now. Again, we will look into.
Yes. And just to remind you again, the synergies that we've indicated are cost synergies, the cash cost synergies. We haven't included here at this time any sales synergies, but clearly putting together 2 groups like this will lead to opportunities for us.
On the cash synergies, cost synergies, Johan, we've indicated SEK 300 million to SEK 400 million there. Kristoffer has asked if we could walk him through the main sources of those synergies. So where does that come from primarily?
Yes. I think when combining these type of businesses, there are clearly overlapping functions that we work with to sort of to operate in an efficient way going forward. And as Jorgen said, we know how we run this kind of business before. So we're setting it up fit for purpose. But primarily, it's a combination of the workforces where we have significant functional duplications, but also technology, marketing and other costs.
I shift the focus now to advertising. Jorgen, it's a question from [ Kyle ] at Arctic. Can you go a little deeper into the ad market environment expectations for 2026 and remind us of the digital versus traditional split? And given digital is growing so quickly, what does that imply in terms of the rate of decline that you're seeing in the traditional ad markets at the moment?
Yes. I don't think that those will be linked to be fair. I think that it's just the fact that digital per se is growing quite rapidly as it is right now, and that is independent and linear is growing in all fairness. Linear is very much related to pod level. People using television is decreasing. So that is why the linear TV advertising is also decreasing.
So it's difficult to predict clearly. Even we have been surprised sometimes on the market development. But I think if you look at the different bodies, then it should suggest that overall in the Nordics, you would see a decline of around whatever, 10% as it looks right now in '26. At the same time, then you should also see a digital ad market going up by 11%. That is what at least is forecasted. It's a little bit difficult to be specific also because the Norwegian market is actually a combination and doesn't split out linear advertising and digital advertising, but a combination. And that combination is set to grow inclusive radio up around 2.5% in '26.
But again, you want to beat those market guidance. Clearly, that is what we would like to do. And -- but that is to give you a rough idea on what the market has forecasted. And I reckon if you ask me, each of the media agencies, they will probably also have different forecasts. So there is no signs.
Yes. And again, remembering the 38% growth number that we gave, which is clearly a strong number for the digital...
Yes. We are growing faster than market, and that is due to a strong effort from the team to be fair, innovating as well on new products. The HVOD has clearly helped us a lot and a lot of other talking to partners as well, to all our distribution partners where we also have digital ad insertion in their offerings as well. We want to have new measurement systems, which we're working on as well to make sure that we can properly articulate the currency, the digital currency that we are selling and so forth. So there's a lot still to be done, but we have done a good job and the team has done a good job last year to be.
And is there anything you want to say on the percentage of the advertising revenues that comes from digital today?
Yes, it is not larger, unfortunately, than the linear, not yet. So we haven't given that split to be fair. But...
It's still a minority, but it's growing fast. [Operator Instructions] But going back to the message board again, we had one question, which is more of a general long-term question from [ Magnus Sjoberg ], who's asking, when we see positive results and we begin to see a buffer of SEK 1 billion to SEK 2 billion over time, will you then be looking at buying back shares or paying off the debt? Or what are your priorities at the point at which you have cash available to do those type of things? How do you think about that?
I think we have been through a 2-year transformation right now, to be fair. So that is something -- and now as we have said as well, we have guided for a range of SEK 1 billion to SEK 1.4 billion EBITDA for the coming year and strong high figure when it comes to revenue. So that is where we are right now, and that is what we want to deliver on. And I reckon the Board at that point in time, we start to look a bit further what they want to do. But that is not something that I have discussed here short term.
One more prompt for anyone who wants to ask questions in the conference call. I believe we've now reached the end of the questions that we have in the message board. Hopefully, it goes without saying if you have any follow-ups, please feel free to contact me, and we can come back to you promptly on those. But I think overall, that concludes the question-and-answer session today.
Thank you very much for your time and your questions and your participation. We really appreciate your interest and always welcome your feedback on both the format and content of the materials and this session. We're available for follow-up meetings, so please don't hesitate to reach out to me if you would like to schedule a meeting or you have any further questions. But that's it for today. So thank you again, and goodbye.
Nordic Entertainment Group — Q3 2025 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Viaplay Group's Q3 results conference call. My name is Anna Hedenberg and joining me here this morning is our Group President and CEO, Jorgen Madsen Lindemann; and our CFO, Johan Johansson. Before we start, please be aware that today's call is being recorded. After the presentation, we will open up for Q&A. [Operator Instructions] You can find all our results materials, including the presentation deck on the Investor Relations section of our website. We won't be following the slides directly, but they contain all the key information for reference.
With that, I'll hand over to Jorgen to walk us through the highlights of the quarter.
Thank you, Anna, and good morning, everyone. We have continued to execute on our strategy and plan. There's still work ahead of us, but our transformation remains on track, supported by clear priorities, financial discipline and a sharp focus on long-term value creation. We are becoming a more relevant and commercial entertainment company focused on monetization, performance improvement and return on investment. The work to team up with Allente has continued to progress well. To date, we have received approval from the relevant authorities in Norway and Denmark.
In Sweden, we have received confirmation from the Swedish inspector of strategic products under the Foreign Direct Investment Act that the notification is left without action. Competition approval from the Swedish Competition Authority has, of to date, not yet been granted. We expect to finalize the acquisition and close during the fourth quarter. Once completed, this transaction will mark the next step in our transformation and building on our Nordic core. Together with Allente, we will build on our shared strength to create a consumer and customer-focused Nordic entertainment business commercially driven long term in its outlook and fit for purpose.
We see clear strategic complementary between Viaplay and Allente, combining our content and streaming expertise with one of the region's most established TV and broadband platforms. The combination supports our ability to develop new products that serve our customers and creates a foundation for future possibilities and value creation. Our world-class sports portfolio once again delivered millions of viewing hours across our markets. The new Premier League season began with strong engagement and Viaplay Premier Sunday returned bigger than ever, doubling its live shows and reaching audiences across all 5 markets.
Formula 1 and Premier League remained the most watched sports on our platform. In Norway, our new partnership with TV2 makes more than 3,000 football matches per year available to a broader audience, a great example on how collaboration can create greater value for customers and partners. Looking ahead, audiences have to look forward to in Q4, the UEFA Champions League alongside continued Premier League and Formula 1 coverage and the return of the skiing the World Cup winter this winter.
Local storytelling also continued to engage audiences across our market. The new season of Paradise Hotel Sverige was one of the most watched titles in the quarter, and Robinson Ekspeditionen and Svenska Fall delivered strong performances. Together, these formats show the strength of our strategy, combining long-term audience favorites with new ideas that build loyalty and drive return on investment. Our cooperations delivered in line with our strategic priorities. Organic sales were down 3%. However, when excluding sublicensing and other, which last year included exceptionally high levels of scripted sales, organic sales were up 0.5% in a year-on-year with strong performance on D2C and digital advertising in particular.
Viaplay streaming service grew organically by 1% year-on-year as growth in direct-to-consumer subscriptions and higher ARPU offset the decline within business-to-business. This reflects our continued focus on value over volume. Linear subscription sales declined by 1% organically as expected, while advertising revenues grew by 2%, supported by digital, SVOD and radio, reflecting our strategy to offset the structural decline in linear through digital growth. Sublicensing and other sales decreased by 37% year-on-year, reflecting a normalization realization after last year's exceptional scripted content sales with a proportional cost impact as related production costs are recognized in the same period as the associated sales.
This was partly offset by increased sports sublicensing. The underlying core operating income before ACIs and IACs slightly improved year-on-year, supported by higher advertising and Viaplay sales, sports sublicensing revenues and continued cost discipline. The reported result was slightly lower than last year, reflecting higher sports content costs, which we have, to a large extent, have mitigated with sublicensing and other cost savings and minor negative currency effects.
Overall costs were lower compared to the same period last year, driven by efficiency gains and reduced scripted content costs, partly offset by the increase in sports content costs. Our focus remains on efficiency, profitability, operational delivery and cash flow generation. Looking further ahead, our long-term financial guidance reflect a balanced outlook for the combined group. We expect revenues to remain broadly stable on average as growth within Viaplay is offset by a gradual decline in Allente's DTH business. The focus will, therefore, be on margin expansion driven by continued strong focus on ROI in regards to our content investments, efficiency improvement, disciplined capital allocation and cost management.
This is what will enable us to reach double-digit EBITDA margins by 2028. We also welcome the recent proposal in Sweden to strengthen the legal framework against illegal IPTV. These efforts are important step forward in fair competition and protecting the value of legitimate content distribution. Our priorities remain clear, relevant commercial storytelling, operational delivery, continued monetization of our strong content portfolio, and we are disciplined in our capital allocation focused on return of investment and commitment to reducing leverage over time. So we're executing on our plan with focus as we continue to build a stronger, more relevant Viaplay group that creates long-term value for our shareholders, partners and audiences across the Nordics.
And now I'll hand over to you, Johan.
Thank you, Jorgen, and good morning, everyone. Turning now to profitability and cash flow. Core operating income before associated company income and IAC amounted to negative SEK 56 million compared to last year of negative SEK 49 million, and broadly in line with last year despite higher sports content costs and tougher year-on-year comps. Adjusting for currency effect, core EBIT before associated company income and IAC improved slightly compared to Q3 last year. Reported core operating expenses were down 4% year-on-year or 2% when adjusting for currency. The reduction mainly reflected lower content distribution costs following fewer scripted sales when comparing to the exceptionally high levels throughout last year as well as savings in nonsports content costs and SG&A, which partly offset by higher sports content costs.
The sports content cost increased year-on-year due to contractual step-ups in rights fees for the new seasons, while nonsport content and SG&A costs declined as we continue to optimize spend and maintain tight cost control across the group. Currency remains a factor in this quarter, although to a lesser extent in earlier in the year. The stronger Swedish krona had a negative impact of around SEK 81 million on sales as revenues in Norwegian krone, euro U.K. were translated at less favorable rates.
Reported costs, however, benefited from a net positive FX impact. The total FX impact on core EBIT was slightly negative. We still expect the full year FX headwind on EBIT of around SEK 100 million to SEK 150 million, excluding unrealized revaluation effects booked as IAC. Group free cash flow for the quarter, including financing costs and the SEK 200 million dividend from Allente was negative SEK 1.193 billion, reflecting seasonal working capital movements of approximately SEK 1 billion. Core free cash flow was negative SEK 1.154 billion, while the noncore segment contributed a cash outflow of SEK 39 million, in line with expectations.
The working capital outflow mainly reflect the sports payments, which are seasonally higher in Q3, partly offset by positive movements in content-related working capital and other items. As just mentioned, dividends from -- received from Allente amounted to SEK 200 million, while interest, tax and CapEx together resulted in a cash outflow of approximately SEK 180 million. The finance net was negative SEK 142 million for the quarter. At the end of the quarter, financial net debt amounted to SEK 2.0 billion. We had SEK 1.5 billion in cash and cash equivalents and the SEK 3.7 billion in borrowings.
At the end of the quarter, we had a drawdown of SEK 1.8 billion of the RCF due to the seasonal peak in sports payments in Q3. Our financial guidance for 2025 remains unchanged following the update we did in July, which incorporate the Allente acquisition on a pro forma basis. As Jorgen said, the regulatory processes are progressing, and we expect to close the transaction during the fourth quarter. The pro forma guidance reflects the combined group as if Allente had been fully consolidated from the start of the year. For core net sales, the guidance of SEK 21 billion to SEK 22 billion includes Allente's external revenues adjusted for related third-party sales between the 2 companies.
For core EBITDA, the guidance range of SEK 0.8 billion to SEK 1.1 billion represents the combined EBITDA of Viaplay's core operations and Allente as if Allente had been fully consolidated for the year. Finally, the adjusted operating free cash flow guidance of SEK 0.5 billion to SEK 0.75 billion reflects the expected underlying cash generation of the combined group. It includes Allente's cash flow contribution and excludes interest, acquisition-related costs and one-off working capital effects related to the new financing structure.
The new financing structure that follows the transaction will not substantially increase the interest cost and remains fully aligned line with our deleveraging ambitions. On a pro forma basis, leverage is around 5.5x based on the top end of our EBITDA guidance range and including the working capital term loan facility. As cash flow strengthens and EBITDA grows, we expect leverage to decline gradually over the medium term.
Execution remains our key focus. We continue to deliver on our cost reduction initiatives, improve working capital efficiency and manage the business with discipline. We have done a lot to strengthen the foundation, but there is still work ahead of us. As part of our transformation, we remain focused on improving profitability, increasing cash flow and reducing leverage over time. That concludes my remarks.
Thank you, Johan. We are now ready for all your questions. Operator, please go ahead.
[Operator Instructions]
So we will start with a question from the message board. So Jorgen, do you expect to end the year with a higher volume of core subscribers compared to the third quarter? If not, when should we expect to see sustainable growth in volume of subscribers?
Yes. As we have said that the journey we're on right now, also, as you can see from the result where we had declining subscribers in Q3, but still growing the revenue is value over volume. So that will remain our focus. It is more important for us that we have long-term profitable customers than just a lot of customers. So that will continue to be our focus.
And then one more for you, Jorgen, on Allente. Can you explain and perhaps also give some color and size of the synergies that could be achieved by acquiring Allente.
I think it is too early to comment on a specific figure in this area, but we clearly see strategic and operational complementary between Viaplay and Allente. So the 2 companies bring together relevance in content, technology and distribution, and that should create a foundation clearly for future value creation. I think once the transaction has closed, we will work jointly with Allente team to identify the best opportunities with a focus on improving clearly how we serve our customers, how we operate and also create -- by that create long-term value. So we have focused on the value creation part here as well, and we reserve the right to sit down with the Allente management to discuss how we jointly can do that.
Thank you. Now one for you, Johan. The original goal of low to mid-single-digit percentage growth for core operation net sales in 2025 seems difficult to achieve. When do you expect to achieve low to mid-single-digit percentage growth for core operations net sales?
As we said in Q2, we are replacing the guidance for the full year of '25 with a new guidance structure with the -- which reflects the sort of combination of the 2 businesses. And as I explained, the guidance now for 2025 is between SEK 21 billion and SEK 22 billion, which includes the Allente external revenues, but adjusted for the related party sales between the companies.
Thank you. Jorgen, what are your expectations for sublicensing and other sales for the rest of this year and also going into next year. Will the decline we now see, will that continue.
So clearly, we have a lot of focus on making sure that we are rightsizing our content portfolio. We have still too much content in all fairness. And clearly, there's a high focus on making sure that we're in this space as well are fit for purpose. So we do hope to sell more next year, clearly, but we have not guided for the exact figure, and I will not do that here either.
Thank you. Do you still expect that the original goal for Viaplay core operations of positive cash flows to be positive for 2025, Johan?
Again, the free cash flow targets were also replaced with the '25 guidance, which we reiterated and talked about now as well. And we do expect the guidance for this year to be SEK 0.5 billion to SEK 0.75 billion, which should again reflect sort of the underlying cash generation in the combined group. But underlying performance has not changed.
And now one on FX. Could you elaborate on the FX impact? How is it possible with negative FX impact in 2025 given such large costs in euros and dollars. If current -- that's the first one. And then if current FX rates stays, how would FX impact profitability going into 2026.
So I think the -- first of all -- on overall, as I said, we have had on the sales side, a negative impact on the Swedish -- of SEK 81 million on the sales, which is related to sort of that we have inflows in euro, DKK and Norwegian krone and the sort of Swedish krona, the relation between those and the Swedish krona has changed basically. And then when it comes to '26, we don't give any guidance on that now. But for 2025, as I said, we expect a FX impact compared to last year of between SEK 100 million and SEK 150 million, which we also have said before.
Thank you. So one more question for you now, Jorgen. Do you have an upper limit for sublicensing of sports rights? Or are there any rights or categories you won't sell or sub license?
The way we're looking at that is, of course, that we want to make sure that our offer continues to be very competitive. And again, we have a lot of content. We have a lot of different football leagues as an example. So clearly, we want to make sure that our offerings stay relevant, but at the same time, being mindful that you also need to make sure that we are fit for purpose and that we cannot have everything in all fairness. And that is why we have a strong focus on making sure we're selling off. Also to allocate that capital into new areas, we would like to invest more clearly into our other program areas as well.
And then one more. Do you expect advertising sales to be a net positive for the full year 2025?
And again, we have not guided for that. I think the ambition we said we have is, of course, to make sure that the turn of declining linear TV as we see it right now that we are mitigating that decline by a strong focus on digital offerings. And that we are -- also this quarter, as you can see, succeeding. So that is the key focus area for us. One of the strategic focus areas, of course, to make sure that we grow our digital advertising faster than the decline in linear. So it's a big shift, which we would like to capitalize on as well.
Thank you very much. So that concludes the questions on the message board, and I can also see that there is currently no one waiting on the phone. So with that, thank you for your time and your questions. And if you would like to schedule a follow-up or have any other questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected]. That's it for today. Thank you, and goodbye.
Thank you for your participation in today's teleconference and webcast. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect your lines.
Financial data from Nordic Entertainment Group
Revenue
Revenue is the sum of all sales generated by a company, e.g. for its products or services.
Revenue (TTM) metric explainedDirect Costs
Direct costs are the costs incurred directly in connection with the manufacture of the product or service.
Gross Profit
Gross Profit indicates how much of the revenue remains in the company after deducting direct production costs. If the percentage share of sales is calculated, this is referred to as the gross margin.
Gross Profit metric explainedSelling and Administrative Expenses
Selling, general and administrative expenses (SG&A) include all expenses for marketing and sales as well as the general administration of the company.
Research and Development Expense
Research and development costs (R&D) provide information on how much the company invests in the research and development of its products. The costs are particularly interesting as a percentage of revenue and in comparison to direct competitors.
EBITDA
EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) is the company's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. The EBITDA margin is calculated as a percentage of sales.
Depreciation and Amortization
Depreciation represents reductions in the value of the company's assets (e.g. due to wear and tear on machinery).
EBIT (Operating Income)
EBIT (Earnings Before Interest and Taxes) is the company's profit before interest and taxes, also known as the operating income. The EBIT Margin is calculated as a percentage of sales at
.
Net Profit
Net Profit represents the profit or loss after deduction of all costs.
Net Profit metric explainedStocksGuide Premium
| Jun '26 |
+/-
%
|
||
| Revenue | 19,787 19,787 |
10%
10%
100%
|
|
| - Direct Costs | 16,829 16,829 |
7%
7%
85%
|
|
| Gross Profit | 2,958 2,958 |
32%
32%
15%
|
|
| - Selling and Administrative Expenses | 2,630 2,630 |
14%
14%
13%
|
|
| - Research and Development Expense | - - |
-
-
|
|
| EBITDA | 811 811 |
398%
398%
4%
|
|
| - Depreciation and Amortization | 453 453 |
141%
141%
2%
|
|
| EBIT (Operating Income) EBIT | 358 358 |
1,532%
1,532%
2%
|
|
| Net Profit | -1,443 -1,443 |
161%
161%
-7%
|
|
In millions SEK.
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Nordic Entertainment Group Stock News
Company Profile
Nordic Entertainment Group AB engages in the provision of broadcast television and streaming services. It operates through the following segments: Viaplay, Other Subscription, Advertising, and Studios and Other. The Viaplay segment include Viaplay streaming service including subscription payments and customers purchasing content on a pay-per-view basis. The Other Subscription segment comprises traditional TV channels and channel packages. The Advertising segment focuses in the advertising and sponsorship revenue generated by the group's TV channels, radio stations, and streaming services. The Studios and Other segment encompasses external revenues primarily generated by the group’s scripted content production and distribution businesses. The company was founded on July 1, 2018 and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden.
StocksGuide Premium
| Head office | Sweden |
| CEO | Mr. Lindemann |
| Employees | 1,284 |
| Founded | 2017 |
| Website | www.viaplaygroup.com |


