Sanoma 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 = €1.59b | Revenue (TTM) = €1.30b
Market Cap = €1.59b | Estimated Revenue = €1.34b
🎯 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 = €2.37b | Revenue (TTM) = €1.30b
Enterprise Value = €2.37b | Forward Revenue = €1.34b
🎯 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.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 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.
🧮 Calculation
🎯 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.
Sanoma Stock Analysis
Analyst Opinions
10 Analysts have issued a Sanoma forecast:
Analyst Opinions
10 Analysts have issued a Sanoma forecast:
Sanoma Events
Past Events
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JUL
29
Q2 2026 Earnings Call
about 2 months ago
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MAY
7
Q1 2026 Earnings Call
4 months ago
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MAY
7
Shareholder/Analyst Call - Sanoma Oyj
5 months ago
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FEB
11
Q4 2025 Earnings Call
7 months ago
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StocksGuide Free
Sanoma — Q2 2026 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Sanoma's First Half '26 Results Presentation. My name is Kaisa Uurasmaa. I'm heading Investor Relations and Sustainability at Sanoma.
We had a solid first half of the year. And today, the President and CEO, Rob Kolkman; and CFO, Alex Green, will represent the results. After the presentation, we will have a Q&A session. We will first take questions from here at Sanoma House. Please use the microphone. We will then hand over to the telephone line if there are any further questions, and then you can also use the chat function for questions. After the presentation, a recording will be available on our website.
With this, I would like to invite Rob on stage, please.
Thank you, Kaisa, and good morning. It's my pleasure to present the half year results to you. They are really solid first 6 months results. And most importantly, the message today is we are on track for that full year step change in adjusted operating profit.
So as always, what I would like to do is share with you a few highlights overall, then zoom in on the Learning side and Media separately. And then after Alex's presentation on the financials, I will come back and give a bit more insight from our perspective on the full year guidance as well.
So if you look at the first 6 months, then the net sales in Learning grew, and that was driven already by learning materials sales in the Netherlands, was continuing growth in Poland. Of course, the Vicens Vives acquisition that we did earlier in the year is starting to contribute as well. And on the flip side, the advertising had an adverse impact if you think about Media Finland's net sales. So I'll touch on all these elements more specifically.
One key element that we highlight today is it's always very difficult to see exactly how orders and sales fall between the quarters, particularly in a year when there is a lot of curriculum change. And we've indicated that before, and we thought it's important to bring that to life to you a bit more at this particular time around because it is about EUR 50 million that we have seen move from, let's say, very late June into early July.
So the orders were there, very end of June, and they then were delivered early July. So obviously, they go then into quarter 3. So I'll give a bit more specifics on that in a minute, but I think that's an important one to keep in mind when you look at the underlying figures.
If you look at the profit side, we're very pleased with how that is progressing. So if you take into account that sales phasing that I highlighted, we, of course, also, as indicated during the quarter 1 results, seen additional investments in sales and marketing costs, particularly, of course, ahead of the curriculum renewals in Poland and Spain. And despite that pressure on the top line, we've seen an improved performance again in Media Finland.
Free cash flow, of course, reflects the higher investments. And we also indicate that, for the full year, we expect the free cash flow to grow moderately, weighted, given the type of year it is, to Q4, and Alex will highlight a bit more on that in a minute as well.
Leverage is at its seasonal peak as it always is around this time of year. That, of course, includes, as you're all very familiar, the hybrid bond repayment and of course, also the Vicens Vives acquisition. Vicens Vives has a very similar profile when you think about it in cash terms, so therefore, also more negative cash in the first part of the year.
Deleveraging, we very much expect that to resume, of course, in H2 with that increased free cash flow as well.
And the outlook unchanged, given the decisive quarter ahead of us, but I will give a bit more on that after Alex's presentation.
Let me now zoom in on Learning first. That's what you can see here. So the net sales actually increased, as I highlighted. That's already showing that strong growth in the learning content sales in the Netherlands. As a reminder, of course, for the full year in quarter 3, you will see that last EUR 40 million of the distribution business flowing out of it. But here, you can get a glimpse, of course, of the real performance that we see on the learning content side.
Poland, the numbers here are still reflecting mostly the smaller part of the business, but really nicely growing the digital platform sales because all the curriculum sales effectively, the vast majority of that, will happen in quarter 3.
I already touched on the sales phasing. Just to give that a little bit more flavor. If you think about what happens there in practical terms is you take Spain as an example, some of the regions make fairly late decisions on how exactly they're going to distribute the funding, which methods -- not so much methods, but which kind of grades they will do. And then, of course, that then triggers the ordering.
So the orders do come in, but they come in then later. And in Italy, where there's not so much a curriculum change, it's much more to do about the fact that you can have late ordering from 1 or 2 of the key distributors there. So that's what's happening. And we, of course, have seen -- if you look at July, we've seen those orders being delivered now as well in July. So very much in line with what we would expect. Vicens Vives had about EUR 7 million on the top line impact in a positive way since we acquired that.
If you look at the adjusted operating profit, EUR 29 million versus EUR 28 million, so more or less stable, positive impact of that higher net sales that includes Vicens Vives and then the higher sales and marketing costs, approximately EUR 8 million that we indicated, of course, very much in Poland and Spain. So that really is more salespeople, more advisers going to the schools, going to the teachers to help them make decisions around the new methods that come to market or the renewals.
We also indicate very much on track to deliver the adjusted operating profit margin of above 23% for the full year. And that's, of course, to do with benefiting in quarter 3, in particular, from the increased scale and all the growth that we have been preparing for. So the core message here is one of we are very positive around being on track for that full year step change in earnings.
And I would actually like to bring this to life a little bit more with zooming in on some of the markets. And that's what you see here. So just to show you a bit of the size of it all, we have more than 60 new learning methods that have been published. The cycle in every market is the same, but the timing is a little bit different.
So if you take Sweden and Finland, then, of course, vast majority of the orders are in. We see really good growth in Sweden. You might recall that we also expect that with the additional funding that is there. So it's a small market, but we see that really performing very well.
In the Netherlands, the growth that we see there is also driven by new mother tongue and math methods in the market there. In Italy, in secondary education, our new math method is performing well. And in Spain, if you think about the curriculum renewal and refunding there, our renewal of the flagship series is really received well in the market.
And in Poland, just as a reminder, we've seen very good response to our new offering, but it's, of course, also supported by about 20% increase in the government textbook funding for parts of the market. So really solid, good signals there, putting us in a really good spot to deliver on that growth in quarter 3.
On the acquisition side, we've done 3 acquisitions, as you know, so far in 2026, the most recent one being Fluentbe in Poland in July, really helping us with more offerings towards those 2 million digital users we have in that market that we reach directly, parents and of course, the students. And this is an AI-powered digital learning capability that we are adding. So we see real opportunity also longer term more broadly, but specifically already in Poland to grow focus also going directly to the students and the parents outside of the classroom to support their learning that they also do in the classroom.
Vicens Vives, done the acquisition in April. That's now in the numbers. We're very happy with how that's progressing. The focus there as well is very much on the start of the school year.
And Mr. Chadd in the Netherlands, again, helps us with the scale we already have in the Netherlands. And both Mr. Chadd and Fluentbe are, of course, really good examples of how we also add to our more and more personalized learning offering across Europe. The AI Teacher Assistant that we introduced earlier in the year in 7 of our markets has been received very well, and these types of acquisitions help with that overall.
And actually, the first group of teachers that are using and have been using the AI Teacher Assistant, as you can see here, 88% of that first group found the materials comparable or better than their own. So in other words, it really helps them in preparing for their lessons in their classrooms. And we will continue with that rollout, of course, in the new school year onwards as well.
AI Student Assistant, very much also being progressing. We, of course, have elements already in our offering, and that will become more and more an offering that we have as well to all schools across Europe.
Let me now go to the Media side. So there, I think it can really be described as another solid quarter but also continued very robust cost containment. So if you look at the net sales, there, we see the digital subscriptions continuing to grow, offsetting the decline in print. And if we were to look a bit further and deeper down, we see, across the product range, good solid development in the number of subscriptions. So that's important and it's continuing.
Year-on-year, there's always an element of what phase of the year do you compare it to, what are there with regard to some specific offerings, for example, around sport last year. So there's always -- the comparison is always a bit difficult if you look at quarter-to-quarter. But underlying, it is continued strong growth in the digital subscriptions.
Advertising sales, as you're all aware, is the softer part still of the market. And like all of you, we were also encouraged to see the more positive market developments in June. Of course, early days, but that is, of course, one of the indicators that also the market there at least picking up on the advertising side.
Events has 2 sides to it. We are -- we did, after last year, decide to organize fewer events, but the events that we did hold have not only been as they always are, high quality and well received if you think about the program and the lineup, et cetera, but also, this year, with improved profitability. So last year, I was happy with the quality of the events, but less so with the financial side. This year, the quality has been very good. The attendance has been very good and also the results are very good on the profitability side this year, too. So compliments to the team for achieving that.
Then the other parts are the ones that you, of course, recognize, the longer-term trends, so the lower paper, printing and distribution costs and also some phasing in this quarter on the TV programming costs, so a bit lower there. So all that offsetting, and a little bit more, the impact of the lower advertising sales. So a solid quarter and really in a strong position to deliver on that step change in the second half of the year.
I would like to now hand over to Alex to talk a bit more about the financials, and then I will be back to share a bit more insights around our outlook for the year. Alex?
Thank you, Rob. Good to be here with you again today. So let's start, as always, the financials, with the Q2 earnings position, which is relatively stable and also, in the units, slightly down in Learning, slightly up in Media Finland.
So if I start with the Learning side, we had a positive profitability mix coming in, first of all, with the higher learning content sales that we talked about offsetting lower distribution sales. We also have the Vicens Vives acquisition included here as well, which -- as it's a similar business of a smaller scale to us, it has the same sort of quarterly profile. So that started being profitable in the back end of Q2, and that's included.
And then offsetting this, we have, as mentioned, the higher sales and marketing costs in Poland and Spain, the Q2 element of that being EUR 5 million. We had EUR 3 million in Q1, EUR 5 million in Q2, slightly more than we had indicated before, but reflecting the opportunity we had to generate a good solid high season in Q3. And then again, also the impact of the sales phasing of EUR 15 million, which has moved to early Q3, and as Rob said, has been substantially completed and delivered in this early part of Q3 already. So that netted there to roughly stable, slightly down.
Media Finland's line, as we saw, we saw improved profitability of the events, albeit with fewer events, but very successful there. We also have the lower printing, paper and distribution costs, say, connected to the closure of the Tampere plant last year and some timing of TV programming costs and all that positive impacts, which offset the lower advertising sales.
Looking at the earnings per share in the table, we see that has improved. You can see on the bottom right from H1 that it's improved year-on-year, primarily coming from the top line, the adjusted operating profit improvement that we've talked about. If we look at a couple of the items on the IAC line in Q2 specifically, you see EUR 2 million more than last year and included in that is EUR 2 million of acquisition-related costs, so purchase-related acquisition costs related to Vicens Vives primarily.
And then net financial items, which is lower at an H1 level, full half level, relatively stable in Q2 with the higher debt coming from the repayment of the hybrid bond and flipping to some debt, being offset by an average interest rate, which is lower than last year, so 3.5% versus 3.9%.
If I move to free cash flow. And so, as always, in this -- for this period of H1, it is seasonally negative, and it's actually slightly lower than last year, reflecting the higher investments. And so, you can see there on the top right that we go from negative EUR 68 million to negative EUR 73 million with a lower EBITDA, which includes those sales and marketing costs ahead of the curriculum renewals, in a sense, the sort of in-year investment, which drives value in the second half of the year. And we also see some higher investments in terms of the TV programming spend in Media Finland. Vicens Vives is in there as well, and then we have some small positives which -- including the tax -- timing of tax payments there.
On a full year level, we expect to grow from the EUR 129 million of last year, so to grow moderately to increase versus that. And as mentioned, this will be weighted primarily to Q4, given sort of the timing of some of our sales being a little bit later, particularly in Southern Europe, that pushes some of the receipts into the early mid part of Q4.
What does that do to -- in terms of our leverage? So leverage always at this time of year is at its peak. So we're at 3.0, which reflects both the hybrid bond repayment in March and also the acquisition and the debt related to the acquisition of Vicens Vives at the end of April. So going forward in H2, that's when the deleverage sort of restarts as the cash flow becomes positive. We expect that to come right down. So at the end of the year, it will be well below our long-term target of 2.5, maybe not quite as low as the December last year because we -- it takes a little bit of time to complete the reset on the hybrid bond, but it will be substantially below the 2.5 target.
And finally, we've talked about before our ESG progress and just wanted to highlight some further recognition of something which we're very proud of. And so here, you can see, in the TIME Magazine and Statista, we've been included in the World's Most Sustainable Companies and also our S&P Global Corporate Sustainability score has improved. So a nice feedback in terms of the efforts we're making to have a positive impact.
And with that, I'll invite Rob back to the stage to continue.
Thank you, Alex. And let me indeed now share a few insights on our outlook for the year before, of course, we open it up to questions.
So as I said at the start, we're very much on track and very positive about realizing that step change for the full year in adjusted operating profit. And the core underlying elements are, of course, very much the ones that we've indicated before, obviously, further supported now by the acquisitions, particularly Vicens Vives, that we have done so far in 2026.
In quarter 3, most of the discontinuation of the Dutch distribution business will happen on the top line. But as a reminder, with no impact on bottom line because, of course, it was low to no margin.
Therefore, message remains, we are on track to clearly have, for the full year, above 23%, but most importantly, on Learning, I think with the quarter 2 now behind us, with all the hard work around adoptions, around seeing the changes happening, how well our content has been received, we are in a really strong position to now see that materialize in increased revenue in quarter 3.
And as I said, some of our markets, we have that insights around the real ordering. In other ones, Spain and Italy, in particular, there, of course, it is now all about getting the books and the stock towards the distributors and then the real sales to the students is, of course, happening in September time after the Southern European holidays.
On the Media side, as highlighted, I am very pleased with how Pia Kalsta and the team continue to work tirelessly on those efficiency improvements that we are continuing to make. That, of course, helps with the sort of headwinds we still see on advertising. On advertising, that's the key element here, of course. We indicate relatively stable, which our terminology is plus or minus a few percentage points. Clearly, if you look at year-to-date, then that is more towards that minus side.
And that's also where the bigger uncertainty lies if you look at the second half of the year, how will advertising now develop? Will we see some of those early positive signs continue? That, of course, would help us there. But even if it would stay more towards a slightly negative, with all the efforts we are doing to continue improving our business and in some cases, already helped also with the AI productivity improvements, then we are confident we can also deal with that. And besides that, the real transformation, digital subscription sales growing more than offsetting decline in print, we also expect that to continue.
So all in all, in a very, very good, strong position going into the second half of the year. We're not changing the guidance as we speak. And the key reason, of course, being that it is a very decisive quarter 3 for Learning. And of course, the visibility on the advertising side remains limited in that way. So that's why this is the outlook we gave at the start of the year, continues to be the case.
With that said, I would like to invite Kaisa and Alex back on stage so we can take your questions.
Thank you, Rob. Thank you, Alex. And we have the first question from the Sanoma House. So Sanna from Nordea.
2. Question Answer
Just to clarify on Learning side, I see that Italy declined by 16% and Spain also organically by 20%, if I calculated correctly. This is all just phasing or mainly phasing and nothing else in particular?
That's correct. So for Italy, it's not a market where there's a lot of change. So that's more of a stable market. So yes, that's what you can see there. And on Spain, it is what I highlighted with the changes in the curriculum, late ordering, correct.
Perfect. Then on Vicens Vives, you're now a few months into that acquisition. So can you elaborate on your early reads? How does it look like so far? And also, can you comment, did it grow at all in Q2?
I'm very happy with how it is going. I think it's a great team that has become part of Sanoma. We are -- as we are everywhere, very focused now on the start of the school year, of course, in preparation for that. Some of the methods that were already in preparation that have now launched for Vicens Vives have also been received very well. So the early indications are all very strong.
Comparables with last year is always a bit more difficult because, of course, it wasn't in our systems. But we also expect, of course, the growth for Vicens Vives to happen in their markets as well.
All right. Then on Media Finland, you mentioned the encouraging signs towards the end of the quarter. Could you elaborate on what exactly improved? And did you benefit at all from the World Cup advertising that we saw in June?
Good question. And of course, I'm looking at the same data as you all are, right? So forgive me for trying to also have some positives on it. I think there were a few elements. If you look at some of the Finnish economy signs, they're also slightly more positive. It is always difficult in a specific month, right?
If you take June, yes, there was the World Cup. No, we didn't have the rights, right? So do you have a bit of an impact there? Maybe, the overall market certainly, I think, benefited from it. So that's also why I am saying it's some early encouragement signs. I mean it's better to see growth than we have seen, of course, for quite a few months before.
But I would not -- we are not getting carried away, and that's also why I'm highlighting even if it were to stay a bit more negative, with everything we do or Pia Kalsta and the team, of course, are doing, we really are in a good position to also deal with still a slightly more negative advertising market.
Okay. That's clear. Then on investments and cash flow. TV programming costs were lower again. And I remember you mentioned this previously. I think it was in Q4. Is this once again sort of a one-off? Or is this the run rate going forward?
No, this is primarily a timing thing. So it sort of shifts between the quarters, depending on the nature of when programs are being planned and scheduled and paid for.
Then investments overall increased quite clearly this year, if I could say so. How much of this is like structurally higher investment level related to, for example, AI and digital platforms versus temporary growth investments?
So if I just highlight that, I think there are elements of slightly higher investments if you think about getting ready also for some of the curriculum changes, et cetera. Fundamentally, I think we are seeing this, as a percentage of revenue, not to change that much.
And you are absolutely right. If you think about the impact ultimately of AI, that's twofold, right? On the one hand, that is really helping us to become more efficient. On the other hand, we also see great opportunities to bring other products to market, which, of course, will also be an increase. So it's a balancing act.
Thank you, Sanna. And then we move to Pia from DNB Carnegie, please.
I've got 2 questions. And the first one is on Learning. I think Netherlands and the Polish market, they grew really well in Q2. Can you somehow split the growth? I mean, was it -- how much of the growth was organic? And was it driven by volumes, pricing? Are you taking market shares? Are there some phasing factors?
I think it is mostly organic because the acquisition we did in the Netherlands was very small. So that doesn't really register. And if you think about the Polish one, that was only done as an acquisition in July, so that doesn't have an impact. So it is organic.
If you then look a little bit deeper, in the Netherlands, it is really a reflection of where we think we continue to win in the Dutch market with our content sales. And I gave one example, but there are, of course, several. So we are generally very positive about our position in the Dutch market and also our strength there.
In Poland, of course, it's a little bit more nuanced on that. But by and large, the growth in that first half of the year is driven by our digital solutions, the one -- the platform that I also mentioned, of course, where we have Fluentbe now added. So that will be also some inorganic growth in the second half of the year. But the real curriculum growth is actually, of course, happening in Poland in quarter 3.
And then Fluentbe, can we draw any kind of conclusions on is this platform expandable to other markets? Is that your ambition? Or are these smaller acquisitions kind of more local bolt-ons and very rooted in that local market?
So both can be true, I think. So on the one hand, it is very local. Our business case is based on the fact that we can add it to the 2 million users and the offering is for the Polish-specific market. So it is real value creation from that point of view. It is true that, of course, with any acquisition we do, we also look at it if there would be a demand developing in other markets. Could, for example, be also in the Italian market where some of the characteristics are similar, then this technology would enable us to do that. So it is a criteria on how we look at it. But the business case, the value creation is focused on Poland, first and foremost.
Thank you, Pia. And then we have Joonas from OP, please.
A lot of good questions already. But perhaps on the Media side, after solid growth in recent quarters on the subscription sales, it stays flat now in Q2. What's your kind of expectations for H2? Do you still see that you can grow or the digital revenue can be faster than kind of the decline in print?
That's definitely, of course, our aim and our focus. And if you look at slightly longer term, we continue to focus also on adding content, adding offerings that will enable us to do so, right? If you think about Champions League next year, that, of course, will help with that digital subscription base as well.
I am pleased to see how our digital subscriptions overall are continuing to grow. The comparison on is it the net-net growing on subscriptions or more or less stable? Yes, that can also then differ a bit quarter-to-quarter, depending on the comparable numbers from the previous year as well. But in itself, the trends are continuing with good growth, clearly, increasingly with a higher base to compare it with.
Okay. Then another one on Media. Perhaps looking a bit further towards the future, what kind of preparation you currently have ongoing towards the gambling market opening a year from now?
Yes, very good question. There's a couple of things going on. So obviously, on the content, what we offer, there are preparations going on, and then the type of programs we want to have around that, right? But most importantly, the conversation with potential new entrants into the market, they have started. They are ongoing to also get a feel of what is needed, what are they looking for when you think about where we can offer the most, which is, of course, the brand building side. So there's a lot of preparation going on, but the actual market, of course, doesn't open up until, as you know, July 27. So it's also limited what you can do in advance.
Thank you, Joonas. And then we have Nikko from SEB.
This is Nikko Ruokangas from SEB. I have 3 questions. And first one on -- you highlighted your success and good feedback from AI application for teachers. So do you think that, that is more kind of a sales driver for you going forward? Or is it more strengthening your competitive position overall?
I think, longer term, it is really going to help with better learning offerings, more personalized learning offerings for all students across Europe, right? So longer term, this is a really key part of it. Some of that will be with really new solutions that we bring to market, specifically for this. Some of it will also strengthen, of course, on top of the high-quality content we have. And I think this is early days to see exactly how business models will pan out on it.
But I would expect both in the classroom being -- ability to really build on the core content we have. But if you think about what I highlighted for Poland, when you think personalized learning outside of the classroom for the students and getting better learning out, but there's a massive opportunity there longer term. But this is education. It won't be fast, right? So it is a matter of building on that over time.
I understand. Then continuing on the same topic, but maybe from a bit different angle. Anthropic published their Claude for Teachers recently in the U.S. K-12 market, although it's not in Europe, but have you reviewed it? And what kind of thoughts do you have on it?
Yes. So obviously, we follow that very closely, right? I think it's a good indication that there's real opportunities going forward also here in Europe to, of course, get more and more personalized on the learning. I do believe it will always be on top of the high-quality content and methods that you need. And that's also our early indications of what we see happening with Anthropic in the U.S. Obviously, the U.S. market is a very different one from Europe also if you think about regulations, et cetera.
So we follow it closely. I think it's a good indication that there's real opportunities for growth here over time. But how that exactly will pan out in the European market, I think that's where we are in a great position to shape that market very well.
Okay. And then the last one, a bit more technical. On TV, costs, you said, were lower due to phasing. So is this something we should expect already to reverse in Q3? And how big was this impact?
It was a few million. And yes, which we'd expect it to sort of reverse in the second half of the year, yes.
Yes. Thank you, Nikko. And then we have Petri from Inderes, please.
Continuing on the digital subscription sales, I was thinking about the timing of the World Cup and then your revenue development there. Did you see any impact of the World Cup? I mean, thinking it's on a different platform and could consumers be switching to other platforms?
I mean it's a good underlying assumption that could be true. It's difficult to prove that or disprove it. So I wouldn't go as far as saying, yes, we saw it. But of course, in this kind of situation where there's a lot of other things happening, it's a fair assumption to make that it might have some impact.
Finally, this goes to Alex regarding your debt portfolio. I recall there's some maturity date not in the so distant future. Can you share any thoughts or plans regarding refinancing later this year?
Yes, absolutely. So next year and -- not immediate next year, but next year, we have the revolving credit facility of EUR 300 million coming to term. And so we're currently working on the right time to refinance that. So thinking about that already now. And also, we have the social bond also next year as well. So 3 years comes around quickly. And we're also discussing with our relationship banks, the best timing and keeping an eye on pricing and the timing to do that.
So those 2 things are top of mind at the moment, but they're not immediate. But clearly, we think about when those things not come to term necessarily, but come to short term. So a year before is kind of a key point. So we're very much focused on doing the right thing there.
Thank you, Petri. If no further questions from the audience here, I would like to hand over to the telephone line, please.
[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Sami Sarkamies from Danske Bank Markets.
Three questions. Firstly, I wanted to confirm that bulk of the EUR 50 million timing shift in the third quarter has already been ordered and delivered, so there's no risk in this.
That's correct.
Okay. And then secondly, given strong outlook for second half of the year, are you expecting to land at the very high end of your EBIT guidance range?
That's a really good question. Let me be clear. If you look at everything that I've highlighted today, I'm very positive, of course, about our performance and also for the full year, right? So logically, that would imply that if things continue the way we now see it happening, also partly supported with the M&A, particularly Vicens Vives, yes, you do get towards the higher end.
Maybe to continue on that. But we are not changing our guidance now because, of course, quarter 3 is very decisive. And of course, there is still a lot to be sold and the sell-through also in countries like Spain and Italy, and there is, of course, the uncertainty around the advertising market. But we are very positive about how we currently look at the market.
[indiscernible]
Sorry, Sami, the line is breaking up. So could you please repeat the question?
[indiscernible]
Unfortunately, that's happening again. So maybe if you can use the chat, we can still take it from there or then we can take it after the webcast. Apologies for this.
If no further questions from the telephone line, we have one at the moment in the chat, and it's related to the cash flow. And so the taxes are now tracking below in H1 versus last year. What do you expect for the rest of the year or the full year in terms of cash taxes?
So cash tax is very much a function of timing, and you also sometimes make payments and get refunds back the next year if your estimates are too high. So I expect it to balance out over the full year. I don't expect that bucket in that chart to be particularly high. It's mainly timing impacts.
And then what about working capital for the full year? What should we think about this now that the change in working capital in H1 was relatively low?
Yes, I would just think -- so as I mentioned before, and we mentioned before, the -- a lot of the cash coming in will be in Q4. And so we will see a movement there, a large working capital impact in Q3, but it should balance out towards the end of -- by the Q4 end, right? So generally speaking, when we get to the full year-end, the whole cycle has been completed, cash has come out and come back in. So it should be at a fairly normalized level.
Thank you. And no further questions in the chat either. And if not anything further from the audience here at Sanoma House, I think that we can start to conclude the webcast.
As a final reminder, our Q3 results will be published on 28th of October. Thank you for the active participation, and please be in touch with us at IR with any further questions. Thank you. Have a nice day.
Sanoma — Q1 2026 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Sanoma's First Quarter 2026 Results Presentation. My name is Kaisa Uurasmaa, I'm heading Investor Relations and Sustainability at Sanoma. Our adjusted operating profit improved in Learning and Media in the first quarter. And today, we have the President and CEO, Rob Kolkman; and CFO, Alex Green, to present the results.
After their presentation, we will have a Q&A session. We will first take questions from here at Sanoma House. Please use the microphone. Then we hand over to the telephone line and you can also use the chat function in the webcast platform. The whole event will be recorded, and the recording will be available on our website shortly after the event.
With this, I would like to invite Rob on stage, please.
Thank you, Kaisa, and good afternoon, everybody. It's my pleasure to present the quarter 1 results to you this afternoon. And as Kaisa already mentioned, we've seen improved profit in both Learning and Media, which is a really solid good start to the year.
Let me first go high level on the numbers and then, as usual, zoom in more specifically on Learning, try to give a bit of a feel as well for where we stand in the buildup to really that step change in growth there and then also, of course, say a few words about the Media business as well. So overall, our net sales were stable.
And underneath that, you see growth in Learning, particularly in the Netherlands, Poland and Spain. And the advertising is still impacted by the weaker economic climate here in Finland. Profit-wise, we see improvement. Of course, this is a seasonally small revenue quarter, but the improvement is definitely there, and that is both in Learning and in Media. Free cash flow relatively stable, and Alex will talk about that a bit more.
And Alex will also talk more about the leverage, which was 2.6x, very close to our target level of 2.5x. But of course, this is also following the repayments that we have done of the hybrid bond and the seasonality. And we were very pleased last week that we closed the acquisition with Vicens Vives, which really strengthens our position in Spain, and I will dive a little bit deeper into that as well.
If you think about the outlook, we have kept that unchanged. Obviously, and we can talk about that later as well. Obviously, the Vicens Vives acquisition is a real positive that we see. At the same time, we kept it unchanged because it is still very early days in the year. Quarter 3 is for Learning very important. And clearly, on the Media side, the uncertainty lies around the advertising. But overall, really solid start, good start to the year.
And that also means this outlook being unchanged that the step change in profits that we indicated back in February, we really truly see that happening this year and as we also highlighted in the Capital Markets Day. Let me now zoom in on Learning a bit more specifically. So net sales increased in Learning. Content sales grew in the Netherlands, which is driven by a larger spring order.
And just to clarify, that spring order is, of course, a reflection of the growth we're also expecting for the full year in the Netherlands. So it's not like it was different phasing between the quarters. It is just a reflection of the kind of market we do expect in the Netherlands also for the full year. So that means growth in the Netherlands on this bit. Phasing between the quarters is indeed happening a little bit in Spain, small numbers.
And we're very pleased in Poland that we see the digital platform sales growth continuing. And that very much is also driven by the more than 1 million subscribers we have to the B2C platform there. Of course, it's small numbers and Poland will very much see the growth in quarter 3 on the -- driven by the curriculum. So then this growth will be less visible, but it's really good to see that, that continues to be a strong part in the Polish growth story.
And a few words on the profit, which given the low revenue quarter is loss that improves a bit, which is, of course, supported by the higher net sales, which was a good margins. There are some cost efficiencies in there in a positive way following Program Solar. Again, most of that will, of course, materialize once you see the volumes increase. And there is also to be clear, a higher cost base in preparation for the curriculum renewals in Poland and Spain.
So that is something, of course, that we always see at this -- in a year like this, when you see big growth happening in quarter 3, we have a ramp-up from the sales and the marketing and some editorial as well. So that is with regard to the numbers for quarter 1. I would like to also give you a bit of a feel for -- that we are well-positioned for the growth further on in the year.
And there's a few elements there to highlight. So on Poland, really good news there is that the Poland government has reconfirmed its real decision to modernize education. And that also comes with a 20% increase that they've signed off on the textbook subsidies, which is part of the market we're active in, in Poland, which is, of course, part of our expectation, but it's really good to see that confirmed and therefore, also supporting the point that the growth in quarter 3 will be very noticeable in Poland.
In the Dutch market, we see continued good growth on the Learning content side. And we've also as part of the 7 countries in which we rolled out Teacher Assistant, we're also rolling it out as a pilot now in the Netherlands. And we particularly think in the Netherlands, this will really benefit our offering, particularly in secondary education going forward. It helps teachers to make more personalized exercises in this first phase. And there's a lot more to come after that, but the Netherlands will be a market where we think we will lead the way with regard to personalized Learning.
And an acquisition of Mr. Chadd, which is a small one, but really helping more towards the students, the children, the tutoring is also really a good small step in that direction. Then Spain, the other big market for growth. There, we really have seen that the new funding cycle is about to start. All the indications from the different regions are that that is happening.
We're, of course, prepared with the content. That's also why some of the cost base is slightly higher in quarter 1 in preparation for all that. And we're very pleased to see that. And if you then think in Spain on top of that, there is the acquisitions of Vicens Vives, which, of course, is really value creating. It goes to the heart of what we try to do when we talk about leveraging our scale.
So let me zoom in on that a little bit more with some specifics. So Vicens Vives is one of the major Learning content providers in Spain with a net sales of EUR 29 million. It really offers products that complement ours with a similar approach in blended Learning, so finding the right print and digital. So when -- for example, in the Capital Markets Day, we talked about M&A activities.
This goes to the heart of what we like in value creation M&A. It's, of course, as you know, in Spain, one of our bigger markets as well. We've got a good position there, and we have real great potential that also Vicens Vives will benefit now from that funding cycle as well. So very much in line with our strategy, really building on the existing scale and supporting, therefore, also our long-term financial targets.
This really has that 10% to 20% of -- as a percentage of revenue as synergies like we indicated in the Capital Markets Day as well. And that will take about 12 to 18 months to really fully materialize. And particularly, of course, the coming months are all focused on making sure we have a good start to the school year.
Transaction details, no surprises. We've communicated them, the EUR 40 million, and therefore, that reflects about 6.8x EBITDA. And it was completed, signed close completed on the 30th of April. That's on the Learning side. Let me now zoom in on Media. There, very much the digital transition is continuing. So again, another quarter of growth in subscription sales on the online side, in particular, Ruutu+, Digital News Media subscriptions.
It's against the backdrop of still a more subdued economic climate here in Finland, as we all, of course, are very aware of, which, in our case, reflected in the lower advertising sales, mainly in TV and in print. So it's very encouraging to see that we have another quarter where despite there being some headwinds on the top line, we have really robust cost management in place, and that means actually that we have increased our profit in a quarter like that.
And that's really a testament to the hard work of Pia and the team, Pia Kalsta and the team to continue to deliver on that. And that improvement comes from the indeed growth in subscription sales, the robust cost containment and then, of course, the impact of the lower advertising sales. And personnel expense is part of that cost containment. So that's from my end, the opening remarks.
I will now hand over to Alex to dive a bit more into the financials, and then I'll come back and look forward a bit further and also put in perspective the growth in the coming years. Alex?
Thank you, Rob. So good to be here with you today. So welcome again to our Q1. Starting off with financials, as usual, with the earnings side, the adjusted operating profit year-on-year and bringing together from the 2 slides Rob showed the Learning and Media Finland parts, you can see both businesses contributing to higher earnings year-on-year.
On the Learning side, the sales flowing through, particularly good content sales in Netherlands and also in the digital platform sales in Poland and this offsetting those -- and also 2 cost impacts sort of offsetting in there. So the improved position with the solar efficiency costs, but also, as Rob was saying, the extra investment in things like marketing and sales, getting ready in Spain and Poland for the higher curriculum reforms that netting to still an improvement in the year-on-year earnings.
And on the Media Finland side, as we talked about the decline in advertising sales being more than offset by a combination of the growth in digital subscription sales and the cost containment, the robust cost management, which includes the impact of the temporary printing plant closure, including particularly the lower depreciation and also the personnel costs there as well.
So this leading to a good start to the year and on track for where we want to go to. If I then move to the result numbers. So again, the result for the period being improved versus this time last year, slowing down from the operating profit improvement, the slightly higher IACs coming from the strategic development and the technology transformation costs across different parts of the operation.
Net financial items at EUR 5 million, so lower interest cost effectively with the interest rate being on average lower now 3.4% versus 4.2% this time last year, offsetting -- more than offsetting the slightly higher or the higher external debt, which got higher towards the end of the quarter with the repayment of the hybrid bond. In terms of cash, free cash flow, relatively stable. So you can see here on the top, there are particular movements.
And so the movements there, working capital, some timing of payments impacting there and also same reason on the taxes. The taxes is obviously tax payments and also some tax receipts. So those 2 things are pretty much offsetting. So basically timing of cash there being the key thing, getting to a relatively stable position overall.
And you can see on the bottom of the slide, the 12-month rolling line being relatively stable there as a consequence. And then here, this shows you very, very clearly the hybrid bond repayment impact. Now as you see going normally, if you look at December to March, we do see the leverage going up as we have the negative cash and the investments, the low sort of costs versus the lower revenues at the beginning of the year.
That still happens here, but is accentuated by the hybrid bond EUR 150 million after 3 years going back and being replaced with senior debt and the cash that we have. That we expect to -- as the cash starts coming in being positive in the second half of the year, that will come right down again below the target and to likely a little bit above the end of last year, but in that sort of ballpark.
And connected back to the acquisition that we just announced the -- in April, so after the first quarter, but in April, we signed a new EUR 70 million bilateral short-term loan to help fund that acquisition. But as I said, is short-term, we expect to repay that as the cash comes in at the back end of the year.
So with that, I invite Rob back on stage for the path forward.
Thank you, Alex. And let me now indeed say a few words around the growth and also in context for the step change in growth this year. So just as a reminder, again, what we are having as key factors for 2026, as you can see here. So that's that growth in the Learning content sales. And as I highlighted earlier, we are really well on track there in all these key markets like Poland, Spain and the Netherlands. It's driven by those curriculum renewals.
It's also driven by more personalized Learning solutions we are bringing to all these markets over time. And then on top of that is the Vicens Vives acquisition. The discontinuation of the Dutch distribution business will happen this year. That's the final step there. It's still roughly in the order of magnitude that we indicated.
And therefore, also on the adjusted operating profit margin, it goes really clearly above 23% coming back to the point of what is now happening here, if you purely look at these indicators, and of course, the acquisition of Vicens Vives drives our expectation more towards the higher end of the guidance. But again, because it's early days, and we expect quarter 3 is so important, we are not changing that at this stage.
On the Media Finland side, we expect and we see also continuing growth in the digital subscriptions. You saw it in quarter 1. We see that continuing to happen in '26 as well. Advertising sales, of course, in the first quarter, not stable, a bit declining. Therefore, extra good to see that the cost containment really resulted in still good profit and profit margins there.
We will continue on that effort. It's always difficult to predict exactly where that will end up. But of course, the efforts that Pia and the team so successfully have done over the years also continue in a year like this, ahead, of course, of real growth that we also expect on the Media side from mid-next year onwards if the gambling markets or when the gambling markets open up.
So all that are the underlying sort of drivers for the growth in 2026, which, of course, is a real step change on the profitability side. And that's reflected in our outlook that we, as I mentioned, kept unchanged for now and of course, ahead of a busy quarter 3. So well-positioned, well on track and exciting year ahead of us with regard to the growth.
So with that, I would like to invite my colleagues back on stage so we can go into Q&A.
Thank you, Rob. Thank you, Alex. And we are now happy to take questions from here at Sanoma House, and we will start with Sanna from Nordea, please.
2. Question Answer
I have a couple of questions on both segments. Starting off with Learning, and you showed us a slide about Vicens Vives, but I would like you to kind of elaborate on how similar that business is to your current offering in Spain?
And where do you see the most synergies going forward and perhaps where it might differ? And what I mean is that where this could kind of complement your offering or add on?
Yes, very good point. So let's start with that last point. We're buying this because they have content that is really complementary to us. That is sometimes in some of the methods. That's also in certain parts of Spain. This is also very strong in Catalonia. So those -- that's where it really complements. The offering as such really aligns well with us. So it's a blended Learning offering.
It's really focused on K-12. So the similarities are in the way the content, the high-quality content, where it adds is both from a regional perspective as well as the type of methods and the position it has. To your point on the synergies, they are really in line with also what we mentioned, for example, in the Capital Markets Day, right?
So think about the printing paper, the logistics side, all those kind of things, real benefits of scale. There are some digital solutions here that, of course, we already have. We don't need to continue with those. The people that work on that might very well be valuable to us for the growth that we are planning, but that's really the focus on getting the synergies on the platforms as well.
And then there are, of course, also the usual synergies when you think about the back office, and we have a sizable operation in Spain. So all that links to that 10% to 20% that I indicated also in the Capital Markets Day.
That's clear. You're moving towards the peak season, I would say, with the curriculum renewals in 2 markets. How do you see the competition at the moment in Learning and its market? Are there perhaps new AI players entering? I think we have heard some rumors about increasing competition in the Dutch market specifically.
Yes. Maybe touch on that. So to your point of do we see now AI players into our market? The answer is no. We do not see it. I think we honestly can say with our Teacher Assistant, Student Assistant, we are really leading the way at the moment in those core markets. It's early days. The main thing in education is then the actual adoption by the teachers.
But for that to happen, in our view, you need high-quality content, you need the trust of the teachers, and you also need the relationships that we have. So it's not just the technology at all. It's really that combination. And I think we are in a really strong position there. And I think from that perspective, yes, there is the usual competitive landscape that we have, and that is good -- that's also good and healthy to have.
And we are, of course, fighting for our market share there as we always would do. And we are confident we will be a winner in those markets. If I look at the Dutch market and indeed, there's been a number of publicity around sort of initiatives there. That's interesting. We really welcome competition.
So from that point of view, we also are looking forward to seeing what they actually come up with content-wise. We believe that we have a really strong offering in the Dutch market with a lot of flexibility that we can also offer to the schools or methods and elements of it. But we first need to see what really comes to market in the coming years before we can really comment on that.
Then moving on to Media Finland. I have noticed that you have had several new initiatives kind of -- you've added New York Times to your Helsingin Sanomat bundle. You have a discount code for audiobooks.
And I think I saw you entering the Sports segment like more heavily again with the Champions League. How are these new launches resonating with customers? And do you think these are the factors driving growth in subscription sales?
Some of it is a bit early, like the Champions League. I think people could not quite have subscribed yet for that, and it's also '27. The feedback has been very positive. You mentioned the New York Times. I think we're very happy with the response from our readers subscribers on that. We have seen a good uptake.
We think it really helps with the value we provide to our subscribers, and that is also then ultimately reflected in a better subscriber base and more retention, et cetera. So we see on all these aspects, we do them because we believe it really adds value for our readers, for our subscribers.
And the Champions League is one of those sport packages. Of course, it's -- Finland is not the biggest on football, but it's an important one as well. And we're very happy that we can add that to our offering going forward.
And if you could discuss sports a little bit more. I think previously or some time ago, you mentioned that profitability in sports might not be that lucrative, and that's why you have perhaps refrain from sports, if I could say that. So has the situation changed since your thinking behind sports?
Yes. We see it as a part of our offering, but only for the right price. And we can't comment on the exact price of this, but we're very happy with the deal that we have managed to close here. We really think this is value-adding for our subscribers, but therefore, also for our shareholders.
And yes, to put it a little bit in perspective, in some markets, of course, Champions League is absolutely massive. In the Finnish context, of course, it's a bit different, but it's still a really good addition to our offering, and we believe creates a lot of value.
And then we hand over to Sami from Danske, please.
Okay. I have many questions as well. Starting from the Media business. We'll take this one by one. We have quite weak top line development in Q1, negative 3% growth. When we look at the components, both subscription sales and advertising look quite weak. Are you expecting this to improve during the year?
Of course, we would like to see that improving. I think the subscription side, we are quite confident that, that overall will show growth, but driven again by what I mentioned, the digital subscriptions and also Ruutu+, things that we just mentioned that we add to create value will all help with that.
Clearly, the more uncertain part is on the advertising side. There, the start of the year was, of course, a decline for the market and also for us. I'm very happy to see how we then do the cost containment as well to maintain and even improve our profitability. Clearly, that's the bit with the least visibility.
If you think about quarter 2, we don't see it going back to growth then. And of course, it will depend on the -- effectively on the economy here in Finland. And we, of course, work with several scenarios, including cost containment to match a few of those. So if it would continue to decline, we are able within reason to adjust our cost base.
Okay. And my second question would be on that cost containment, which was quite impressive in Q1. So how should we think about the rest of the year? I mean, can you keep cost at this level? Because, I mean, if we would combine that with some improvement in the top line, the second half outlook could be quite positive actually.
Yes. I would like to not give the impression that this is easy, right? This is really hard work by Pia and the team. I think doing a great job on it. Clearly, this '26 is also a year before we do see the growth also partly opening of the gambling market and hopefully, the economy picking up a bit. So from our perspective, we have several scenarios where we can do more cost containment and we do it.
But there is also a limit to what we are willing to do so that we keep the business strong. So there's no guarantees as such going forward that we can do it at the level we've done now. But of course, we are very focused on. And if you look at our multiyear track record, then I think the team has done a great job, and I expect them to continue to do a great job. To what level that exactly will be, will depend then also on the top line.
Okay. Then I have a couple of questions regarding the Learning business. Firstly, on Spain, how should we think about phasing of the curriculum renewal? How much will happen this year and how much will be left for next year?
I think it is in line with what we overall have indicated. So these kind of curriculum renewals, funding renewals, they do go over that 2-year period effectively. But there is no indication that that has changed compared to what we have factored into our guidance at the start of the year.
Phasing is always a little bit between the quarters that is difficult to see. And that's different from the Netherlands where really that's a continuous growth, and that's also reflected in the early order growth. Here, some of it could fall more or less into quarter 2, quarter 3. But the growth is firmly still as we also factored into our guidance.
Yes. Then moving on to Poland. You mentioned higher subsidies by the government. When will this kick in? And is that going to be visible in sort of prices for your products?
It is definitely visible in the -- not so much in our pricing as well as in the ability for schools to buy. I mean that's -- so we're very happy that the government -- because this was in the plans. We factored this, of course, also into our growth guidance, but it's one of those elements. It is an important thing to see when it then happens.
So it's not that we then increase our prices, but it is the ability for the schools to really buy the content that they really also need in the Polish market. And maybe one additional comment on that. This is, of course, in the backdrop that Poland on a spend per student is still very much on the lower end, right? So this is a step in the right direction, but we are also advocate that, of course, hopefully will continue because there's still a big gap between [indiscernible] than other markets.
Okay. Then you mentioned some extra sales and marketing spend in Q1 related to curriculum renewals. Can you quantify this? And how will that sort of phase out during the rest of the year?
Yes. So this is kind of a few million. So EUR 2 million to EUR 3 million if you put the 2 together in Q1. So if you think of the sort of profitability graph I showed where we're one up on last year, that contains EUR 2 million to EUR 3 million of extra costs for the ramp-up versus prior year. That sort of ramps up in Q1. So you'll see a little bit more than that in Q2 and then it sort of goes away.
Okay. So a couple of million.
A couple of million in Q1, a bit more in Q2 and then it goes away.
Okay. And then final question regarding the acquisition in Spain. I think you've given kind of like the historical financials for the asset -- but I mean, what's going to be the profit contribution this year? And how will that impact PPA sort of line?
So on that last one, an EV of EUR 40 million. We haven't done the PPA calculation yet. We've got an estimate. We obviously have some time to do that, but it's going to have a relatively small addition on to the PPA, maybe EUR 1 million or so going forward.
In terms of the overall thing, so as you saw on the slide, it's 2025 sales is EUR 29 million. Obviously, we'll not have the full year because we get it from April, so it's a few million less, so say around about EUR 25 million.
It's got the same sort of level -- expecting the same sort of underlying level of EBITDA as -- to contribute there for the year at an operating level. There are some other parts of the business that we talked about that we don't need that we will be sort of looking to not use and discontinue as we go into the end of the year.
And then we have Nikko from SEB, please.
This is Nikko Ruokangas from SEB. I have also a couple of questions. And just starting with Poland, you discussed about confirming that did I understand right that the decision on Learning spending was in line with your expectations or did it even exceed that?
No, it's in line with our expectations, but it is, of course, an important driver of the growth, and it's also an indication of the government continue to support like further investment in education.
Okay. Good. Then going to Media and maybe a bit thinking about a bit from a bit broader perspective on topics we have been already discussing. So thinking about your quite efficient cost control in the past years already and then also actions you are taking regarding, for example, the Champions League rights.
So do you think that those kind of things and how you are currently performing are taking you towards to your Media financial targets or are you kind of internally even possibly exceeding those in the future?
Well, I'm very positive about the growth potential of Media for all the reasons we also mentioned before. I think we need to be realistic that it's currently still against the backdrop of an economic climate that is, of course, challenging, right?
But if you think about all the things we are announcing around indeed the Champions League, indeed what we do with the New York Times, all the things we do to add value for our readers and subscribers really, I think, is ultimately helping with that growth for Media.
It is very important if you think about our growth in '27 that the gambling market, of course, opens up there as well. So that together, we very much are still in that same belief that that will really drive also the good growth in Media in the coming years.
Understand. Then one last for me and maybe in 2 parts. So if you look at the advertising sales, which was challenging in Q1. So how big impact do you think that the Winter Olympic Games this have on you? And then maybe if you can quantify the onetime film distribution sales you highlighted now in Q1.
Yes. I think we're not communicating too detailed on those numbers. This is a really difficult thing to really pinpoint if you think Winter Olympics and some of the other ones because there's always different things going on. I think the underlying message is still one of -- it's a challenged market. Yes, there are some positive negatives in that, but it's really difficult to quantify that. So I would not pin ourselves on a number there.
All right. And then on the film distribution, was it a sizable one or what kind of ballpark are we talking about?
It's -- I mean it's not sizable, sizable. It's EUR 1 million or EUR 2 million, I think, in terms of timing and decisions to kind of -- there's always a bunch of discretionary decisions you can make in any particular quarter, and it's of that sort of magnitude.
And then we have Petri from Inderes, please.
One more left. Can you quantify if there was any impact from the Dutch distribution discontinuation on the figures in Q1?
In Q1, it's very small because the vast majority is indeed Q3. There's a little bit Q2, but it's mainly Q3. So the EUR 40 million we talk about, really vast majority Q3.
And now we have, I think, someone waiting on the telephone line. So I would like to hand over to the operator, please.
[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Pia Rosqvist-Heinsalmi from DNB Carnegie.
It's Pia from DNB Carnegie. I'm sorry if I missed your potential comments on the advertising market and your advertising sales. But yes, your advertising sales declined by 8% in the first quarter, and that was on the back of 11% decline in the last -- or in Q1 last year. So despite this, you keep your view on a broadly stable ad market for Finland this year. So why is this?
Yes. So maybe to comment -- hi Pia, thanks for the question. If you -- the way I currently look at it, of course, the first quarter of the year was more challenged than we would like to have seen. That was clearly a decline. What we are stating is that if you look at the underlying assumptions for our guidance, then that was saying stable, which is plus or minus a few percentage points.
But I mentioned as well, I don't know if you were able to hear that, that, of course, we do think in different scenarios here, we do really work also in cost containment terms to make sure that if things would not be as positive as stable, that we can still also deliver on the profit side. Clearly, there's a limit to that, but that is, of course, our aim. And that's also where the track record of Pia Kalsta and the team has been very strong over the last few years.
All right. And -- regarding Media Finland still, what elements would keep sales stable in 2026, in line with your long-term ambition? I mean, we see still a lot of headwinds from the weaker ad market, less outsourced printing services, I mean, less festivals, if I have understood it correctly.
Yes, there's a few elements there. Clearly, like if trends on the advertising market were to continue as they are now, then that is not stable, right? That would be decline. We do think that there will be an improvement, could be an improvement in the second half of the year, but that still needs to be proven. Just to link it also to the other things I mentioned earlier, we do a lot of things to also grow and make the digital transformation go faster.
Things were mentioned like having a deal with the New York Times, the Champions League, everything to add value for our customers on the subscribing side can, of course, also be a real positive in the overall numbers. But ultimately, for all this to have a positive growth longer term, you would also need to see the economy in Finland picking up.
All right. And still to Nikko's question regarding the film distribution contract you mentioned. So did that contribute to your strong profitability in Media Finland or was it so small that it was not significant?
It's limited. I mean it's part of a raft of kind of decisions made on timing, but it's not a main reason why we have that decent profitability.
All right, that's clear. And if I can continue still with a few questions on Learning. So the acquisition you announced now at the end of April, given that it comes with a lower profitability. And I'm sorry, I think I missed your comments when you alluded to this on Learning. But is there any risk of that this kind of challenges your 23% adjusted EBIT margin target for '26?
So no, we still stand by the above 23% adjusted target. I think the -- there is a margin difference at the moment, but a lot of that is to do with various activities that are not core to what we want to do, and we will be sort of changing relatively quickly. So in doing that, we then move the margin up in the right direction to help and not be a problem. And then as we start integrating and creating some synergies, that also helps going forward.
And maybe specifically, of course, if you look at the timing of the acquisition, it's, of course, towards the middle of the year, which means we are more profitable, and that is also true for Vicens Vives in the second half of the year. So that Pia has actually a positive impact as well, of course, on the -- like part of the year profitability of the acquisition we do here.
All right. And with regards to the part of the business that you possibly divest or end, in terms of sales, how significant is that of the total EUR 29 million you have mentioned?
So it's not so much on the sales side. There are real synergies that we see with the digital solutions. And I would like to be clear, work needs to be done on that to really identify how exactly we're going to do it.
There's some really good people at Vicens Vives working on it. But some of the solutions, clearly, and that's part of our M&A story, of course, are overlapping with what we have. So we will make those changes. We normally take 12 to 18 months to make that happen. But it's more on that side than purely on revenue.
Clear. And my final question, regarding your nonrecurring items in the first quarter, I think most of the nonrecurring items were allocated to -- not to the segments, but to other -- to Group costs. So what is currently -- what are you engaging in? I read that you -- it's for strategic development and technology transformation, but what does this mean in practice?
So part of that is to do with underlying technology kind of -- or underlying back-end technology projects that we're upgrading, which will have an impact not just on one side, but also partly on the other side of the business. That's why we are booking those costs there at the moment. So it is sort of back-end platform improvements in the business.
All right. And I'm just trying to understand why are these recorded as nonrecurring elements?
I think these are transformational changes whereby we already have costs related to those operations in the operating side. These are extra things that we are building, which will then replace at a certain point in time. And as they replace, the other ones will end and this will transfer up into the operating side.
Thank you, Pia. And the chat is quite lively. So we will continue from there. Maybe I start with questions on the Media business. So subscription revenue growth slowed down in Q1 despite potentially price increases that are made. What drove that? And should we expect the momentum to pick up or accelerate further during the year?
Yes. So I think there is no change in the overall change we see in subscription, which is still the driving of digital subscription being the growth driver. Quarter-by-quarter, there can be a bit different also in the mix than on the print, which, of course, is a declining part of it.
But it comes back to the question earlier around how do we see all these new offerings that we are introducing as part of the subscription. That, of course, is part of what we expect will drive further growth as well.
Then further to Media is about the Champions League deal. What should we think about the possible step-up in the broadcasting rights overall from '27 with this included?
Yes. So that's another way of asking what are we paying for it, and we are not disclosing that. We're not allowed to do that. But I think what I can say on it is that we are always looking at the total cost of content creation.
And clearly, when we spend money on this, we also make careful choices on what we do not spend, not that, that is a one-for-one comparison, but it's good to see the total content. We really do believe adding the Champions League rights here as real value creation for our subscribers, but also for our shareholders.
Yes. And earlier, we have also mentioned that we may invest slightly more as a preparation to the gambling market opening, but not significantly. And then maybe final on Media. After the strong Q1 operating earnings, does that give you confidence in a meaningful full year earnings growth?
It certainly gives me confidence that the team is still on a very good track to manage the cost in an extremely good way, right? Whether that will result for the full year in a meaningful increase, the uncertainty around the advertising economy is too big to be able to make that statement. So I can't make that statement. That's also why we were very clear on saying we're very happy that in quarter 1 we've mitigated it. We do everything we can to continue that, but it will depend ultimately on the economic situation.
Thank you. And then if we move into Learning and continue from the competition in the Netherlands, still from the angle that -- with this new low-cost entrant, do you see this to affect the customer conversations, the pricing discussions, et cetera? So maybe that's the first question.
Yes. Yes. So on that part, like we are, of course, really close to our customers, which is the schools and the teachers across the Netherlands. We have a really strong position. That's, of course, going to continue. So we really are in content. We actually also do our own teacher survey.
I think I mentioned that publicly as well, and we see really strong positive feedback on it. As I mentioned before, we take competition very seriously. At the same time, we also need to have something to look at to be able to comment on how we look at the content and pricing and all the rest of it.
That's too early because there is no competitor there yet. In the broader context, we, of course, have been dealing and are dealing with low-cost let's say, competitors in our markets across Europe. This is, in that way, nothing new. Of course, every approach is slightly different, and we will take that seriously.
What about in a few years' time frame, do you see this meaningfully shift the market dynamics?
From our perspective, I think we are in a really good position to if the market ask were to change from where it is now, we are really confident that we can also adapt our own offering and remain very, very relevant and strong in the Dutch market as well.
We've been there for over 130 years. There's absolutely no guarantee of success going forward, but we are very serious about this. We work very closely with the schools and the teachers, and I'm very confident that we will continue to do so successfully.
Yes. Thank you. And then if we continue in Learning, but move to AI. So the question is, is AI changing the competitive dynamics? And are there new entrants or existing competitors expanding capabilities?
So there's a couple of elements to this question, right? So if you look at, let's say, the question on new competition, we do not see pure AI digital players at the moment in our markets stepping in. And we also think that's logical because it's not just about the technology, as we discussed earlier.
It's about the high-quality content. It's about the trust. It's about working very closely with the teachers. And we are in a really good position to do so. That doesn't mean there's no competition on that. Of course, there's other players that are trying to do the same thing, but we are a strong position, and we will continue to try really to lead the way then.
So that's I think our experience over many years in the education market, it's not about the latest technology as much. It's making sure that you work with the teachers and the schools to make it happen at the right time in the right format and also in a way that the schools are comfortable with.
And maybe that partially already answers the follow-up question on this that do you see that AI is ultimately protecting or eroding the advantages of scale players like Sanoma in K-12 Learning?
From my perspective, it really is supporting the need for scale. If you think about what we now deliver with the AI Teacher Assistant and also for the student, being able to roll product out in 7 markets and then really use the content, the high-quality content we have there, I think that scale really matters there.
And to a certain extent, you also see that, and we even see it also in like our M&A, the kind of players that are looking to become part of that scale is, of course, increasing. And we are very happy if you take Vicens Vives as an example, that we can add it because it's adding to a scale where you really can develop products once and then roll them out across the different markets.
And then maybe final on that topic, is there a way to estimate the AI's impact on, say, 3-year revenues or earnings?
Well, I think anybody who at this stage would say that they can -- it's difficult to take that seriously. There's so much happening. There's so much still changing. I'm very excited about it. I think that's on personalized Learning, the opportunities are really, really big.
But it needs to be at the right pace also for the schools, for the teachers, and we are very committed of doing that. And the technology is part of it, but it's also the high-quality content, and it's also making sure that it's in the way done that the teachers and the schools are confident in rolling that out.
Yes. And then one more on Learning, which is about the competitive landscape and especially in a year with significant curriculum growth expected in Spain and Poland, how do you describe the competitive environment in these countries now going into the season?
So there's no real change there. It's -- similar question to the point of do we see really new entrants? No, we don't. That means that there is competition. There is strong competition like there always is. We are also in a very good position. And this is a fair kind of competitive landscape, right? So no major changes there, but the teams are working very, very hard to secure our market position.
And are you already seeing any changes in, say, win rates or pricing or any kind of early indications is the question?
It's too early. It's too early. But it is like to the point that I tried to make earlier, we are really in a really good position in those key markets. That's absolutely the case.
Yes. Thank you. There are no further questions in the chat. If there are no further questions from the room, then I think that we can conclude the presentation and the Q&A. And as a reminder, we will report our half year results on the 29th of July, so ahead of the high season in Learning. So -- and of course, after this webcast, we will be available at Investor Relations for any further questions. We thank you for your participation and wish you a nice afternoon. Thank you.
Sanoma — Shareholder/Analyst Call - Sanoma Oyj
1. Management Discussion
[Interpreted] Esteemed shareholders, a warm welcome to you to Sanoma Corporation's 2026 Annual General Meeting to Sanomatalo Mediator. As for this meeting, it's possible to follow the meeting via webcast on Sanoma's website. At the beginning of the meeting, I would like to introduce you Sanoma's Board of Directors. So as for 2025, the Annual General Meeting decided to elect to the Board of Directors as Vice Chair, Klaus Cawén; and members, Julian Drinkall, Jannica Fagerholm, Rolf Grisebach, Anna Herlin, Sebastian Langenskiöld, Timo Lappalainen and Eugenie van Wiechen.
Eugenie van Wiechen unfortunately, cannot attend the meeting today, but she is there following this meeting via webcast. I am Pekka Ala-Pietilae, and I'm the Chair of the Board of Directors. And according to the Articles of Association, the Board is elected for 1 year at the time. And shareholders, Nomination Board has been preparing for the General meeting a proposal as for the number of members and composition and remuneration of the Board members. We'll deal this later on items 11 and 12 of the agenda.
As for the current members of the Board, Anna Herlin and yours truly, Pekka Ala-Pietilae, we have announced that we are no longer available to be elected to the Board of Directors. Anna Herlin has been acting since 2021 in the Board. So Anna, in your own way, you have a way of thinking and to look at the world and you have been thinking new and very important points and questions to the common thinking of the Board and to our decision-making. A warm welcome, Anna, to you for this multi-annual commitment and the valuable input that you've had in order to develop this company. Thank you.
And the Nomination Board proposes as new members to the Board, we shall elect Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko. And in addition to that, the Shareholders' Nomination Board proposes as Chair of the Board, Timo Lappalainen; and for Vice Chair, Klaus Cawén. Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko will be presenting herself later during the meeting. And as for the Nomination Board, they are validated that as for the individual candidates in addition to their competence and also the entire Board as a whole that is proposed has from the company's perspective, diverse knowledge and experience and that the composition of the Board to fulfills also other covenants go to listed company requirements.
And as for the Chair of HR Committee, Julian Drinkall, he will later present to the meeting remuneration report that includes also the remuneration main point for the managing or the CEO of the company. Sanoma is the company and repine learning and media. We have a daily impact on lives of millions of people. This company is a leading operator in Europe in basic education and secondary education in print and digital learning solutions. Here in Finland, we are a leading digital multichannel media company.
And 2025. During the year, we have according to the strategy. We have been progressing as for digitalization of our services and products. And we have continued with both of our businesses, the development of capabilities therein and also reinforced our financial position and our cash flow. And because of this, we have good to prodecute to use the growth opportunities opened on the market.
As for the strong financial position, because of that, we have diverse opportunities to develop and also expand operations of the company and also progress on our growth path. And as for the objectives of the company, the annual 1-digit adjusted EBITDA growth for 2026 and 2030. Learning business area, our objective is to accelerate the growth of business through -- there are reforms of curricula, in particular in Spain and in Poland. There's AI-based more in digital learning development cases and also strategic acquisitions.
Media Finland, we will continue and accelerate our digital transformation and the drivers that are AI and advertising, major growth because of gambling market that shall open during 2027. As for AI, AI-based technologies usage opens many opportunities for Sanoma Corporation to build the future competitiveness of the company. Use of AI today is already an integral part of the way we work. So both of our business areas, and we have a focus on the responsible use of AI. So it's certain determinant certain by human beings. And in our learning business, we will improve the AI-based way of supporting teachers and also supporting individual learning of pupils. In the media sector, we have expanded or have implemented more projects on content development where AI is being used in the editorial work to, of course, be insured by our experts.
As for sustainability, that is part of our values, and it is in our way of working. We are committed to environment, social aspects and good corporate governance that gives long-term value, sustainable growth and transparency for investors. ESG valuations, there are multiple say that Sanoma is the leading company in sustainable of its own business sector and in leadership and in reporting as well. The objective of Sanoma Corporation is to have dividend policy, as said, distribute ever-growing dividend that is between 40% and 60% of the annual free cash flow. And as for the dividend proposal, so as we were drafting the proposal, we take into account the general macroeconomic environment, Sanoma's capital structure, and also capital structure objectives set and also Sanoma's business plans and investment needs and furthermore, previous year's cash flows and all estimates of things that will have future cash flows affecting the capital structure.
And the Board proposes an increasing EUR 0.42 dividend per share for 2025. So previous year, this dividend was EUR 0.39. So EUR 0.42. That corresponds to about 43% of cash flow. On top of that, the Board also proposes that the dividend shall be paid in 3 equal installments of EUR 0.14 because there is seasonality in the cash flow of the company.
Esteemed shareholders, I would like on behalf of the corporation, thank you all for your support and your confidence during the past year. I would like to also thank employees of Sanoma Corporation. Thank you, management for your valuable input and contribution and commitment to the development of the company. And also thank you for good results during 2025. On top of that, as I leave the position as Chair of the Board after 12 fruitful and eventful years, I would like to personally thank the management with whom I had a chance to work, Susan Duinhoven, Rob Kolkman, Pia Kalsta. And thank you for excellent and trust-based collaboration.
I want to also thank the current and former colleagues in the Board of Directors. Thank you for great teamwork. Thank you for the ability to decide things together even when things are tough and difficult. And you esteemed shareholders as well. Thank you for confidence throughout this whole period of time. I all wish you a good and interesting Annual General Meeting. And next, we shall elect Chair to this meeting. And I propose Attorney at law Riikka Rannikko to be elected.
[Interpreted] Good morning, esteemed Sanoma Corporation shareholders and members and participants. I'm Riikka Rannikko, and I will be the Chair of this Annual General Meeting. Thank you for confidence, and I will call as Secretary of the meeting, Erica Palmer Lampiel. And the CEO, Rob Kolkman, is already sitting next to me. He is ready to give his review, and he's ready to answer your questions. But before we would reach that point, there are some procedural matters in relation to the meeting. So welcome also online, those who are following this via webcast. So welcome to the meeting to listen and follow what's happening here in the venue. You also have the chat functionality available, so you can ask questions. These are in official questions, but you can ask questions during the meeting and the review of the CEO. The language of the meeting is finished, but you can address the meeting in English or in Swedish, [Foreign Language] and questions are welcome in the English language. As for the CEO's review and also Audit and HR Committee presentations will be held in English. So we have some days interpretation for you. We have receivers as well. If you don't have a headset yet, we would like to have one, please raise your hand now, so it will be brought to you.
As for participants and those who address the floor will not be filmed as such, but we will record this for the use of the company and the CEO's review, and there's a recording available after this general meeting on the company's website. Whenever asking for the floor, that is most welcome as for the points of the agenda. And if ever you ask for the floor, please first wait for the microphone to be brought to you and tell your own name. And if you're representing another shareholder, please indicate that shareholder's name and also your voting slip number. And after that, you can ask your question.
And now it's a good time to make sure that your mobile phones are muted to silent mode. And if you leave the meeting, please in the midst of the meeting, please leave the voting slips to meeting officials. If ever there is an evacuation of the premises, hopefully not, we will have a professional guidance. So there will be announcement made for the exits and the exits are over there and thereby the archiosque as well. And hopefully, we can continue this meeting in this venue without any disturbance.
And as for the advanced voting, that opportunity has been presented and that opportunity has been used to a large extent, and I will not read out loud the advanced votes cast during the meeting, but we shall take note of them due to the agenda items and the summary of the advanced votes will be attached to the minutes of the meeting. And as for these resolutions that were the subject to advanced voting, they are considered to be unchanged during this meeting. Even if there should be a vote, I will give you instructions separately on that, and we have the agenda. You have been given the agenda. It's also available on the screens right now, and we will follow that agenda throughout the meeting unless I announce otherwise.
Now we will reach item #3. This is as vision, the elect -- 2 persons to scrutinize the minutes who, at the same time, if needed, will supervise the counting of votes as well. And in the preparatory works, there's a proposal made already. [ Laura Sarkowski ] and [indiscernible] be available for this task. Are you here? Are you still available? I see one person hand up, that is Laura Sarkowski. Yes, if this is suitable for all of you or are there any other proposals? No other proposals. In that case, Laura Sarkowski and [indiscernible] are elected as person to scrutinize the minutes and also if needed, they will supervise the counting of votes as well.
Then item #4. This is recording the legality of the meeting. And the notice of the meeting was published on Wednesday, 25th of March, stock exchange release and also announcement of the meeting was in Helsinki and also some newspaper on Saturday, 28th of March and registrations by Wednesday, 29th of April, and nominee registered the date was a bit later. And the meeting materials have been available according to the law stipulated by the law. So therefore, this is legally convened and has a quorum. Unless you have any other views on that, I confirm that and we will append notice to the minutes.
Then Item 5. This is recording the attendance at the meeting and the adoption of list of votes. And those who have right to participate are the shareholders who have owned shareholders on the record date, shares of the company at the company who have registered to the meeting and have voted in advance or you are here present with a votings of today. And we have here a list of votes. At the beginning of the meeting, the situation, it's very hard moment because I know there are so many numbers coming up right now, but 117,994,279 shares and votes represented at the beginning of the meeting, and that is 72.6% of Sanoma all shares and votes. And here presented 178 shareholders and total prevotes of 327 shareholders. We shall confirm this list at the beginning of the meeting. This is how we start, and we'll make an update to the list if needed during the meeting.
Innovatix has prepared the list for us, and they've announced that there have not been any problems related to the advanced voting or ensuring the correctness of participants. And on top of you, shareholders, partially also here. So all members of the Board with the exception of one person as Chair of the Board shall said. And then we have here also management and employees of the company and technical staff as well and as said, online webcast as well. So this is a composition and including the principal auditor actually as well, we will continue the meeting. I think this is suitable for all, and therefore, we'll list the list of votes and will be attached to the minutes [indiscernible].
And now Item #6. This is presentation of financial statements, Board of Directors' report and auditor's report and assurance report and the sustainable report and they presented for 2025. And the said documents have been all presented in the financial statements materials from 31st of March onwards, and they're also available here at the meeting venue for you. And right now, it is good time to call the CEO, Rob Kaukman, to take his seat or the approach, and he will give his view on operations of summer 2025 next. And he will also call the account stuff during the presentation.
Mr. Rob Kolkman will now review the events and performance of the financial year 2025. Mr. Kolkman, please. The floor is yours.
Thank you very much, and good morning, everybody. It is my great pleasure to present the overview of 2025 to you today. And as mentioned, I will be doing that together with Pia Kalsta, our CEO of the Media business. But before we go into the presentation, I would like to start with expressing my deep appreciation and big thank you to our outgoing Chair, Mr. Pekka Ala-Pietilae. Pekka has played a key role over more than a decade in the transformation of Sanoma into the company it is today, resilient, focused and with a really exciting growth future ahead of us. So Pekka, on behalf of all of us, thank you for your leadership, your partnership and your great role modeling for all of us. Thank you.
Let me now start the overview. And to start it off, good to highlight again the 2 clear businesses we have within Sanoma with clear strategies that we continue to execute on. But they really play an important role in society across Europe. Our leading European K12 learning business where we serve, support 25 million students and their teachers on a day-to-day basis really in the classroom with our high-quality learning materials, with the methods, but also increasingly with very personalized learning solutions. And I'll touch on that a little bit, and you already saw when you entered here today, the latest developments on that as well towards our teachers too. So that's the first part.
And then, of course, the second part here in Finland, very much the #1 digital cross-media company where we pretty much reach all Finns on a weekly basis with our newspaper, with TV, radio and the event. And a lot of that is actually happening in this fantastic building here where the content is created. We also have what I consider a very unique sustainability profile. We really try to have that impact on the lives of millions of people on a daily basis. And I'll touch on that a little bit later. If you think about what we have been focusing on as a management team from a more operational business point of view, then we have been really trying to deliver on what we promised to you as shareholders, which was really is highlighted here, which is improving the profitability, both in Learning and Media, improving the cash flow and as a result of that, significantly deleveraging the balance sheet, which enables also that future growth that we talk about today as well. So I'm pleased to see where we have made those developments very successfully, and we will continue to focus on that also in the years ahead.
If you look at it a bit more in numbers, then 2025 was just above EUR 1.3 billion in revenue with 57% coming from our learning business. And then on the profit side, where we saw growth again, we see that 76% is coming from Learning. So we've really made that transition and continue to make that transition as an organization. Let me say a few words around sustainability because that's not a sort of term just that we use. It really is what we try to do on a day-to-day basis. A lot of passion across Sanoma in trying to do the right thing here. And that's both in Learning as well as in Media. And that links to that positive impact we try to have on society.
Just to give you an example of that, if you think on the learning business in 2025, we really focused on enhancing accessibility of our learning content. And that really ensures that we try to have as many students and children as possible that they can benefit from more personalized learning solutions that they can also use all that fantastic content we develop for them across Europe for those 25 million students. And we also launched what's called a learning right accessibility guidelines for organization to really improve on that further going forward as well.
Within Media, and I think we can all agree on that, it is very, very important if we think about children to also support media literacy, particularly of young people. And in 2025, one of the things we did was an initiative called Newsweek here in Finland, where we work really together with schools to help the children to recognize journalism, to recognize quality content and also to distinguish from other content that they might come across and to navigate information in a responsible way. That progress that we are making, I think, is also reflected in the recognition we get in what you can see here on the right-hand side, the awards. And that's not a goal in itself, but I think it's really a result of the focus we put on this. And one to call out was our status on the CDP Climate A list, where we're actually only 1 of 11 Finnish companies to reach that status. And in our view, really reflects our commitment to transitioning towards a low-carbon economy, but also to make that impact in a sustainable way.
Let me now zoom in a bit more on Learning and Media on the results. On the Learning side, we really saw that continuation of growth in our learning content business, which 2025 was our last year where we saw, particularly in our bigger markets, Poland and Spain, the lower end of the cycle. And I'll touch later on a bit on the growth path ahead because those 2 markets for the coming years are going to really show strong growth. But even without that, we also saw in other markets, really good growth on the learning content business, and we expect that very much to continue.
Something else I would like to highlight here is that in Poland, we do really see also very strong demand from parents, from students directly into our solutions. And to give you one figure on that, we now have 1 million subscribers directly with parents who use our content and use content that they then can support their own children in the day-to-day learning activities.
And the last thing to mention here as well, we have continued with stepping out of this low-value distribution market in the Netherlands and 2026 will be the last year of moving out of that. So within that and ahead of very strong growth in the years to come, very pleased to see that we improved further on the operating profit in Learning and also on the margin as a result of that.
Let me now zoom in on Media a bit more specifically. There, the trend very much continues that we have seen for years. We're working very hard, Pia and the team to do that transformation -- digital transformation successfully. And -- if you look at it from results, then we do see continued growth in our subscriptions. That's Ruutu+, but that's also our digital news media subscriptions. So that's very good to see. Obviously, we do that in a context where the economy also here in Finland is, as I called it this morning with the quarter 1 results, is still very much volatile. So that is also reflected in our numbers if you look at the advertising sales in particular. And I'm very pleased to see how the team continues to work very hard to also work on the cost and improve those on a continuous basis. And that is reflected, as you can see here as well in the improvement we then have on our margin and our profit. So that's around the media side, and Pia will bring that to life a little bit more in a minute if you think about what have we done specifically across our media business here.
Let me say a few words on the deleveraging of the balance sheet. That has been a key focus, as I mentioned, and we have continued to improve that significantly. And that's important. It's important, of course, if you think about it from the ability to pay our dividends, but also for the growth. You saw one element of growth last week when we actually announced a further acquisition in Learning in the Spanish market with Vicens Vives. And we are very pleased about that because we truly believe that creates a lot of value for all our stakeholders and especially also for you as shareholders because we really benefit from the scale in a market where we already have that kind of strong position. And we can do that because of the focus also on cash and the deleveraging, and we intend to continue to do that going forward as well.
So if you link it to the free cash flow, that continued to improve. Obviously, as mentioned, a couple of points there. Yes, there are elements on the working capital that we continue to improve on really focusing on that. Also some lower financing costs, obviously, the higher earnings and then partly offset with some higher taxes. So really, that's the mix that you see there on the free cash flow, and it remains a key focus clearly going forward as well.
One thing to highlight, we had a Capital Markets Day at the end of last year, where we also updated our calculation of the free cash flow to better reflect what really is cash. That means we have the lease liabilities now included. That's no change in how the Board, as was just explained, looks at the calculation of the dividend, but it is good to realize when you see us use the percentages. And that's actually reflected here where you see what already was presented by the Chair, the proposed dividend of EUR 0.42 that is in the new definition, 53% of our free cash flow. And as mentioned, the proposal is in 3 equal installments.
Let me now touch on a topic that we spend a lot of time on across our organization, and that is how do we use AI in a responsible way. And I'm very, very pleased with how that is progressing in our organization. I think it's very exciting. Overall, there's a lot of growth opportunities for us as an organization, both in Learning and Media if we do this well. But the thing I would really like to highlight is that we are very focused in doing that in a responsible way with real human oversight. That doesn't mean we can't make mistakes on that, but we have to learn quickly, and we also need to make sure that in all these areas, we continue to be the leader when it comes down to the use of AI in our fields.
What that specifically means, and you saw an example here already today when you walked in, we really try to make the learning experience for both the teachers and the students more and more personalized. So the AI teacher assistant that you saw at the entrance, and if you haven't seen it, please do have a look later, really goes to that because it tries to make the life of a teacher as efficient as possible, help with generating exercises, help with generating personal lesson plans. And that's only the beginning. There's a lot more in that area to come. And we do that built on our trusted high-quality content. So a lot more to come there, but that's the kind of thing where in education, you can really make a difference with more and more personalized learning solutions. And of course, we can do that at scale across Europe with the scale we have created over the last years.
On the Media side, there's a lot going on. I always advise people to also follow our journalists on LinkedIn and other platforms if you have it because there you really see firsthand the new developments. And you saw here also at the entrance, the Watchdog example that we use in the journalistic side. And it's very exciting because it really can help with smarter, more intuitive and more personalized products as well for all of you here in the room, but of course, across Finland, too. And that really continues to be a key focus point. And again, a lot more to come there, and you will see that firsthand if you follow us in the Media.
Then on productivity. I think that's an area where we already see in the day-to-day work, and I gave today with the quarter 1 results, examples again of that as well. We really do see that our day-to-day work is enhanced with the use of AI. More efficient, more efficient content creation, really things that would cost a lot of time before in learning for something like translating content goes now up to 80%, 90% faster. So it really is a key enabler for ultimately better solutions that we can provide to our teacher students and to our customers here in Finland. So there's a lot more to come there. And again, like everybody, we are learning, but we are trying to learn fast and also to embed new solutions all the time. But as I said at the start, always in a responsible way and with human oversight in all areas.
So that's an overview, I think, of a key topic and happy to take any questions on that later as well. But let's now first hear from Pia Kalsta around the year within media. Pia, please.
Thank you, Rob. [Interpreted] Thank you. A very good morning to you, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure to me to be here today. In Media Finland, we have succeeded in the digital transition in an excellent manner, even in the challenging environment of the past years. And I'm looking ahead with enthusiasm. We have an excellent position to utilize the AI and the gambling market opening will bring new growth to the advertising. And before we look at the these details, let's take a look at the year 2025 in Media.
[Presentation]
Let's then take a closer look at the kind of company Sanoma Media Finland is today. We have a unique position in Finland. The brand portfolio reaches 96% of all Finns on a weekly basis. And digitally, we already reached 89%. As far as I understand, there is no stronger position with any media company in Finland or globally. And our customer relations are also exceptionally strong. Our clients come straight into our digital services. And that means that we're not dependent on the traffic on Google or in the social media, which is the case for, unfortunately, many media companies globally. And 2/3 of our turnover comes from journalism, 1/3 comes from entertainment. And when we look at it from the other way around, over half of the net sales comes from consumer, from subscription revenues and a bit that have come from companies, the advertisement revenues. And Rob went through some net sales figures. We had net sales of EUR 581 million. And even in this financial situation, we managed to improve our profitability to 8.2%, which shows our ability to grow digitally while taking care of our profitability.
I'm often being asked at what stage of the digital transition are you? Or when will you be ready with the digital transformation? And my answer to that is that the digital transformation has been going on for over 2 decades, and it's going to go on even longer. And now we have the AI accelerating it. And when we look at the past 10 years only, our digital reach was on a high level already a decade ago, 70%. And now it's risen in 10 years to 89%. The biggest changes, however, have taken place in our business models. Looking at subscriptions, digital-only subscriptions, we had about 8% a decade ago. And now the share of digital subscriptions is over 50%. And we also get hybrid subscriptions on top of that, where people have both print and digital content in their subscriptions.
And during these 10 years also, operations with TV has changed. It's become digitalized. And in the digital production, the focus is more and more on consumer subscriptions, but this development is going on now being driven by the AI. And when we look ahead, our strategic focus is very clear. The basis is the continuous digital growth, both for marketing and the consumers. And this is a very persistent long-term development. We want to develop our content as well as how we offer them and commercialize them. We also develop our print products, our TV channels, radio channels sale that our customers would get their money's worth as well as their times worth, so to speak. And I dare to say that our digital competence is very strong, and it has also accelerated the introduction of AI. We utilize AI, both in the development of our products and services as well as in improving our profitability. And I'm very proud of how fast and systematically we have grasped the opportunities that the AI can offer. The AI is a tool for us. People are always responsible for content and decisions.
We are also currently preparing ourselves for the gambling market opening. For us, it means a growth in the advertising net sales as of July 27 and a high reach and an extensive portfolio makes us an attractive partner for the gambling operators. We're also going to reinforce our offering in content ahead of this opening of the market. And in the beginning, the new license holders will be building their brands and preparing for the opening of this market also means that we are defining policies so that the customer experience would be good both for consumers as well as other advertising customers. And we are going to, for example, restrict the volume on gaming advertising.
But let's take a closer look at the AI. So we consider it as a significant opportunity to improve both productivity and customer value. And the way we approach the AI in the media business is we have 2 ways of approaching. We talk about top-down and bottom-up approaches. And when I talk about top-down, that means that we're looking at the big processes of our company, and we are automizing them. At the same time, every employee can develop their own work with the help of AI, and that is the bottom-up development. Already, we have developed our products, for example, by personalizing them and giving new versions of MLS, many have noticed you can have the news in audio form and in a compact form. But we are now seeing only the early stages. And the whole development will improve our profitability, but it's also going to give us more time and resources to develop our products so that we can offer broader, deeper and better services in the future. And I do believe that we're also going to offer new content products and business models that the AI can enable for us.
I also want to believe that the AI will finally make our work more meaningful when routine tasks will be automated. We can focus on the -- what is at the core of our work, what is important. For example, we journalists will have more time to be there out in the field, discuss with people, analyze content. And it might actually be a good time to look at a video of what is currently going on the media.
[Foreign Language]
[Interpreted] Thank you to Erica Johanna and the other journalists for their comments. And I'd like to remind you that at the entrance, you can take a look at our AI tool that we have in use for finding news stories, and it's called Watchdog. So I hope you have time to take a look at what AI can mean in practice.
Now I'm going to sum up what future will look like from Media Finland perspective. In Finland, we have our brand portfolio and strong customer relations. We have a strong position, and we intend to continue the growth with [indiscernible] Sanoma and Sanoma, these national big brands. And we have already proven our ability to adjust to the changes of the market to grow digitally and to come up with profitable business even in challenging environments. The AI will allow us to develop our operations in a way that will make our products and services even more attractive to customers while improving profitability. In addition, the opening of the gambling market will bring us the desired growth in the advertising market, and it's going to reinforce our business profitability in the years to come. So we have a strong basis and inspiring outlook on 2030. Thank you.
Thank you, Pia. Let me now spend a few words on looking ahead and our growth path to 2030, which, from our perspective, is very exciting and shows a real step change in growth. And we actually presented that in 2025 at the end of the year in our Capital Markets Day. And the key element there is reflected here on the slide, which is really a path towards high single-digit earnings profit growth across the whole of Sanoma. And that's driven by a few key aspects in this.
On the learning side, we really see strong growth ahead of us, both from a curriculum point of view, the cycles that we see in our key markets, really starting also in 2026, but also shaping the K-12 market with the things that we touched on today and particularly, of course, the personalized learning solutions that we now, with our scale, can roll out across Europe, across those 25 million students. And of course, we also continue to focus on further increasing that reach with our M&A strategy there, too. But that is on top of the strong organic growth.
On the media side, as Pia and I both highlighted today, of course, the starting point is to continue with that successful digital transformation. So increasing the subscriptions in a digital way, Ruutu+, but also on the new side. At the same time, we do that, of course, currently in still a challenging economic backdrop, and we deal with that, and I'm very pleased to see that we can also do that from the right cost containment as well. But the real excitement going forward is also that we see there strong growth ahead of us, partly also driven by this opening up of the gambling market that Pia already highlighted. And that we will approach in a very considerate way. But of course, it is a real increase in advertising revenue we expect there.
We will do that against the backdrop on continuing to deliver what we promised to you around focusing on the profitability, focusing on the cash flow and therefore, also a continuous focus on a strong balance sheet that enables us to not only pay the dividends, but also to continue with the growth that we've highlighted today.
This morning, we mentioned and published the quarter 1 results, which is, of course, also always a seasonally small revenue quarter, but it very much shows that we are on track. What we also continue there is our outlook for the year, because we feel we're in a very strong and good position to deliver. At the same time, of course, it is quarter 3 on the learning side that is really the important quarter. So we're well positioned. We have all the things in place to deliver on that, including currently strong sales in preparation of the curriculum changes, particularly in Poland and Spain, but also in the Netherlands. And that's why we reconfirmed the outlook for the year. And of course, acquisitions like we did in Spain will really further enhance that also in '26, but also going forward.
So before I open it up for questions, I hand back to the Chair, really, the focus for us will remain in the coming years on enabling the positive impact on the lives of millions of people every day across the markets we operate in, both on learning and on the media side, really leading the way in the change and the transformation in both parts of our business and focusing on those strong business fundamentals.
So with that said, happy to hand back to the Chair.
Thank you very much, Rob Kolkman. Thank you both. And now it is time. So yes, but it's my time also for questions. [Operator Instructions] We have one question, and we'll start with that, that was sent in advance and then we move to the call. So what do you think media business, how will it develop? And what kind of changes, either investments or reductions are planned in the coming years? It's a good moment to check with the interpretation is working.
think it's important to realize we are very excited about the growth opportunity we see in Media in the coming years. And that's really also a step change that we see there. Yes, that is partly driven by the gambling opening, but it's also that continued successful digital transformation that we see happening that increasingly will support stronger growth there, too. We do that against a backdrop that certainly at the moment feels very volatile and it is. And therefore, you can also expect us to continue to be really focused on what we can do on the cost containment. And there, it's always difficult to look too far ahead, but you can see that over the last years, of course, we have really built a track record on also adjusting our cost base depending on the realities of the economic situation. But the real growth prospect is there also on the media side, and that's exciting to see.
Thank you, -- then questions from the meeting menu, please. I see a hand up over there. So that if shareholder B, please wait for the microphone #1. Thank you, Chair. I'm Go B voting to S 163. And quite simply, I'm a simple man, and I like simple numbers as well. So the group financial statements for 2024 was EUR 40 million profit. So the group financial statements for 2025 now have EUR 20 million profit. Now the Board of Directors is proposing a dividend of EUR 68 million. Nokia was making an art out of this. So the financial years have been embellished.
And last year, the financial statements good sort of a copy of that work. So my question to the Chair of the Board of Directors. You talk a lot about growth, but I can't see growth. And your dividend proposal doesn't that eat up our future. So Chairman, the Board, please will reply the questions of the [indiscernible].
[Interpreted] Thank you for your question. So if I put this into a broader perspective now, as we remember, we have had discussions in Finland about Finnish companies' growth ability and will to grow, courage to set targets for growth, and that is the background. And is the dividend policy the right one? And if we use money through dividends. So if you think of cash flow and profit return instead of using that money for growth investments. Well, embellishment, I will not comment that. It's not embellishment. It is not the case for Nokia. I can't talk about that. But for Sanoma Corporation, we do have a dividend policy in place where we give free cash flow. Of course, you deduct certain things from it first. But then you distribute 40% to 60%.
And this year, the number is 53%. It's calculated with the new method. And this -- as you take this into account. And then on the other hand, you see the structure of our balance sheet. It's a solid one. And then what is our way of investing into growth. So I would say we're very confident here. We realize that we have all the opportunities to implement, get the growth that both Rob and [indiscernible] have been talking about here. And at the same time, we are paying out dividend, which is between 40% and 60%. And yet in the backdrop, there is a strong cash flow and the background also holds the ability to balance out these 2 things. So that shareholders' perspective, it means that the entire outcome, so the dividend for you, but in particularly value creation through growth, it is additional value.
They're both well served, and they are well taken into account. And in this respect, there's a discussion with the Board of Directors about this. It is a serious discussion because it is an important question. But the Board is very unanimous here. And this is also a way for us to be satisfied. And we are very calm that we are able to get growth with this way as the management and the company has been taking things forward, and that has enabled these 2 things to be in good balance. But thank you for your question. It is a very relevant question indeed.
Thank you. And the dividend proposal indeed will be later on the agenda. So that was perhaps also a business question. But any further questions to the CEO, I see shareholders under a microphone on the other side. There's the microphone. Go ahead, please.
Thank you, Chair. My value number is 132. My question to the CEO. This relates to the balance sheet of the company. You said on the screen that the company has hybrid loan that's calculated to equity. So my question is, how large of a loan is that? Who has given that loan to you? And if you change that into shares, so how much does that dilute the ownership of current shareholders?
Yes. So an important question. Thank you for that. That loan was EUR 150 million, and we actually have paid that off earlier this year. And also, therefore, now, if you look at the quarter 1 results that we presented today, it is now replaced partly with our good cash flow and partly, of course, it has now been replaced with senior debt. So we have paid that off. And from now onwards, you won't see that anymore in our shareholder calculation.
Thank you for that. Any other questions? I see in the way back there. A microphone will be brought to you. Go ahead, please.
Chair. My name is [indiscernible] and voting number is 56. Thank you for these clear presentations. My question relates to media business area and also, in particular, print media. So I will give some background first. The Finnish economic environment has been lately descripted very nicely, so to say. It's like a flegmatic teenager who will not take any responsibility, is not growing and does not know what to do. So-called good times. Helsinki newspaper had a number of announcements that was an indicator, very visible one about activity level of economy in Finland. There are other parameters as well such as the truckloads or parameter related taxes.
And they all showed this very good purchasing power here in Finland back in time. And also demand related to exports. Now [indiscernible]. Readers have every day an excellent coverage of the [indiscernible] work. But as for the eyes of readers, you don't see these insights related to announcement, publicity, advertising. I'm sure you have advertising digital content, but print readers do not see that advertising. But the print newspaper has a market-driven supplements that is a distribution channel for supplements. And if you would say advertising and marketing relate that, you would then have prices set for that?
I would say that your cash flow would be at a totally different level and also creative content creators, I mean, in advertising could shine and show their skills. And that would say that you have income from advertising and that would make reasonable subscription prices for the readers. My question is, how -- what is the reader's view to these marketing content or supplements that imitate editorial work? Can you take away credibility from you? Can they deteriorate Helsinki Sanoma's brand? And I think Pia will be the person to answer my question.
2. Question Answer
Thank you for this question. You have made correct observations that the digital transformation is also visible in advertising being spread to a higher number of channels. But luckily, in the Helsinki Sanoma, we still have advertising. and the level of advertising reflects the financial trends, as you commented on. And it's true, we have advertising supplements inside of the printed Helsinki Sanoma. And for its part, it supports the funding as other advertising. And so far, we haven't got feedback as to people getting confused about which is editorial journalistic work and what is advertising. And we welcome any feedback because using these supplements is handy to put together, and it also allows us to be able to carry the newspapers to your homes for a longer time.
Thank you. You had some excellent figures of speech there in Finnish, greetings to the interpreters. -- there. Any other questions here? Yes, microphone 3. Go ahead.
It's #62. A question to Pia. You talk about the AI a great deal, and you had a fine set of images from 2025. And there was one image that caught my attention. I believe it was created by the AI. There was a picture of Trump after having been shot, and that already took place in 2024. So maybe that was a bit of a slip. And you talked about the print media being developed. And as a reader of Helsinki Sanoma and the print media, I've been very much annoyed by incorrect -- not spelling, but the division of words breaking down the words. So maybe that's an indication of using the AI for that. And then we have an article in [indiscernible] where Helsinki Sanomat is well represented.
Thank you very much for being so alert about the video. The AI is not creating these videos for us and the footage, the images are genuine that we have there. And what was included in the video, probably the story about the shooting of Trump continued into the year 2025. But maybe the latter part of your question would be for [indiscernible], our Editor in Chief in [indiscernible].
Now I couldn't see where the person was who asked the question. Thank you for this question. [indiscernible] was my favorite article in when I was a child, and I don't want to make any jokes about that, but that particular column has good value. And Helsinki Sanoma also always has to correct its mistakes and some mistakes we've made where we've used the language in not an ideal way, might end up in this column in [indiscernible] these things happen. But I'm going to answer to your question about [indiscernible] and the use of AI for that. When we have the layout of the print newspaper, we use AI to some extent, showing us better versions of images and text on the page of the newspaper, but we have actual people creating the newspaper every day. And the hiffnation errors have to do with our system that we use that has some problems with the Finnish hiffnation. But I can't promise that we can get rid of those problems immediately, but we are doing some work to delete that.
Thank you. Any other questions in the back? I wait for microphone #2, please. My name is Ari and the ballot trip number is 288. A question about the future of the print media. I'm an old-fashioned person, as I'm sure many others here are, and I appreciate proper paper newspaper. And what about the mailing services and the cost of that? How long will you be able to print out the newspaper and also to distribute it at home? And when will you have to move over totally to a digital newspaper?
We are looking at ourselves in great detail. We foresee for the foreseeable future that print will remain a key part of our offering to our readers. And therefore, we're also making sure that we can safeguard the distribution of that as well. And those conversations are, of course, ongoing. And I'm very confident that, that can also be done in the best possible way. Of course, the usage is changing over time, as we've also highlighted to more digital. But really, the focus is also to make sure that we can continue to serve on the print side as well. So definitely a key focus for us.
And there is a short continuing question. Thank you. You mentioned this UV and Akanoid column in S, but there are also corrections column in Sanomat where you need to correct some quite substantial errors actually. And you get those corrections in the printed media afterwards. But how about in the digital version, is it so that you might actually be faced with the corrected version later on?
Thank you. Yes, it's true that once we observe a mistake in the digital version, we correct it immediately. And the same -- there is also a note that there was a correction made into that. So there, it is also transparent that the original story actually had an error. And as to the printed newspaper, sometimes these corrections column is longer than the editor chief would like, but in our environment, we have many operators who would not correct their errors in this digital transact I think it has some value in these times even if it causes some uncomfortable feelings to us, we would hope to be more careful, but we think it is also important to show these mistakes. Thank you. More questions. in the middle.
My name is Ann Lil. I represent the personnel Fund, 133 is about number. 2 years ago, a shareholder in this same event asked why Sanoma is not divided into 2 as we've seen that the business areas don't really have any synergies and their growth outlook is different and their profitability was different. At that time, I believe that the Chairman of the Board responded that they have agreed between the large shareholders that for 2 years, we won't get back to this and 2 years now have passed. So I would like to ask the Chairman of the Board if you've gone back to this issue and what you've discussed on it.
The Chairman of the Board will respond.
As you said 2 years ago, this question was asked, and I responded that we will get back to it, and we have got back to it thoroughly. It is the Board's clear opinion that we have 2 strategically strong business units, both of which have very promising growth and profit path as the CEO, Rob Kokmann explained today. And when we look at things, on one hand, we do have some clear synergies on the group level. They might not be substantial, but we have no dissynergies because they are being led as their individual units. And there are many things that support this entity, making sure that it makes more sense to keep these 2 units together in one company. So we have discussed it. We have taken decisions on this. And for the time being, this is not a relevant question, and we are going to continue with this company in this form.
Thank you. Any other questions in the back? Go ahead, please.
Thank you. I'm voting number is 27 I am actually for 3 [indiscernible] newspaper subscriber mail. So it's print digital versions for all of them. So that [indiscernible] and Helsatud, these ones. Should the company attract more people subscribers like me, say [indiscernible] should be subscribing Helsi Sanomat, give them a fair discount because the content and the editorial work and other content, there's quite plenty of it every day available.
Thank you for that question. Of course, we like to have as many subscribers as we can, and we are really also trying to tailor the offering as well as we can. And you can see that happening day-to-day in our market. And we really value, of course, also the subscribers very much who use the wide range that you just described. So definitely, that is very important to us.
Any further questions? You have a second question. Go ahead, please. Thank you, Chair.
Actually, it's not a question. It's a comment. This morning, the quarterly report showed to me that hybrid loan has been paid back in March indeed. And if part of the [indiscernible] is at 8% fixed return, I would say that for us shareholders, you should have way back in time, give us a priority to subscribe to that loan. But now with hindsight, it feels that there was a small insider circle who was able to put their hands into this cham instead of us smaller shareholders. Luckily, that loan was immediately being paid back, and they did not continue with the loan. Thank you. It's a comment.
Thank you for that comment. Are there any other questions or any other requests for the floor? I don't see any. So in that case, I want to thank you for this. I will get to CEO [indiscernible] to take his seat, but we're still at item # 6 of the agenda. And if you have any further questions, so after a short while, I will allow you the opportunity to ask them. That's next, in order to go through all materials related financial statements, it's time to hear our responsible auditor and also assurance report. So [indiscernible].
Thank you, Chair. Esteemed shareholders, I am Dinaokonemi. I represent PricewaterhouseCoopers, who has been known for Sanomo Corporation's auditor since 2017. And for me, this is the second year as the responsible auditor. And next, I will briefly describe to you 2025 audit. As for the audit we conducted covered parent company and group financial statements, over 50 experts in Finland and abroad in this audit. And the type of the audit have been all substantial group company subsidiaries, and we have covered maturity of group assets and liabilities.
And the key audit matters this year have been valuation for the intangible assets, their valuation and then the learning content related valuation of intangible assets and also revenue recognition. On top of that for the parent company, [indiscernible] has been valuation of the interest of group companies of receivables from group companies. And for all these key audit matter, the equal point is that they contain a lot of consideration by the management, and they're substantial in the amount. And after the audit we carried out, we have no remarks to make. So briefly, the opinion we have made.
In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements give a true and fair view of the group's financial position, financial performance and cash flows in accordance with the IFRS accounting standards. On top of that, I would like to say about other statements. We support that devices should be adopted and the proposal by the Board as use of profit is in compliance with the law. And we also support the members of the Board and the CEO can be discharged from liability. And that was related to the auditor's report.
And next is the assurance report on the sustainable statement. We have carried out in corporation, the Chapter 7 Accounting Act assurance report on the sustainable statement and the level required by the law and the market practice. And the opinion is quite lengthy. So therefore, I'll just say a summary that based on the work, there's nothing that makes us believe that this company does not comply with respect the regulations and laws and standards given out. So therefore, the opinion is that it has been a standard form clean report that you can find entirely on Page 2020 of the annual report. Thank you.
Thank you, Tina for this. Are there any questions related to audit report or the assurance report on the sustainability statement? I don't see any questions. So thank you, Tina, for me. Now this is the last moment for you. If you have any questions related to CEO's review and also making sure there's nothing on the chat. There's nothing on the chat. In that case, we are ready to conclude the discussion. So thank you for your excellent questions. And also thank you all for those who replied to these questions.
I will now close Item 6 of the agenda, and we will now move to item #7, and this is the adoption of the financial statements, which have heard the main points related to financial statements and the auditor's report. They were favorable confirmation adoption of it. So are there any requests for the floor? Or are they ready to adopt the financial statements?
In that case, we adopt the financial statements and the items for 2025 as proposed.
And next item is #8, and we have already touched upon this. This is the resolution of the use of property shown on the balance sheet and the payment of dividend. And the Board of Directors have made a proposal. You find that proposal on the annual report and the main points can be found shortly on the screen. So Chair of the Board in the opening words already went through the main points. So the dividend proposal is EUR 0.42 per share to be paid in 3 equal installments, so EUR 14 per installment, the first one to be paid right after this general meeting. Record date is the 11th of May, payment date 19th of May, and second installment in September and proposed to be record date 15th of September and payment date 22nd and the third one in November. And the dates are the 3rd of November and the 10th of November. And the proposal includes the authorization, if needed for the Board to specify the further dates if it will be related to any changes in the states.
As for this dividend proposal, are there any questions related to this or anybody asking for the floor? I see shareholder value asking for the floor. Go ahead, please.
Thank you, Chair. I lost the vote related to dividend, but I would like to still make a note to the record of the minutes of the meeting. My opinion is that I do not approve that you pay out almost triple amount of the profit of this year as dividend for last year. Thank you.
I want to make sure, are you against this proposal? Or it's just a note to the minutes, your opinion?
Noting my opinion is sufficient because I don't think there's any difference in practice.
Thank you for that. Are there any other requests for the floor? If not, in that case, we adopt the proposal as for dividend.
Next item is 9. This is resolution on the discharge of members of the Board and the President CEO from liability. And this concerns all individuals who have been to the calendar year 2025 being either members of the Board of Directors or as the CEO. So for the entire year, we have [indiscernible] Klaus Cawén, Julian Drinkall, Rolf Grisebach, and [indiscernible]. And we also have [indiscernible] until 29th of April 2025 and [indiscernible] Timo Lappalainen starting from 29th of April 2025. That was the Board. And then the CEO President for the entire year has been Rob Kolkman.
And are there any requests for the floor in relation to this item?
In that case, we adopt discharge from liability, the Board and the President and CEO for 2025.
Item 10. This is consideration of the remuneration report for the governing bodies. And this remuneration report is based on '23 remuneration policy that was confirmed over there. And we now have a proposal that was published on the 31st of March in relation to the report. And before we will actually handle the item, we have the HR Committee Chair, Julian Drinkall, who will take the floor to present to us the main points of the remuneration report. Committee, Mr. Julian Drinkall will now take the stage and go through the key elements of the remuneration report. Julian Drinkall, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Chair. Dear Sanoma shareholders, good morning. My name is Julian Drinkall, and I'm the Chair of the HR Committee. In this role, I'd like to present to you with Sanoma's remuneration report for 2025. And in particular, I'll focus on the paid and earned remuneration of the President and CEO, Rob Kolkman. So the total compensation paid to the CEO amounted to EUR 1.2 million in 2025. The base salary and the additional pension payment represented 60% of that total remuneration. The variable performance-based remuneration accounted for the remaining 40%. It consisted of short-term incentives based on 2024 performance, and they were paid in cash in April 2025. No long-term share-based incentives were delivered in 2025 as the payout of the PSP 2022 to '24 was 0 based on below target performance in 2022.
Next, I would like to introduce the remuneration earned by the CEO based on Sanoma's financial performance and sustainability performance in 2025. The remuneration earned by the executive management team members for 2025 is linked to very similar performance outcomes. Regarding the short-term remuneration, the CEO's performance outcome for the STI 2025 was 111%, the target is 100% and the maximum outcome is 150%. The earned STI award has been paid to Rob in 2025 -- in April 2025 -- '26, apologies. Sanoma's remuneration has followed the remuneration principles defined in the remuneration policy that was approved at the AGM in 2023.
And next year, we will present that remuneration policy again to this AGM in 2027. Last year, the Board decided to change the performance period of the share-based long-term incentives to measure performance over 3 years with separately set annual targets, while the KPIs remained unchanged. This approach is seen to support Sanoma's long-term value creation and align the interest of the shareholders and the management, while it is also largely in line with the market practice and also proxy advisers' recommendations.
Finally, I would like to go through the long-term -- the long-term share-based incentives earned by the CEO in 2025. Based on the 2025 financial performance, the weighted outcome of 2025 to 2027 PSP was 130%, and the CEO earned 51,125 gross shares from the first performance period of the 2025 to 2027 PSP. The earned shares are paid to him after taxes in spring 2028. The plan continues with separately set targets for 2026 and 2027, after which the full payout will be determined. As of today, CEO, Rob Kolkman, holds 144,694 Sanoma shares and has fulfilled the minimum requirement of 75,000 shares since March 2024. On behalf of the HR Committee, I'd like to warmly thank all of Sanoma's employees and management for their commitment and extremely hard work during 2025. I would also like to thank you, our shareholders, for your continued support.
Thank you, Mr. Drinkall. So this proposal, any questions related to this or any request for the floor? I see one question coming up. Shareholder Sara, please.
My question relates to what you said on one of the slides. You said climate objectives, 150%. What are these climate targets or objectives that are being set there and given to the CEO.
I think those are detailed in the remuneration.
Yes, could you please just briefly explain to us what are these targets? -- because you're the person sitting on top of this topic.
There are a variety of ESG targets.
Related to the climate, please.
I would need to confer exactly what the climate figures are because I think they differ a little bit for different parts of the business.
Yes, I'm sure these targets have been established in the sustainability report. So as for the detailed also as for targets set for the CEO here, unfortunately, cannot be set out right here and now. But Sanoma Corporation is one of the companies that do set out reporting and objectives, and we have parameters indicators for that.
Are there any further questions in relation to this? And I'm sure after this meeting, if shareholders start to come up, you could approach CFO of the company, so we can indeed get you that information. In that case, I think we are ready to adopt. And this is an advisory decision according to Limited Liabilities Companies Act. So we now adopt the remuneration report as proposed.
We then move on to Item 11. As the Chairman of the Board noted, we have an entity of 3 issues that have to do with the proposals in the -- made by the Nomination Committee. But the Chairman, Johann Makinen of the Nomination Committee due to a compelling impediment is absent. And therefore, I invite the outgoing Chair of the Board of Directors and an expert member of the Nomination Committee [indiscernible] to present the proposals of the Shareholders' Nomination Committee regarding the remuneration of the Board of Directors, the number of members of the Board of Directors and the election of the Chair Vice Chair and members of the Board of Directors. We shall hear this presentation and then proceed to this proposal point by point.
Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, at the express request of [indiscernible] and Sanoma's Shareholders Nomination Committee, I present the proposals of the Nomination Committee to Sanoma's Annual General Meeting. The members of the Nomination Committee have been Johan Makinen, a representative of the Jazerco Foundation, who's also acted as the Chair of the Nomination Board as well as Sanoma's second, third and fourth largest shareholders, [indiscernible]. The Nomination Committee submitted its proposal on the composition and remuneration of the Board of Directors on the 13th of March 2026. And now this shareholders' Nomination Board's proposal on the composition of the Board is visible on the screen.
Sanoma's Board of Directors must have sufficiently diverse competencies that meet the needs expressed in the company's strategy at any given time, experience that complements each other and knowledge of the company's industries. As a collective, the Board must have sufficient competence and to learning and media business, management of a publicly listed limited liability company on strategy work and mergers and acquisitions, technology and sustainability. In addition, on top of the candidate's expertise, experience and competence, the most important nomination criteria are the personal qualities as well as high moral standards. The proposed composition and the proposed members of the Board of Directors meet these requirements as well as other legal requirements concerning the composition of the Board of Directors.
The proposed composition also fulfills the Finnish Corporate Governance Code and the Finnish Companies Act's recommendation on Board diversity as well as the target set by Sanoma's Board of Directors in 2023 of 40% representation of the underrepresented gender on the Board of Directors in 2026. The term of office of all members of the Board of Directors will expire at the end of the Annual General Meeting 2027. In addition, all candidates for the Board of Directors have announced their availability for the position.
And next, a proposal on the remuneration. So you can now see the Shareholders' Nomination Board's proposal on the remuneration. The Shareholders' Nomination Board commissioned a separate report on the remuneration of the Board of Directors in 2025. According to this report, the relative competitiveness of the remuneration of Sanoma's Board of Directors has weakened as the annual base remuneration of the Board of Directors has not changed since 2020 annual meeting. The remuneration of the Board of Directors is an integral part of the good governance of the company. A competitive and appropriate level of remuneration supports the Board's ability to attract and retain competent independent and experienced members.
In recent years, the responsibilities and workload of Board work have increased as a result of, among other things, the increasing complexity of the regulatory environment, strategic changes and the increased internationalization of the company's operations. The aim of the development of remuneration is to ensure that the remuneration of the Board of Directors is proportionate to the demands of the Board work, the size of the company and the peer group and to support the company's long-term success and the interests of its shareholders. The Shareholders' Nomination Board considers that the proposal for the remuneration of the Board of Directors meets the requirements set by Sanoma's Board work and supports the commitment of a good Board of Directors that is in the best interest of the shareholders. So this was the statement by the remuneration of Shareholders' Nomination Board.
Thank you. We will now take the proposal of Item 11 first. So decision on the remuneration of the Board of members and the members of the Board of Directors. So it has EUR 3,500 for the Chair of the Shareholders' Nomination Board. And then 2,500 for any meeting, they are present and 1,500 where they participate. Any requests for the floor? Shareholder [indiscernible].
Just out of interest, I would like to ask how much the remuneration increases in this new proposal for the Board members compared to the previous year.
So what is the increase? Just a minute, we will get the response. The increase is from 72,000 to 80,000 for the members. For the Chairperson, if I recall, -- it was 144,000 the year before, and it's now 160,000. I can't hear you. So roughly 10%. That's right, 10% and the last increase was 6 years ago.
Thank you. Are there any other questions over there, shareholder [indiscernible].
Thank you, Madam Chair. And my balance sheet was 132, if I recall. How do you argue for this remuneration for the members of the Shareholders' Nomination Board -- because it is a fully voluntary activity. You can participate or not participate. Each shareholder can decide for themselves. Many companies pay no fee whatsoever to the members of the Shareholders' Nomination Board. So this is the rules of the Shareholders' Nomination Board with -- there's a charter, and it's true that these practices vary. And this practice has been in place in Sanoma's Shareholders' Nomination Board from the very beginning to get fees for the members. I don't know if you have any more comments on this, but this has been the practice in Sanoma since the beginning.
Are there any other questions? Hence, we confirm the remuneration according to the proposal. At Item 12, we have the resolution on the number of the members of the Board. So we want to move from 9 members to 8 members. So any questions on this?
Hence, we adopt the number of the members of the Board to be 8. Then we have the election of the members, the Chair and the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors. So we want to reelect 7 members who you can see on the screen. And then we will have Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko to present herself. She is now a candidate to the Board. o
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders. My name is Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko. It is a great pleasure and honor to me to be a candidate for the Board of Directors for Sanoma. I have a Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration, and I'm acting as the CEO of Marimekko, and I have been in this position since 2015, and I have been employed by the company already since 2005. In addition to my career in Marimekko since last year, I've been acting as a member of Kesko's Board. And before that, I was 6 years in Finnair's Board of Directors.
Ever since I was young, I've had a genuine interest and passion for learning and self-development. This was certainly partly inspired by the fact that both of my grandmothers were teachers. My interest in this theme is also reflected in the fact that I have served as a member of the Alto University Board and also as a member of the Foundation Board of the Swiss Business School IMD. Sustainability is also close to my heart. And therefore, I've also been a member of the Climate Leadership Coalition for several years. Sanoma speaks to me about the opportunity to make a positive impact on the lives of millions of people every day with its innovative or innovative learning products and services and multichannel and dynamic media offering. Education plays an important role in unlocking each child's own unique potential. And thus, I feel personally very meaningful the fact that in the Sanoma, there is an opportunity to be involved in supporting the development of future generations. In today's world of uncertain and intense geopolitics and trade relations, reliable and independent media and ethical journalism have a very important role in the realization of democracy and its preservation. And this mission, too, is important to me personally.
At Sanoma, meaningful purpose of its business comes together with its social impact, a strategy for sustainable and profitable growth and a strong commitment to sustainable development. I believe that with my experience and expertise, I can bring to Sanoma new perspectives. For example, on growth strategy work, the development of strong brands, customer centricity, sustainability transformation and industry transformation as drivers that strengthen competitiveness. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Now any questions regarding the election of the members of the Board of Directors, shareholder value? Thank you, Chair. I welcome..
You mentioned the reasons why I am a shareholder of Sanoma. In my previous comment, I asked the Chairman of the Board whether we are eating up our future with this dividend payout. I'm not opposing to the election of other members of the Board either, but I wonder why the Board has members who haven't dared to buy a single share of Sanoma. Thank you.
Thank you for this comment. Any other questions regarding the members of the Board. In this connection, I should mentioned that according to the proposal, Timo Lappalainen would be the Chairman and Klaus Cawén, the Vice Chair and that the term of office would expire at the end of the next Annual General Meeting following this election.
If there are no further questions, we are adopting the election of the members, the Chairman and the Vice Chairman of the Board according to the proposal.
Before we move on to Item 14, I will now give the floor Timo Lappalainen, and he is now the new Chairman of the Board just elected.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Shareholders of Sanoma and their representatives, I thank you for the confidence you have shown on behalf of the newly elected Board. I myself have the honor and responsibility to be elected as the Chair of the Board of Directors of Sanoma. Sanoma is a company with a strong history and a clear direction. It is built on high-quality learning and responsible independent media. Both our Learning and Media businesses have a clear strategic growth path and ambitious financial targets. The company has a strong financial position that enables an investment in growth and the payout of growing dividend.
As the Chair of the Board of Directors, I see it as my task above all to ensure that this strategic line will continue in a consistent manner and that the company's management will receive expert and constructive support for their work from the Board of Directors. [indiscernible] acted as a member of the Board for 5 years, as Pekka Ala-Pietilae mentioned, in 2021 through 2026 and her input in developing the company as well as in the Board work has been significant. I want to thank you very warmly for the many years of your work for the benefit of the company.
At the same time, this is a good moment to stop and thank my predecessor, Pekka Ala-Pietilae. Pekka has been a member of Sanoma's Board of Directors since 2014 and Chair of the Board since 2016. And his impact on the company has been significant. During his tenure, Sanoma has reinvented itself and clarified its strategic focus by growing its learning business. Thus, Sanoma has risen to its current position as a leading learning company in Europe and strengthened its position as Finland's leading multichannel media company. Pekka's way of leading the Board of Directors that we, as the members of the Board have enjoyed and followed his way has been analytical and it has looked to the future while respected the company's values, and it has left a strong foundation on which to build further.
I would like to express my warm thanks to Pekka on behalf of the entire Board of Directors and the Shareholders' Nomination Board. At the same time, I propose that the minutes of the Annual General Meeting include thanks to the company's long-term Chair of the Board of Directors for his significant contribution to the development of the company. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I would also like to thank Sanoma's management and personnel across Europe. The company's success is created in everyday cooperation, the expertise of teachers, suppliers, developers, salespeople and many other professionals. It is the duty of the Board to support you in this work in the best possible way. Thank you for your trust. We will all continue to develop Sanoma together.
Thank you, [indiscernible], we will note it in the minutes then. At Item 14, we will move on to a different topic. In 2 items, we are going to discuss the auditor and sustainability auditor, and we will hear Mr. Rolf Grisebach, the Chair of the Audit Committee, to present Board proposals regarding remuneration and election of auditor and the sustainability auditor. After that, we shall continue with Item 14.
Thank you, Madam Chair. Dear Sanoma shareholders my name is Rolf Grisebach, and I have been the Chair of the Audit Committee since the AGM 2024. I would like to present to you the proposal of the Board for the election and remuneration of the company's auditor and the sustainability auditor as prepared by the Audit Committee. First, regarding the remuneration of both auditors, the Board proposes that it will be paid in accordance with the invoice as approved by the company, which is in line with previous year's practice.
For 2025, the fees paid to the auditors for audit services were stable at EUR 1.3 million. Fees paid for other non-audit services decreased to EUR 300,000 and include, for example, fees related to the limited assurance of the sustainability statement 2025. Regarding the selection of the auditor and the sustainability auditor, the Board proposes that PricewaterhouseCoopers will act both as company's auditor and sustainability auditor. According to PwC, Tina Pokonini will continue as the lead auditor with principal responsibility and as a responsible sustainability auditor for Sanoma. PwC has acted as the group's auditor since the AGM of 2017. and Tina Pokonini as the lead since 2024. Thank you very much for your attention and approval.
Thank you to Rolf Grisebach. We will first go through Item 14. So the proposal on the remuneration of the auditor and the sustainability auditor. You can see it on the screen. Any questions, comments on this proposal? So therefore, we adopt this proposal.
We move on to Item 15, election of the auditor and sustainability auditor. So PwC would continue on -- in both of these tasks and PwC has also informed that Tina Pukonimi would be the principal auditor. And no questions on this. So we adopt his election of auditor and sustainability auditor.
Then we have 2 items of authorizations, very traditional ones in Sanoma. First, we take up Item 16, authorizing the Board of Directors to decide on the repurchase of the company's own shares. The content and size is the same as last year. So a maximum of 16 million of the company's own shares corresponding to approximately 9.8% of all shares of the company. The own shares shall be repurchased with funds from the company's unrestricted shareholders' equity and the use will be funding for various arrangements as part of the incentive scheme. And the authorization would be valid until the end of June 2027, and it terminates the corresponding authorization given to the Board of Directors by the Annual General Meeting last year. And the authorization of last year was used so that altogether, almost 700,000 own shares were acquired, which is about 0.4% of all the shares of the company in 2 separate occasions in May and then this year, February, March.
Any requests for the floor on this? Hence, we will adopt the authorization of the Board of Directors to decide on the repurchase of the company's own shares as proposed and at Item 17, authorizing the Board to decide on issuance of shares, option rights and other special rights entitling to shares.
Also, this authorization has the same content as the authorization approved last year and the same size, no more than 60 million new shares, again, corresponding to 9.8% of all shares of the company, including a maximum of 21 million treasury shares held by the company in one or several installments. However, so that the number of new shares cannot exceed 16 million shares. And this is because this is kind of corresponding part for the previous authorization say you can either grant option rights or other special rights. And then a directed issue could be done until the end of June 2027.
This would terminate the previous authorization. And in the last year's authorization, Sanoma has released about 370,000 own shares, about 0.2%, and it was part of the incentive scheme. Any requests for the floor on this authorization.
Hence, we also adopt this authorization of issuance of shares. We are then at Item 80. We have discussed all the items on the agenda. And all shareholders present have supported these decisions and the minutes of this meeting will be available for shareholders on the company website and will be available no later than the 21st of May in 2 weeks' time. And I note that it is 11:55. This meeting is closed. Thank you to all shareholders and a very nice spring to everyone. Congratulations to the new Board, and thank you to the members of the Board who are stepping down. This meeting is closed.
Sanoma — Q4 2025 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Sanoma's Full Year 2025 Results Presentation. My name is Kaisa Uurasmaa. I'm heading Investor Relations and Sustainability at Sanoma. In '25, our adjusted operating profit and free cash flow improved, and this was driven by learning. And today, President and CEO, Rob Kolkman; and CFO, Alex Green, will tell you more about our results and the outlook for '26.
After the presentation, we will host a Q&A session. We will first take questions from here at Sanoma House. Please use the microphone. Then we will hand over to the telephone line and then you can also use the chat function in the webcast platform. After the presentation, the recording of the whole event will be available on our website.
With this, I would like to hand it over to Rob, please.
Thank you, Kaisa, and good morning, everyone. It's my pleasure to present the full year results 2025 to you today. And indeed, the results show improvement in the adjusted operating profit and free cash flow. And that's now really ahead, of course, of the step change we expect for 2026. So let me, as per usual, zoom in on the total numbers first and then go both Learning and Media more specifically. And today, I will come back after Alex's presentation to actually go more specifically into 2026 and our expectations there.
If you look at the total numbers, then a lot of this was, of course, already very visible in the results in the quarter 3 as quarter 3 is such a big quarter for us. So trends very firmly are the same, which is around the net sales having that impact due to the discontinuation of the low-value learning material distribution contracts and the lower advertising sales in line with what we saw already. Really good growth on the adjusted operating profit going to EUR 188 million compared to EUR 180 million the year before. And that also indicates higher margins in both Learning and Media Finland.
Free cash flow continues to improve, another 10% improvement year-on-year, and that's driven by the elements you see here. So besides the higher earnings, also some lower financing costs and working capital movements. And Alex will zoom in on that a little bit more in a minute. As a result of this, we see really good continuation of the deleveraging of the balance sheet that now improved to 1.8, which is, of course, a good position to be in, ahead of the repayment of the hybrid bond that we also reconfirmed today.
As a result of these numbers, the Board is proposing a dividend of EUR 0.42, which is up EUR 0.03 or 8% year-on-year to be paid in the usual 3 equal installments. As mentioned, I will come back to the outlook, but this is now really indicating the step change that we see for the coming years with regard to growth and profitability. So that means for 2026, net sales expected to be between EUR 1.29 billion and EUR 1.34 billion, and our adjusted operating profit taking that step up to between EUR 205 million and EUR 225 million, up from EUR 188 million this year. I'll touch back on that at the end of the presentation.
I would also like to come back to the slide that I showed at the Capital Markets Day, which is, of course, now updated for the full year impact of our results, which shows the successful delivery on our key focus areas, which, as a reminder, was, of course, to do with improving our profitability, both in Learning and in Media, improving the free cash flow and as a result of that, the deleveraging of the balance sheet.
And you see that here, Learning in the last couple of years coming from 18.7% to 20.4%. And this year, as we've indicated, going clearly above 23%. And Media Finland in what still is a tough economic environment, of course, you see the improvements there from 6.7% to 8.8%. And then the cash flow, as indicated as well, really strongly already growing ahead of the growth that we expect in the EBIT going forward. So from EUR 105 million a couple of years ago to EUR 160 million, and as mentioned, a significant deleveraging of the balance sheet as a result of that.
Let me now zoom in on Learning first and then Media. So on Learning, very much, of course, the trends continued for the full year. Quarter 4 is a small quarter, as you all are aware. Good to highlight there that the growth in learning content sales was indeed partially offsetting the lower distribution that we indicated. And within that, if I zoom in a little bit more, then you see really good growth in the Netherlands, about 9% growth on the learning content sales, and that's driven by new product launches and also improving market position.
If you look at Poland, yes, Poland and Spain were both at the lower end of the cycle. But in Poland, we're very pleased to see that there was a strong growth in our digital platform sales. And as we call that, supported by B2C demand, which effectively means also selling directly to the parents and students with services and content. And then the impact of this discontinuation of the distribution contracts was about EUR 25 million.
If you then look at the profit side for Learning, that improved for the full year, both in absolute terms as well as in margin to the 20.4% and EUR 152 million. Reasons for the improvements are, of course, partly top line driven the higher share of learning content sales, which is higher margin compared to the low-value distribution and also slightly more digital sales mix, very much continuation of what you already saw in quarter 3.
Also good to see that we have Program Solar successfully completed, as indicated as well in the Capital Markets Day, which already helped us a bit in these numbers, but of course, really sets us up for significant operating leverage in the years to come, starting in 2026 when our volumes go up as well. And in '25, we also saw lower paper and printing costs in Learning. And that, of course, is mostly volume driven.
Let me now zoom in on Media. And in Media, there, we, of course, see the longer-term trend of the digital transformation continuing, meaning the move to digital, away from print. And if you then look at it, our digital subscriptions partially offset the lower advertising sales in the year itself. If you look at the subscription sales, really good growth there, another year of good growth with Ruutu+ and the digital new subscriptions also grew. So very much confirming this path of digital transformation.
On the advertising side, there, you do see for the market as a whole and also for us that, that is still a tough market environment and also the advertising sales declined for the full year, driven by lower TV and news print advertising. As a reminder, the majority of that in our case was also to do with the ending of that reselling contract for a third party, which, relatively speaking, for advertising was lower margin. And then on the other sales, there is some decline on the external printing services.
If you then see how that is reflected in the profit, we are very pleased to see that the profit continues to improve in margin terms, so 8.8% compared to 8.2% a year ago, and that's driven partly by growth in digital subscriptions, also lower paper printing distribution costs here, which is largely volume, some lower TV programming costs and then, of course, adversely to that, the impact of the advertising sales. But overall, Pia and the team have done another year of really good cost containment and cost focus that also supports this improvement in margin.
All this results to the Board proposing the dividend that I already mentioned of EUR 0.42 per share, EUR 0.03 up or 8% up year-on-year, about EUR 68 million in cash. In the old terminology, that is a 43% payout. If you include the lease payments, which is our new way of looking at the cash flow to better reflect our real cash, it's 53%, and Alex will touch on that in a minute a bit more as well. And as mentioned, the usual 3 equal installments is proposed. And here, you see the specific dates of that.
Let me now hand over to Alex to talk through the financials, and then I will come back to give more color to the 2026 expectations. Alex?
Thank you, Rob, and good to be here with you again today. Let's start the financials with -- as usual, with the Q4 earnings position, as you see here, pretty stable year-on-year at minus 27%, but in each business, there is some offset. So on the Learning side coming through from the sales, we see an increase coming from the growing platform -- digital platform sales in Poland, offsetting the lower sales in Spain, which is mainly phasing because they came more in Q3 rather than Q4.
And in the Media Finland business, the weaker advertising sales we saw in Q4 with the market down is offset by the continued growth in the digital subscription sales, particularly Ruutu+ and also lower costs, both on the paper side and also in TV programming costs.
If I move to the financial table and focus on the right-hand side, you can see there the increase in adjusted operating profit, which leads to the adjusted EPS increase you see towards the bottom. IACs at a high level of EUR 106 million for 2025, substantially because of the Manu plant closure and also the noncash impairment of the Iddink learning materials intangible asset coming in there, the remainder being relating to a number of strategic development projects.
If you look further down, the net financial items, a dramatic drop, so EUR 24 million this year versus EUR 33 million last year with both lower debt levels and also lower average interest rates, leading to the result for the period there of EUR 20 million.
Moving on to the free cash flow. And as usual at the year-end, we show you the walk at the top right here, free cash flow improving to EUR 160 million from EUR 145 million last year. And you can see the impact coming from the performance, the lower interest rates in the financial items, I just mentioned, continuous improvement in working capital here, offsetting the increase in tax, which has got some phasing elements in terms of between the years.
And on the bottom right, we show also the new definition of free cash flow that we're going to use starting from 2026. So the 2025 number was EUR 129 million versus the EUR 160 million, so roughly EUR 30 million of lease payments, lease liabilities in there. You can see there on the trend, it's a fairly stable amount as the line follows. And so we will, going forward, use that definition as announced at the Capital Markets Day.
Moving to the net debt and the leverage. You can see there our new target of 2.5 that we announced before, and we are at 1.8 coming down from the sort of midyear peak. So well below that target with net debt coming down to EUR 486 million. We also announced that we would no longer consider the equity ratio a target, so we wouldn't highlight it here, although we'll continue to report it. But for the period now, it's at 47.1%, so increasing versus last year and well within our sort of discontinuing target range.
Looking at the debt maturity profile. So as we announced we were going to -- we signed a syndicated term loan in December 2025 of EUR 220 million. That has a slightly more than 3-year period. So it actually matures in March 2029 with extension options. We drew down half of it in December to help prepay the term loan that we took out for the Pearson acquisition. We will withdraw the -- or draw down the remaining amount in March to refinance as part of the refinancing of the hybrid bond, which we announced that we confirmed this morning that we were going to repay at the reset date in March 2026.
So nothing else maturing in 2026, although the revolving credit facility is maturing in 2027, but our plan is to actually start the refinancing that later this year.
And finally, I'm very proud to stand here and confirm that we were awarded CDP Climate A List status recently in December. So only learning company there, one of only 11 Finnish companies. So hugely proud to stand here on behalf of the team and say that. And all our other ESG ratings have also improved or remained on a very good level. So this is a key part of who we are, and we're very pleased with this.
With that, I'll hand back to Rob to talk more about the future.
Thank you, Alex. And indeed, let's now go to more specifics around 2026, but also in the broader context of what we presented at the Capital Markets Day. So just as a reminder, our growth powered by learning is really focused on high single-digit organic earnings growth happening in the period up to 2030. And 2026 is really a step change towards that, a real significant improvement in profitability.
The drivers in the coming period are really what is reflected here. And just to touch on that, on the organic side, it is about the learning growth. It's about the sales growing at mid-single digit, the adjusted operating profit having high single-digit growth. And as a reminder, of course, the Dutch distribution is that last year in '26, where we still see a top line impact, but not a bottom line impact on that.
On the Media side, there are 2 things driving it. On the one hand, it's that continued digital transformation that we have been doing successfully over the last few years, and we are focused on continuing to do that, of course, going forward. And that results in the top line being more or less stable and the adjusted operating profit to grow with low single digit. However, organically on top of that, we, of course, see the opening of the gambling market as a real growth driver for advertising across Finland and therefore, also for us as a company.
And that together leads on the organic side for an earnings growth that is high single digit for the group overall. And we will do all that with a firm focus on keeping a solid balance sheet, which is reflected in the targets around the net debt over adjusted EBITDA staying below the 2.5. And, of course, dividend remains, as you've now seen for the last few years as well and going forward as well, remains a very important part of our investment story.
Let me now zoom in a little bit more on what's now driving that growth. And there are 2 key organic parts, which is that capturing the curriculum renewal cycle and the shaping our market. So as you saw in the Capital Markets Day, we see a lot of growth in our operating markets in the years to come, supported by curriculum renewals, more funding into the market, new products that we can bring there. On top of that, we're very excited to see how we can shape K12 across Europe towards more personalized learning, embracing AI, but firmly with the human oversight in mind and as a basis, our high-quality content and knowledge about the different European education markets.
So all that is that organic part towards high single-digit growth. On top of that, so on top of the organic targets, we, of course, continue to focus on M&A. We are focused on creating value-creating M&A, increasing the scale of how we operate. And that can either be as a reminder, because we add businesses to markets where we're already active in K12, so really benefiting from the scale in that market or adding new countries in K12 to it. So that's on top of the organic growth there.
The outlook, as I already highlighted, is what you see here. Again, I would now like to zoom in a little bit more specifically on what that now means when we say demand for learning content will increase and also the advertising market in Finland will be relatively stable. So let's take them one by one. So if you look at 2026 for Learning, there's really that step change in growth. And that's to do with the learning content sales in Poland and in Spain, in particularly, those 2, but also that continued growth that I highlighted for the Netherlands in '25, we expect the Netherlands to also continue to grow going forward with new products and that strong position we have in that market.
You will not see that just at a country level fully because of the Dutch distribution business decline in '26 on the top line of EUR 40 million with no impact, as highlighted before, on the profit. And all that together leads, and we reconfirm that today very much to an expectation that our adjusted operating profit margin will improve to clearly above 23% this year. So real growth, step change in learning.
On the Media side, we are, of course, in the year before the opening up of the gambling market. So we continue with that digital transformation. So we expect to continue to grow in digital subscription sales, more than offsetting a decline in print. We expect the advertising sales to be relatively stable. To just give a little bit more context to that. If you look at last year, that was for advertising overall as a market, of course, still a very tough environment. And we also think it's not all of a sudden going to be better in '26.
What we do see is the expectation that it would slowly improve throughout the year, but it still probably will have a soft start to '26 as a market overall. But also there, the trend, of course, continues of digital offsetting the lower print and TV advertising. And then on top of all this, very important in the last few years and continues to be important is the efficiency improvement that we will continue to do. And Pia and the team, of course, have a great track record in making that happen, and that also will remain an important part going forward of our performance.
So that gives a bit more context for specifically this year, which is that significant step change in profit growth driven by Learning in 2026.
With that, I would now like to ask my colleagues back on stage so that we can do the Q&A.
Thank you, Rob. Thank you, Alex. And we will now start the Q&A. So if there are questions from here at Sanoma House, please raise your hand for the microphone. We have Petri from Inderes, please.
2. Question Answer
I'll kick off with the solar impact on 2025 figures. Can you quantify the impact?
Quantify the impact. So we had an impact in the cash side, as we've talked about before. So the increase in cash that we see did have some of the impacts of the lower kind of people costs and also the impacts there. In terms of the P&L, like the actions we took were designed to get to the margins in 2026, which are clearly above 23% as per our guidance. The -- that's basically the main factor there. There's nothing specific I would say about '25.
No. Maybe to add, if you think about the core elements there, there was, of course, big reorganizations we also did in Spain and in Poland. Those are reflected in the overall numbers, if you think about [ EBE ] sort of personnel costs in particular. I think the real benefit on volume or the cost of our production, that will, of course, really show '26 onwards.
Then on the Learning and the digital platform growth in Poland, can you help me understand where are you in terms of, say, market penetration and how much more room is there for continued growth?
Yes. We actually, we do look at Poland as a market where we see a lot of opportunity outside of curriculum as well, which is to do with the direct-to parents option. So we have -- to give you a feel, it's about 1 million subscribers we have on that digital solution that I highlighted. So that's really good. And that's, of course, a platform to then offer more and more personalized learning and also content to the parents and also to the students directly. So we see a lot of opportunity there. That will not be overnight. That will really be continuously adding more products and solutions to that offering, but the reach is absolutely there.
Then one additional question on advertising sales. I mean we saw a weak market, and we can talk about the economic situation and so on. But looking at the December sales, it was, I can say, maybe a bit of a scary figure, the minus 9%. What's your take on this?
Yes. So there's a couple of things there. It was indeed lower even than, of course, the rest of the year. We did see that towards the end of the year, that really sort of dried up for a couple of weeks, you could argue. If I now look at the start of the year, I don't see that kind of level continuing. So from that point of view, it's still a soft market. It's still a challenging market, but that's where our guidance is coming from.
We do see it overall for the year as being relatively stable. But as I also highlighted in my presentation, I think the start of the year will still be more towards the lower side of that and then some gradual improvement. And I think it's good to highlight as well. This is what we also prepare for when you think about our cost containment actions and therefore, continue to focus on making sure that we protect our margins.
Thank you, Petri. And then we have Sanna from Nordea.
Maybe 2 questions. First of all, of course, '26 marks the curriculum renewals in your major markets like Spain and Poland. But how are the negotiations here progressing? And what kind of timing assumptions we should be aware of? And if possible, maybe from a more financial perspective?
Yes. So good question, of course. If you think about it, in years where we have big growth in curriculum, we do, of course, have some costs that go ahead of the revenue, right, logically speaking. So that's to do with people, that's to do with sales costs, marketing costs, et cetera. So in these relatively small quarters that we have, first of all, you could see that a bit.
The other side of it is that our starting point is the market share and the market position we have in all these markets, which is, of course, as you know, mostly the #1, #2 position. So that's the starting point. That's also where we go in, of course, to create the growth. So from that point of view, our position is strong, but it is absolutely true, of course, this is in quarter 2, in particular, all about the presales activities.
Indicators are always limited. The only market that we always see being a bit ahead of the game in the way of knowing where it's going is Finland in particular, because of -- like earlier holidays and things like that. But the big markets, Poland and Spain is really firmly a quarter 3 before that's really visible.
All right. And then perhaps on capital allocation now that with the dividend proposed to increase and of course, the leverage targets tightened in the CMD, how we should think that you aim to balance M&A, for example, versus these higher payouts?
Yes. I think our M&A ambitions and program has not changed and everything said about M&A is true. We're working very hard on it. We have around a EUR 300 million headroom for acquisitions at the moment. That will grow as we go through. So we don't see a problem in capital allocating the dividend, the internal use for operating and for M&A.
And if I continue from the chat with that topic a bit, there was a question that is the kind of -- is the repayment of the hybrid bond now in March somehow limiting the M&A opportunity in the short term?
So I would say not because we -- the cash generation has enabled us to refinance that at a sort of lower level of debt. Yes, it is true that during the middle of the year that the balance sheet sort of ratios come down a bit, but we have strong relationships with our relationship banks and that we still do have headroom in the middle of the year, but there's always abilities to kind of take waivers and to get through that middle of the year period because it's a slightly artificial limitation in the middle of the year because at a full year period, as you say, we have plenty of room.
Thank you. If no further questions from the audience here, I would like to hand over to the telephone line, please.
The next question comes from Sami Sarkamies from Danske Bank Markets.
I will do this one by one. Starting from guidance, just wanted to confirm, is the guidance midpoint assuming about 23% EBIT margin for Learning and flat EBIT for Media?
That's correct.
Okay. And then on the Learning outlook, just wanted to ask what would be the key uncertainties, I think, about the guidance range? And then for Media, why haven't you penciled in any profit growth because I guess you will only be reinvesting part of the savings from printing facility closure?
Yes. I think you're touching, of course, on the key, let's say, uncertainty for the year around the Media performance, right? And that is indeed to do with how will the market ultimately pan out for -- particularly on the advertising side. And there, I think it's fair to say that we are preparing for the fact that, that is still not an easy market to operate in. So of course, that could end up going better if we do see improvement happening. But for now, we are really focused on making sure that we can also deal with a situation where that relatively stable means maybe 1 or 2 percentage points down as well.
Okay. And what about Learning? What will be key uncertainties there?
Well, if you think about learning, it comes down to the facts like the key growth drivers are around our learning content sales this year, right? So that's to do with the fact that we, of course, are able to really maintain our strong market position, which I'm very confident of that we will. But of course, it's a big year. And of course, that is mostly in quarter 3 that, that will show. So I think it's that kind of the real performance now on the learning content sales and the curriculum renewals. That's, of course, the key element of the growth driver, but that's also where the bigger sort of difference can still be.
Okay. Then my next question would be to Alex. Just wanted to understand the free cash flow outlook for this year. You will be obviously benefiting from earnings growth, but how should one think about net working capital development in '26?
Yes. So we -- as you saw we saw an increase of EUR 145 million to EUR 160 million by old definition in 2025. That equates to -- the EUR 160 million equates to EUR 129 million in the new definition. We expect a moderate growth of that still in 2026. As I said before, we see earnings growth in 2026. Some of that, we see early in the cash, but we still nonetheless expect moderate cash flow growth in '26.
Okay. So does it mean that net working capital could be a headwind in '26?
Yes. I mean, we do, as a business, have quite large cash movements that we sort of balance off in the year. So it won't necessarily be the positive part of that graph that it was this year, I mean. So yes, a slight headwind.
Okay. And then final question for Rob. You talk a lot about AI, but I would like to ask that how could you see it as a potential threat to Sanoma?
Yes. So if you look at it, we are trying to be realistic about AI in a fast-moving environment. So the positives, I, of course, highlighted on that. I think for me, it's all about making sure we go fast enough embracing AI across our business, both in Media as well as in Learning. And that means we should be the one leading the changes towards personalized learning. If you think about the Learning side, we should be the one making those efficiency moves in Media, in particular, also in the newsroom.
So it's the speed of change that is, of course, very important to be focused on. And I think as an organization, we're very aware of it. We do everything we can to make that happen. But to your point on threat, yes, it's about making sure that we are the leading ones, both on the Media and the Learning side for this.
Thank you, Sami. And we have further questions from the telephone line, I assume.
The next question comes from Nikko Ruokangas from SEB.
This is Nikko Ruokangas from SEB. Could you discuss a bit more further on the seasonality you see not only in Media Finland, but overall, both businesses in terms of profitability and cash flow in '26? And then should we expect further material nonrecurring items also in '26?
So in the -- if I take the seasonality one first and I'll take the cash flow one first, as I said, we expect the cash flow to have a moderate increase, but it will -- the moderate increase, it will still be in the same rough profile as you've seen in the last couple of years. Obviously, a lot of cash goes out at the beginning and comes back in at the end.
In terms of the P&L side, Rob touched on it earlier on the Learning side, because we're ramping up for curriculum renewals. There is some extra costs in sort of people and marketing, which we'll see a little bit of that in the first part of the year.
In terms of the IACs, the nonrecurring items, we won't -- I mean, obviously, we had a large amount this year with 2 major events with the Manu plant closure and also the Iddink intangible write-down. We won't see that next year. So we'll see a substantial decrease in that IAC line in 2026.
Okay. And then on the depreciation, you have been talking about for a couple of years that the Program Solar should lead to lower depreciations in '26 now. So should that come kind of gradually over the year? Or should we see those impacts already in H1?
We should -- that will kind of come evenly throughout the year at a lower level. There shouldn't be any sudden changes in that line.
Thank you, Nikko. And we don't have any further questions from the telephone line. We have a few in the chat. So continuing on the advertising. So it seems that the minus 9% advertising development in Finland in December is a talking point to several people in the audience. And a further question on that is that, is there anything particular that is attributable to? So was there something weakening in the segment or changes in advertisers' behavior, more retail direct marketing or anything like that, that you could point out?
Yes. So the only thing we noticed because, of course, we are at the end of that is that it was particularly towards the last part of the month. And that was a real slowdown of activity with the key advertisers in Finland towards the second half of December. And that was stronger than also the year before. It's not so much that we can easily pinpoint to specifics deeper than that. And as I highlighted, if you then see about the start of the year, it's still a tough market condition, but it's not that kind of percentage that we see going through.
And then further on advertising, how would you describe the health of the Finnish TV advertising market and the outlook? And is Sanoma performing better or weaker than the market? Of course, last year was impacted by the discontinuation of this reselling deal.
Correct, correct. And if you take that out, then we actually performed well on the TV market, which is, of course, still a challenging market overall, as we know. And there, of course, I've also said it before, but the longer-term element there is we do see the need for investments in content, not just from us, but also from other players in the market that, that needs to be in line with the market size, so to speak. So we do see that still being a market part that is quite competitive, of course.
Thank you. And then a question on '26 and the financial costs. What is the expectation on that given also the repayment of the hybrid bond?
So good question. So we went from, I think it was sort of EUR 35 million to EUR 24 million roughly for this year. So that's the level of cost we have for 2025. We expect similar level of costs in 2026 with 2 sort of offsetting impacts. We expect net debt to come down with the increased free cash flow generation. However, because we are repaying the hybrid bond, we will have net debt going up a bit as we refinance that with normal debt. And so that net-net with extra interest will get to us about the same level. So expecting similar levels of financial costs in '26.
Thank you. And then a further question on M&A. Could you please elaborate on the M&A strategy for '26-'30? What kind of target types and regions? And how does AI influence which companies you would like to acquire or which capabilities to build in-house?
Yes. So let me tackle that because there are several elements to that, of course, right? So first of all, on the M&A, our focus is, first and foremost, on K12. And we think there is still a lot we can do here in Europe because Europe is still a very fragmented market. So that could be -- and our focus is on in the markets we are active in, can we create more scale by basically buying, doing M&A with smaller players there, adding it to our already strong presence in that market. So that's one element.
Then of course, it's -- if you look at the map of Europe, there are clearly some areas and countries where there is good K12 business. We would love to play a role there, but it needs to be for the right price. It needs to be value creating. And also, of course, there needs to be the ability to step into those markets. The targets need to be also available. So that's on that side.
There's another important point, which is, of course, we do see the market move more and more over time towards personalized learning. So we also look at can we add personalized learning solutions to the offering we already have in the markets that we are active in. And that's an element that firmly fits with our K12 focus. And that could also then be this constant question around what do you do yourself, where do you actually benefit from doing an acquisition and where do you partner?
Partnerships come into play there as well, like we also highlighted in the Capital Markets Day, for example, in Spain, we have 1 or 2 good partnerships there. We will continue to look at that as well. So several aspects.
Yes. And maybe to highlight still that the potential M&A impact is not included in our current financial targets.
Correct.
If no further questions, -- the chat is now also emptied. So we start to conclude the presentation. And as a reminder, we will publish our annual report end of March. And then the Q1 results will be published 7th of May on the same day as we will be hosting our Annual General Meeting. With that, thank you all for active participation. Please be in touch afterwards to us at IR with any further questions and wishing you a great day. Thank you.
Sanoma — Special Call - Sanoma Oyj
1. Management Discussion
I'm very happy to introduce Sanoma as an investment to you today. At Sanoma, we positively impact the lives of millions of people every day. And we do this through our 2 strong businesses, and they are very focused. On the one hand, we have our leading K12 learning content business in Europe, where we serve around 25 million students and their teachers across Europe. And we also are Finland's leading digital cross-media company, where we reach about 96% of all Finns every week. And over the last few years, we have really built a strong platform.
If you look at the last 3 years, we have delivered on all the key financial targets we set ourselves, improving the profitability in both Learning and Media, delivering strong improvement in free cash flow and also as a result of that, really deleveraging our balance sheet.
If you now look ahead, we're really at the start of an exciting growth period for Sanoma, the period '26 to 2030. And that has, in the end of it, a multiyear high-quality earning growth as a result. And that path is powered by learning. And that's to do with the unique position we have in learning. So K-12 education, what we focus on is, of course, really the core foundational years of education, primary, secondary vocational. So that really is a need to have. And with our blended learning solutions, we really are the preferred approach for the teachers. And that also has earned us the trust of the teachers, the students and parents across Europe. And it really positions us well to help all students achieve better learning outcomes and really fulfill their potential with our inclusive increasingly personalized learning solutions.
Second part is that we also have a clear growth pathway to follow, and that will really be around shaping the future of K-12 education. And we have multiple levers for that. And let me briefly touch on them. So in the coming years, we have a real positive effect of the curriculum renewal cycles in our core markets, and that will really be driving growth. And with our strong position, leading position in those markets, we are in a prime position to benefit from that.
Secondly, there is a lot of potential around personalized learning, embracing AI, embracing it with real focus on the human oversight, but that really is shaping the K-12 market with new products and solutions that we will bring to market. And thirdly, we have the chance to increase shareholder value with leveraging our scale further, both by doing that with our existing scale, but also very much with future M&A, if you think about the market being really ready for further consolidation. It is still very fragmented.
And then thirdly, and this comes back to the point that we really have delivered on building a strong foundation. The foundation is really now such that we have the opportunity to grow further also with M&A. And Media Finland plays an integral part in that. There, the successful digital transformation will continue, which is really good to see. But also, on top of that, we, of course, have the exciting opening of the gambling market in Finland, which will drive significant revenue and particularly also earnings growth. And we have this robust balance sheet and strong free cash flow growth to invest in learning as well as continuing with our dividend policy and M&A ambitions.
So to summarize, our ambition really is to follow the path of that exciting growth. We are committed to an even more disciplined approach when you think about our leverage with net debt over adjusted EBITDA target being 2.5 and below. And we retain, as I mentioned, that increasing dividend policy with 40% to 60% of our annual free cash flow delivered to our shareholders. So that's a whistle-stop tour of Sanoma's equity story, growth powered by learning. Thank you very much.
Sanoma — Special Call - Sanoma Oyj
1. Question Answer
Sanoma hosted their 2025 Capital Markets Day today. And now I have the pleasure to interview the company's CEO, Rob Kolkman. Hello, Rob.
Hello.
So let's start. What is the main takeaway for investors from the CMD?
Yes. The main takeaway today was really about growth. We are entering a period of strong growth for our business overall, both learning and also media.
Okay. And AI is a hot topic, also for Sanoma like everywhere else, and it's playing an almost crucial role in your future. But do you see any risks or concerns with AI going forward?
Yes. What we try to position today is really -- yes, we are excited about AI in both of our businesses, particularly if you think about learning, the potential this has for personalized learning options in all the markets that we're active in. And we try to bring that to life today with examples and teachers, and you saw it, right? At the same time, of course, you need to be realistic. And the main thing with AI for us is, of course, around the human oversight. Whatever we do, and there's a lot of opportunities here, it is always with human expert oversight. And I think that's also the key thing. People need to trust what we do there, like they trust us now with our content across the markets.
Yes. I think the keyword there is the human oversight because otherwise, it might be quite risky. In learning, the European market is quite fragmented, but we have seen signs of some, call it, consolidation. What kind of role does Sanoma play in this particular consolidation?
Yes. So we have been, of course, acquiring over the years and creating that position in learning across Europe. And what I shared today with the team is that we're very much excited to continue that. So we will continue to -- on top of the financial targets we have set, we will continue to focus on M&A as well because, as you say, it's still a very fragmented market, both Europe, but also within some of the markets that we're active in. So highlighted the key elements around, we can either step into new geographies within Europe or we can also, of course, create further scale in the markets we're already in. So benefiting effectively from our position there.
Yes. And touching on the possible new geographical markets, what might be you looking at? And how -- what are the first steps to even enter a new market?
Yes. So for us, it's very important, of course, that it is with a clear focus, right? So if we step into a new market like we did in Spain a few years ago, in Italy, it's with K-12 focus. It is also around a defendable and leading position. And it's, of course, really also seeing the growth going forward. So those are elements that we look at, but always from a K-12 perspective first.
And you also -- in the presentation, there was also a mention of adjacent offerings in learning. What could be some examples of this then? What are we talking about?
Yes. I think it really nicely links to the personalized learning element. So in markets where we already have a good and strong position, there could be products, solutions, those kind of things that we could add to what we do to also further personalize and strengthen our market, that's just as one example, and we could go in all kind of directions. We're always focused on helping the teachers and students in the markets we're active in.
Right. And touching on helping the teachers, we have seen that there are lack of teachers in certain European countries at least, luckily not in Finland, at least not yet. But how can Sanoma help here?
Yes. I think the core element there is the more efficient we can make the teacher with his or her day-to-day work, the more time the teacher has to really focus on the students and help them as we then call it, to reach their potential, right? So that's around doing all the admin work they need to do, the lesson planning, the preparation, increasingly, of course, personalizing of the lesson material, right? The diversification in the classroom is, of course, increasingly big in all the markets we are active in. So whatever we can do to support in those ways means more time for the teacher to spend with the kids.
Yes. So the goal is to give the teacher more time. [indiscernible] Yes, that makes sense. Then if we move on to media and talk a bit about Media Finland, the focus is purely on Finland. Have there been or are there any plans -- are you looking anywhere else? Or it just...
No. I think for media, we're very happy with the position we have here in Finland. Our growth story is learning and also international in Europe, but media is really -- the Finnish market is our focus. And there, of course, you see us with a very strong position, pretty much reaching all Finns on a weekly basis, right?
Yes. And now with the gambling market opening, that's a big thing for me or has potential for media. But do you see any concerns on that front? Or is it just potential that you see there?
Well, what we've highlighted is, of course, that it is a big opportunity if you think about it also from what will happen to the advertising market. If you also look at what happened in other markets that already have opened up, right? So -- but we emphasize today as well that we want to do this in a well thought through and responsible way. So that's not just following the rules and regulations coming from the law, but also how -- what does the experience look like for our users if you think about online, et cetera. So we will do that in a, as I say, a responsible way, but the opportunity is big. And that's what we highlighted as well on top of our sort of core financial target of this digital transformation, yes, that is EUR 20 million plus as we see it when we think about the opening of the gambling market on revenue, but that's, of course, high-margin revenue.
Yes. That will be interesting to see then in '27.
Yes. It will be.
Probably happens. Then I mean, a lot of your media content is [ foreseen ] in Finnish language as well, and it is a strength. But then have you seen or is there any concern that younger generations might not look to Finnish content as much? Do you see there might be a risk that it's not as valuable going forward for the consumer? Or do you believe that even younger generations enjoy this content in their own language?
Yes. So we had an interesting point today. I think Jenni mentioned that like it depends on what you define as younger, right? So she highlighted the fact that if you look at it from the under 45s there, we, of course, see more and more the willingness to pay. If you -- of course, if you are late teens, early 20s, but that has always been the case. The willingness and also the ability to pay is, of course, a lot less. What we are trying to do is make sure that, that appreciation is there of the high-quality content and then over time, also being willing to pay for it. What has changed over the last few years is, of course, this understanding that also for good quality online content, you need to pay. So subscription models also when you think about entertainment, of course, have really been introduced. I think that helps us with the understanding that there is a reason to pay for high-quality content.
Yes. And I guess some high-quality TV productions have and can be also sold to other countries. So it's not just -- even if it's produced in Finland and in Finnish, it can still be...
It can still be in that [indiscernible] as well, yes.
Then media's role has declined. Learning has -- is generating more earnings, but you do see media as an integral part of the company and it does support the business. But is there any indication or even chance that at some point, the 2 businesses might be completely separated into fully independent companies or that you would sort of exit the media side?
I mean I can never look very far ahead. But what we highlighted today is we are very focused on both businesses. It's exciting. Also on the media side, it's really good to see that digital transformation with that continuous improvement also on the margins. But on top of that, the gambling, of course, is a real step-up as well. So I think we are very focused with the team on executing on those exciting strategies in both learning and Media.
Yes. So going forward, at least for now with both segments...
We are very focused on that.
Yes. It's kind of independent...
It's kind of a plan at the moment.
And then the final question, if you look a few years down the line or ahead, what factors do you think will affect some of competitive advantage in maybe, say, 3, 5 years after maybe this growth period now?
Well, I think, of course, we're doing everything we can to set ourselves up for continuous growth, right? And today, we highlighted the great opportunities we see on the personalized learning side and the products that we want to bring to market there in a variety of ways, right? So I think we do everything we can to build further on that strong position we have, and that, therefore, doesn't stop in 2030. Hopefully, we will be in an even better position by then because of all the things that we highlighted today.
Thank you so much for your time and the answers. And this was just a scratch on the surface. You can find the entire CMD presentations, both at Sanoma's website and [indiscernible].
Sanoma — Analyst/Investor Day - Sanoma Oyj
1. Management Discussion
My name is Kaisa Uurasmaa. I'm heading Investor Relations and Sustainability at Sanoma. And today, we are very
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to Sanoma in the coming years. And you have maybe seen our updated financial targets that were released in the morning. We will discuss more
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we have a wide variety of speakers today from both businesses. You can see them here. They will all introduce themselves, so I will not go into detail on that now. But maybe a few words about our agenda.
So now Rob will soon come on stage to start the presentations. He will be followed by several speakers from the learning management team who will focus on telling you about different growth drivers across the business. After these presentations, we will have a Q&A that focuses on the group message and learning. And after that, you are able to see how blended learning works in practice in Finnish schools. We have 2 teachers here who will demonstrate that both from the primary school perspective and then from the secondary school perspective. After that, we will have a break. And during the break, you will be able to, of course, discuss with all Sanoma team members who are here, but then also see more about a few tools that we use in both learning and the media business. The demonstrations will be available in this room.
After the break, we will focus then more on the learning business and overall financials of the group. A few practicalities so this event will be recorded, and the recording will be available on our website shortly after the end of the event.
When we have the Q&A sessions, we will first take questions from in person here at the event venue. Please use the microphone. And then on the webcast, please use the chat function for questions.
With this short introduction, I would like to welcome Rob on stage, please.
Thank you very much, Kaisa, and good morning, everybody. Warm welcome to all of you here in the room and also a warm welcome to all of you online. I'm very excited to share with you today our growth story. And as Kaisa mentioned, a lot will be around the next few years, where do we see it go? How do we see the organization grow? And we'll try to make that as engaging as possible. So lots of examples. Indeed, also the teachers. And hopefully, at the end of it, you will be as excited as we are about the years ahead of us and the growth and the specific plans we have to execute on that.
Let me start by grounding ourselves in what is actually Sanoma today. What do we look at here? And that's really, I think, a great position to be in, where we impact the lives of millions of people in a positive way every day. And that's the leading K-12 learning business we have, the #1 position in Europe, serving about 25 million students and their teachers and the parents across Europe. And today, you'll hear a lot of different examples across -- from across Europe as well.
But we also are the #1 digital media company here in Finland, pretty much reaching all of the Finns on a weekly basis with our high-quality journalism with the entertainment, the TV, the radio and also the events. So 2 strong businesses in a very good position to deliver on a unique profile and on growth in the coming years.
It's all about looking forward today, but I think it is good to step back a little bit and think about what we said 2 years ago when we also had this event at the Capital Markets Day. And we promised then focus on 3 key areas. I think we can honestly say we're making really good progress on those.
First one is around improving the profitability. And that has happened in Learning and Media Finland over the last few years. We also focused on improving the free cash flow, and that has happened and continues to happen, of course, also with the upcoming growth. And as a result, of that, we also have seen significant balance sheet deleveraging, which, of course, puts it in a really strong position if you think about all the growth plans we have in the coming years. So good delivery on that. Lots more to come. Of course, we will continue to focus on this, but it's also not the start of growth in the coming years, enabled by this position.
Let me now turn to the growth part and the forward-looking element. So we will build on the strengths that I've just shown you and point towards that multiyear, high-quality earnings growth that we are focused on. And that's also reflected in the targets we sort of shared with you this morning.
That growth will be powered by learning, but really also very much supported by our Media Finland business, and I'll touch on that in a second.
So today, a lot will be around how are we going to do it. We'll try to bring to life to you how it works. What the kind of things are that we are working on across our business. But let me start by painting the picture of why we are so excited about the growth powered by learning. And that starts with that leading position that we have across Europe and K-12. That's a really unique starting point.
We're the #1 provider across the markets. It's still a very fragmented market. So there's a lot of opportunity here to also consolidate over the years. And we have a truly unique cooperation with the teachers across Europe. We really work with them closely. You hear from two of them today, but is that trusted relationship that is the basis for further growth in the markets we're active in. So that's the first, but it's really a must have for the government. It's a must-have for, of course, the teachers and the students.
Secondly, is we are in a position to really shape -- help shape the future of K-12 learning. That's what you see reflected here as well. So yes, very important part in the coming years is around our curriculum cycles, and I will touch on the growth levers of that in a minute.
But there's also a lot happening in K-12 when you think about the move towards more personalized learning. And the position we have with our trusted content with our blended methods really is a good position to then also embrace AI in that. And I'll talk and the team will talk a lot about AI in the coming in this morning. But fundamentally, the key thing to remember here is AI can really enhance the growth but always with expert human oversight. always making sure that it is a human responsible for using that technology and using AI to then get better learning outcomes. And it's a market, as I mentioned, ready for consolidation as well. So that's the M&A part that I'll touch on later.
And the third point links back to the strong business fundamentals. We have, of course, really strengthened those over the last years, and that really gives us a really good position to grow from. But I would also like to highlight here the integral part that Media Finland plays in this in the years to come. Pia and the team have done a great job on really doing a well thought-through move to more digitalization and media. That transformation has happened over a number of years. It will continue to happen, and Pia will talk about that later. And if anything, that probably will step up in Tempo even more.
But it's also exciting if you think about what will happen in the Finnish market specifically around the opening up of the gambling. That is a step-up growth point that we see happening in '27 onwards. And we'll try today to bring to life to you how we look at it also from a valuation point of view and what could happen in the market. So a good position to be in to now also focus on that growth in the years to come.
Before I dive deeper into the topics on AI and learning, let me now first also share with you the financial targets. So those were done this morning. You saw them. And fundamentally, we try to reflect here the excitement around the growth opportunities we see.
So on learning, that is around the comparable net sales being at a mid-single-digit growth and adjusted operating profit at high single digit, effectively also indicating, of course, room for further margin improvement here whilst we are growing the business.
And when you consider the learning targets, please keep in mind, like we also said that the quarter 3 results that we have about EUR 40 million of distribution sales that we will be taking out of the business next year with no impact on the earnings. And that's why I mentioned that the quarter 3 results that, that has also the impact, of course, of the margin in our expectation clearly getting above 23% next year. So all point that I mentioned for 26 during the quarter 3 results firmly stand. These targets are giving you a path and how we look at growth going forward.
On the media side, we try to be as transparent as we can on how we look at the underlying business, which is, of course, continuing that digital transformation. And there, you see that the top line expectations are more or less stable for that. But we also continue to improve on the profitability of the business. So that's why you see the low single-digit mentioned here. But on top of that is the real step change when you think about the opening up of the gambling market. And there, Pia will talk later about what's underneath the EUR 20 million-plus indication we give here. But fundamentally, when the market opens up from '27 onwards, that's the step-change we see in sales. And just keep in mind that, that's, of course, advertising sales with high margins like the normal advertising is.
We also thought this is the right time to highlight on the solid balance sheet that we continue to be focused on that. So that's why we've also sharpened that even further by saying our net sales -- net debt over adjusted EBITDA target is below 2.5. Of course, that can go higher if you think about growth via M&A for a bit. But then with our cash-generative position, it comes back quickly. And Alex, later on, will talk about that.
And our dividend policy is firmly unchanged. So that's an increasing dividend, of course, on the back growing the business with a 40% to 60% of annual free cash flow. And we measure growth here in a 3-year CAGR just to also allow for, of course, some fluctuations that we'll see in both businesses because of cycles that there are.
So let's now look at the media business in a bit more detail and then later on Pia, of course, will talk all the key topics there as well. So it's a great position to be here in Finland, pretty much reaching all Finns on that weekly basis. But also very directly. I think that's a good one to just keep in the back of your mind when you think about also how that will change over time and how we use AI. We really touch the Finns directly with our high-quality newspapers and entertainment, TV, et cetera.
So we continue to focus on the digital for the existing audience, but also new products, of course, that we have. We see AI really having an opportunity for productivity but also for new and better content and products. And then the responsible capture of this additional opportunity on gambling. So really integral part of our story is this growth that we see over the coming years.
Let me now zoom in on AI. Of course, a topic that you will hear a lot about today. And what we will try to do is really bring that to life. I will give you the overarching contours and strategy and how we look at AI across the business, but then let's also bring that to life later with what's already happening in schools, but also very much what we are working on at the moment.
So a few points to highlight. First of all, that responsibility point that I mentioned. We will always use AI across Sanoma with human oversight or expert oversight, if you like. So people who really know their content, know their stuff are responsible for what is being produced, whether that's on the media side, on the learning side for both, that's very important.
But of course, there's a lot of innovation and growth opportunities here. And in Learning, I think now we still talk a lot about AI as a separate topic. But where you will see that go over time, in our view, is towards more and more personalized learning solutions, more and more trying to help the teachers and the students on that so that they can also be more efficient when you think about the teacher and for the student, have real personal help. So that's on the learning side.
On the media side, we think it will strengthen further the high-quality content and also over time, see us bring to market new solutions for our customers. And as I mentioned, Pia will highlight that more.
The productivity is, of course, a topic that you hear a lot about too, and that same applies for our business. We see lots of opportunities to further improve the way we work when you think about AI and enhancing our productivity. And that goes a wide range. Of course, that's in supporting roles like finance, HR, all those elements. But it's also and particularly when you think in our case, around content creation, being more efficient in that, and therefore, being able to also reinvest some of the savings we make there in these more personalized learning solutions. So a lot of different elements there and particularly also for learning. Charlotte later on will talk about that more specifically to.
Let me go one for you on the AI and learning and the personalized element of it. And that's what you see reflected here. So for us, AI and all the technology that comes with it is really a core component, not just a tool but a core component when you think about the solutions we will bring to market over time.
So that's personalization for the students, but it's also very much personalization for the teacher, making the teachers more efficient. And of course, that's important because in a lot of our markets, Finland is a bit the exception, but in a lot of our markets, there are not enough teachers. So anything we can do to make them more efficient basically means they have more time to spend with the kids.
The other from my perspective, if you already see happening a lot more is the focus on you can have these great tools, but it needs to be on top of trusted content, high-quality content. And that's the second part for us.
We, of course, have that blended content that really meets the needs of the teachers. And we work very closely with the teachers on the Genola markets. So we are ideally positioned to, on top of that, then bring these technologies and therefore, have the more personalized learning solutions, including the business models that come with them. So that's the second part there.
And then the point on the productivity gains is, of course, a third one, which also when you think about how we make the content in learning with that strict human oversight, there are lots of ways of doing that in a more efficient way. And therefore, having more time, also money to spend on these kind of personalized learning solutions. And Alejandro and Andre and Sander will all try to bring that to life for their particular markets when we think about these kind of topics. So that's on AI. A lot want to come later in the morning.
Let's also touch on K-12 as a market, which is here in Europe, a large and very attractive market from our perspective. There are high barriers to entry. You really need to do it market by market, curriculum by curriculum, really work closely with the teachers. This is not just about developing content for a topic. This is really being very, very precise. That's, of course, the first point there. But it's also education. So if you think of it from a government perspective, from a parent perspective, it doesn't get more important than K-12 addition, foundational primary, secondary education years. So that's resilient. And it has proven to be resilient also from a funding point of view over the last 20, 25 years, and we expect that to continue.
And it's sticky. I mean you can ask the teachers later on, but trends a bit market by market, but teachers, of course, like to use content for multiple years to really also sure they can make it fully their own and then also adjust it over time. So that's the stickiness that we mentioned here as well. And across our markets, normally between 3 and 8 years on using that content.
I mentioned that I would zoom in now on the growth levers for learning. And then you see that being brought to life later as well. And there are effectively 3 that I would like to highlight, the key levers of growth.
The first one, very importantly, is, of course, the capturing of the curriculum renewal cycles. And in a minute, I'll show you the famous slide with all the curves and also explain that a bit more, but that's really driving organic growth over the next 5 years.
But we're also in a position to shape our market. And that is with embracing AI. That's with the personal training solutions. You will see us bring a lot more new products and solutions to market in the coming years. Very specific market by market, what the market is ready for, what it can absorb, but a lot to shape the market across Europe on K-12.
And then there's the scaling of the opportunity. Charlotte will talk about how we do that already with our existing scale, but I will also later on touch on the M&A approach that we have here.
So let me zoom in now on the curriculum renewal, and that's what you see here. Of course, the graph itself, you've seen many times before, most of you.
This one is now extended to 2030 to give you a feel for what this means also in our expectations if we look at the market. And to just avoid too many excitement on that line that goes all the way up in almost a straight line, that's the Swedish market, which is a good thing, but it's a relatively small market for us.
The thick line, for those of you who have not seen this before, is actually our underlying expectation overall for us a Sanoma based on all these trends we see.
So what you see here is growth in the coming 5 years in our core curriculum-driven markets like Spain and Poland. It's continued good growth when you think about an important market for us like the Netherlands and then, of course, also other elements that play a role there as well. But overall, this is helping us with the growth in the coming years. And let's also keep in mind that this is about 80% of our net sales in 2025. So really the vast majority of what we do is reflected here on this.
And of course, it's not a given, right? Although it looks very nice with the lines. This is based on that high-quality content. This is based on the leading positions we have as an organization in the markets we're active in. So it's a really good starting point, but we, of course, need to deliver on that strong position to now further growth.
If you look at what happened in the past years, whenever we have a curriculum change in the market, it's also an opportunity for us to further strengthen our position. That's what we're focused on.
The second lever is actually about shaping the market. And in a minute, I will show you a video about that. And that's actually going to be presented by Cristina, our Chief Strategy Officer. And she will talk to you about, let's say, how now really we see K-12 develops. You can't be here is on maternity leave at the moment, but let's have a look at the video.
K-12 education is facing real [indiscernible]. Learning outcomes are declining. Entertainment gaps are widening. There is a shortage of teachers, and classroom dynamics are more diverse and complex than ever. At the same time, AI brings hope and promise, yet this comes with real risks. Like for example, that it could further deepen the digital divide. We believe in a future where these challenges are overcome and turned into opportunities, not by clinking to the past, jumping blindly into disruption but rather by blending the wisdom and care of teachers and quality content with the power of AI to create the most inclusive, personalized and transformative era in K-12 education.
And as Europe's largest provider of K-12 methods, we have the expertise and the content to shape and seize that opportunity. True elements are simply too fundamental to disappear. Schools will remain the anchors of learning with teachers of the help, but classroom dynamics will change. the could be captured in 1 word, it would be personalization.
Picture a classroom led by a teacher but with a broader and more integrated toolkit than ever. They can personalize lessons, not just by test scores, but also by pace and style in real time, not just at the end of a semester with more flexibility in pedagogy integrated digital tools and insights from data, but they will need more support than ever, and that's our role.
Learning methods will be more modern and effective than today with AI integral to delivering deep personalization at [indiscernible], catering to the increasingly diverse student population. It will also be key in helping save precious time for teachers. Everyday life is becoming more remote, and it's no different in education. It's becoming flexible and learning will increasingly occur outside of the traditional classroom.
Lessons being extended from the classroom will be supported by AI student assistance to help students follow the school program no matter where they are.
We believe the future lies in uniting home and school, making education not just more flexible but more equal. Every child gets a fair chance.
Our outlook is clear of future led by teachers, shaped by blended methods and rising expectations for personalization. That means we will double down on what we do best, our core methods business with digital as an intrinsic cog in the machine. We will also dare to go further we intend to grow beyond methods in adjacent areas to strengthen our role as a partner for schools and for families, supported by evolved, resilient and sustainable business models. This is our path, grounded in what education needs, inspired by what technology makes possible and guided by our purpose to support teacher to help all students reach their potential. Together, at Sanoma Learning will help shape the future of education.
I hope that brought to life a little bit already how we look at the future of K-12 and how we can play a really great role in that. And as mentioned, our other presenters will then also bring that to life with real examples of what's currently happening.
Let me now zoom in on the third point of our levers for growth, which is scaling our opportunity. And I would particularly like to talk about the M&A side of that, which we continue to be very excited about in a way that we want to continue to grow inorganically as well in a disciplined approach. And Alex will later on share a bit more on the headroom and how we look at that. But fundamentally, our focus is on either stepping into new geographic markets, particularly, of course, here in Europe, with blended learning K-12 focused or it is strengthening our position in markets we are already active in and that can be with additional methods. That can also be, of course, increasingly with personalizations, all the adjacencies that as the third point, that also Cristina just mentioned. So offerings that really work well in addition for K-12.
And that also brings me, of course, to the key criteria. For us, the focus is on K-12, that's where it is all happening. That's also where we have the expertise, the know-how to deliver on it.
It's either stepping into a market-leading position, which we, of course, done over the years a few times or it is further strengthening our market-leading position in markets we're already active in.
Clearly, needs to be supportive of our net sales and earnings targets that we released today. So that can also be around seeing real great synergies and therefore, improving margins from the point of acquisition, and Alex will talk a bit more about that as well. And high barriers to entry. It really needs to be in that need to have content in K-12 because that leads to accelerating our growth or driving the scale and, of course, the announcing of the shareholder returns as well, particularly also measured when you think about the increase in dividends.
So that's how we look at the M&A. We're still very excited about it. Where exactly that will end up on the top line, of course, it's always difficult to say, depends also on the type of targets we would be acquiring the profitability of it. So we are more focused on the fact that it really needs to add to the scale and add to the opportunity rather than exactly where it will come out on the top line.
That links nicely to my final point, which is what you see here. If you then add it all up, what I've now said in his opening presentation and what you will hear a lot more about from the team in a minute, then this is what makes us exciting on the overall targets.
So on learning, you see the 3 elements. Here, you see that last step on the Dutch distribution, but then particularly the growth on the curriculum side of the renewals, but also those new products we bring to market, leading to that mid-single-digit revenue growth and of course, the high single-digit of growth.
If you look at Media Finland, that continuing successful transformation, digitalization of the market, which on top line is more or less stable but is, of course, already showing an improvement in profitability as well. And then very importantly, the growth that we see with the opening of the gambling market from '27 onwards. And that 20 million plus that I mentioned then really also leads with high margin to overall for us as a group, high single-digit organic earnings growth for 2016 to 2030. That's the ambition. That's really the path we're on, if you think about everything that I mentioned and that we also bring to life to you today. And then on top of that is the M&A we remain very focused on that. We're now in a much better position to deliver on that as well if you think about it from our financial position. So that is a focus with a disciplined approach that I just highlighted.
So that's to set the scene for today. I would now like to hand over to Alejandro, who will start with bringing that to live a bit more from the perspective of curriculum renewals and then also within the Spanish market. So Alejandro, over to you.
Thank you very much, Rob. Good morning. It's great to be here speaking with you today. My name is Alejandro Castex and I'm the Managing Director of for Sanoma Learning in Spain. I'm deeply passionate about education and learning, and I'm lucky enough to spend my day working in this field with a great team.
So picking up from Rob's presentation over the next few slides, I'm going to dive deeper into one of the 3 growth levers for Sanoma, which is curriculum renewals. I'm going to discuss what this means in practice in Spain and how we can generate value from this opportunity with our best-in-class content.
So let's start by setting the scene. Spain is one of Europe's largest K-12 education markets valued at around EUR 700 million. To put this in perspective, Spain has about 7 million students. in K-12, right? And it's not only large, it's also fragmented. Spain is organized in 17 different regions, each with its own curriculum. So this means that we serve the specific education needs of each one of these 17 individual markets in Spain.
Each region has significant cultural diversity. So we publish our materials in 5 different official languages. So there's no doubt that the learning market in Spain is both resilient and also exciting. The question is where do we fit in? With our local brand Santillana, we have promoting education in Spain for over 60 years, and we are the most recognized publisher in market. We offer a wide range of resources ranging from textbooks to literature books, home study materials, but also teaching guides, assessment resources and digital platforms. Santillana has a leading position in the market and a proven track record of success. And this is supported by our unique combination of local expertise and also the Sanoma European scale.
So earlier, Rob discussed curriculum renewals as one of the key growth drivers for Sanoma. allow me to run you through what this means. A curriculum renewal is when a country a region or a school system updates a set of teaching mates, methods or subjects. It ensures that each teaching content stays relevant, okay, reflecting the latest knowledge, skills and real-world applications that students need to thrive. Curriculum renewals helped improve secure engagement and importantly, to improve learning outcomes. In practice, this means that new standards are introduced, that learning resources are updated, that assessment methods are revised and that classroom rules tools are upgraded. Curriculum renewals create a major business opportunity for companies like Sanoma as they usually follow new funding cycles where governments refresh public spending on education.
Changing curriculum leads to increased spending on learning content as schools invest in new textbooks, resources and education materials. That is why content is so vital to Sanoma's growth.
As for highlighting the outlook for K-12 education spend across our key markets is strong. And Sanoma has all the right ingredients to win. We have a deep understanding of our markets. We have best-in-class products and we have a strong relationship with the key decision makers, the teachers.
Having said that, growth from curriculum renewals is not automatic. You have to work very hard to beat the competition, and this work is continuous throughout the cycle. It involves ongoing research and innovation, but it also involves promotional activities and commercial campaigns with teachers and also schools. Let's take a look into how this works in Spain.
In Spain, the demand for new education content follows a pattern. So the latest law in tradition of full new curriculum was the LOMLOE in the 2022, 2025 cycle. You can see the big spike here in the graph.
Now roughly every 4 years, governments initiated a new funding cycle. This opens the opportunity for content renewal and triggers a wave of rated spending on education content. Santillana demonstrated its ability to win during the recent educational reform, and now there's a new funding cycle starting 2026. We're well positioned to capture this opportunity once again, and the work is well underway.
Already 2 years before the beginning of a new sale, we begin with the preparation phase. During that period, we conduct portfolio reviews, we assess the [indiscernible] and also analyze the emerging educational trends.
In Spain, the implementation of new curriculum is phased, and the scales are unique from region to region. That is why the implementation is not linear through , but rather follow the trajectory that you can see described on this graph.
We typically see the majority of change happening in the first 2 years. For example, the change in the first 2 years was around 75% of students in the previous cycles.
So then on the next couple of years, we saw a continuation of this work as adoption is finalized. It is also when we start our research and work in preparation of the next cycle. By the end of the fourth year, the implementation is largely complete.
I want to zoom in then on an example on how we drive organic growth through our quality content and by winning the core.
We will soon be launching groundbreaking new blended methods, including new world makers and [indiscernible]. This isn't just a content update. It's a complete reimagining of our education materials for today's Spanish classrooms. Our development process began with the voices that matter the most, the teachers. And through comprehensive research, we identified the 3 critical challenges facing the classrooms, teachers' time constraints, reading comprehension and also diversity in the class. So these new learning methods deliver streamlined, efficient resources that respect just valuable time while maintaining educational excellence.
Every single element has been created to maximize learning outcomes while minimizing the preparing demands from the teacher. So teachers gap books and digital resources that make lessons fun and also effective. You'll hear more on how our methods work in the classroom from my colleagues later in this presentation.
But we also take another important step in inclusive education by embracing classroom diversity, provisionally accessible designs that can engage all learning styles and also offering clear and even progression between course levels to prevent learning gaps.
In this new series, we also created a winning comprehension program that directly links content areas to relevant reading plans, creating a meaningful experience across all subjects.
As Spain enters is cycle new world makers, [indiscernible] our best-in-class content position Santillana at the forefront of educational constant innovation. But more than winning the core, we are also continuously innovating and expanding our offering with new solutions. K-12 education in Spain is largely a transactor market. However, we're also taking the steps to shape and change the future by taking inspiration from what we see working in other Sanoma key markets.
This includes the opportunity to introduce new business models, new ways of working new ideas and also exciting new tools. For example, we're currently preparing for the launch of a fantastic new app called MindED, a new way for parents to engage in and also support their children's learning at home.
And we're also planning the introduction of an AI teachers assistant. My colleagues will be talking more in a minute about opportunities in digital and AI, and that can give you some flavor on how -- or what are the opportunities ahead.
On top of that, another good example on how we're both winning the core and shaping the market. It's our exciting new partnership with Cambridge University Press and Assessment. We're bringing together Cambridge excellence in English language education with Santillana's expertise in the Spanish education to set a new benchmark for quality in public school learning.
This agreement is by the entire state cool journey from kindergarten although we up to upper secondary. And strategically, this collaboration deepens our presence in public school segment, and also highlights our ability to partner with world-leading institutions to shape national curriculum. So it ensures a powerful validation of our content leadership, our pedagogical expertise and also our long-term positioning to capture the next wave of curriculum renewals.
Let me conclude then with a recap on the key points. First, curriculum renewals and funding cycles are a key driver of organic growth for Sanoma. This is a key opportunity for us as schools purchase new materials and resources to match new education standards.
Second, we have the right to win. Although these renewals do not automatically lead to growth, Sanoma has all the right ingredients and a proven track record to capture the opportunity.
And third, it's not just about winning at the core with our best-in-class content. It's also about shaping the future by innovating, partnering and leveraging the scale of Sanoma. All of these will be a key part of our 2030 journey, and we're very excited about what lies ahead.
Thank you for your time, and let me hand over to Andrzej who will now talk about another key growth driver for Sanoma.
Thank you, Alejandro, [Foreign Language] Good morning, everyone. My name is Andrzej Kozlowski. I joined Sanoma in January 2025, a new year and a new challenge.
I was attracted by the opportunity of delivering real impact alongside some brilliant and passionate people. And so far, frankly, speaking, my expectations have been exceeded.
Over the next few minutes, I'm going to outline Sanoma's operations in Poland and bring the digital opportunity to live by showing you how it plays out in Poland. But firstly, let me briefly describe the market and our role within it.
Poland is a large and growing economy with high demand for quality education for nearly 6 million students. As far as Sanoma's position, we are the undisputed market leader, both in the classroom and back of house, supported by 30 years of experience in the education market. We are the largest K-12 publisher and most recognized education brand.
Our learning content and school management software set the standard nationwide. What is important -- I'm sorry, something [indiscernible]. What is important, these 2 components of our business provide significant synergies and mix of competencies including content creation and digital platforms. But our position didn't come by accident. It's the result of our team's work and always staying one 1 step ahead in terms of understanding the market needs, the quality of our offerings and our drive for innovation.
This allows us to capture the opportunities presented by both curriculum renewals and digital solutions.
Alejandro just provided an excellent overview of how curriculum renewals help Sanoma to grow.
In Poland, we are entering a positive cycle first in 2026 with the reform in the primary education and then in 2027 in the secondary education. Polish policymakers recognize that high-quality education is fundamental for the country's long-term success. And in order to address these challenges of the future.
The Polish government has established a vision of the skills and competencies of future graduates. The government is reforming Polish education in this image. And while textbooks will continue to play the key role Polish school needs a fresh and more engaging approach.
What is important parents are increasingly engaging and investing in the education outside of the classroom. This means that there is a growing demand for additional courses and services that can support their children's future prospects.
Naturally, this also creates additional demand for digital tools, software platforms. And our digital expertise and trusted content are one of the key advantages that allow us actively to shape the market. And now let me present a few examples.
Firstly, a digital opportunity in the classroom. our new SMARTbook series, which we introduced this year. SMARTbook, so to say, has 5-in-1 functionality. It's learning worksheets, notebook, multimedia and of course, the digital version of the textbooks for students. This is simply a very practical and interactive learning tool which also helps to reduce the weight of their school backpacks.
It enables more flexible learning. If you scan the QR code in the paper version, you get access to additional interactive services and multimedia content. And let me give you an example.
Just imagine volcanic eruption can be much easier for children to understand when they can actually watch how magma rises through the earth, gets out onto the surface. Now seeing the movement of plates, the explosion, the flow of lava makes the whole process much more intuitive than just reading about it. It helps students learn faster and more effectively.
The initial feedback we are receiving from the teachers and parents and students is very positive. They love the SMARTbook. It not only supports the lesson dynamics, but also helps to learn at home and in transit.
The new generation textbook expands our value proposition and opens up possibilities for recurring digital access and platform engagement. Therefore, we intend to expand our offerings with additional subjects in the future, taking advantage of the upcoming reform in secondary.
Now next, I would like to give you an example of another digital opportunity, how to connect learning at school and outside of the classroom.
In 2024, we introduced the subscription-based, a student-parent assistant app as an additional tool to free access to a student e-register via a web browser.
The app serves as a digital command center for users across Poland providing information on grades, lesson plans, communication between school and parents as well as additional learning content.
For parents, it provides the real-time visibility into their child's progress, closing the gap between school and home. For students, it creates clarity, organizing assignments, deadlines, feedback and learning resources in a simple environment that reflects their lifestyle. For Sanoma, it represents a scalable sticky platform opportunity, and it is already having a profoundly positive impact on our business.
We reached over 850,000 subscriptions last year, and we see future opportunities for growth and revenue. And that is why our plans are to further develop the platform and to monetize it by adding more features and services such as tutoring or AI assistant to support students in their learning journey and to help parents navigate the maze of their daily school obligations.
Next, another example of digital opportunity within the classroom. I'm sure you have seen the headsets like this before. I have to tell you, I mean, this is a product I'm particularly proud of.
We've created the first interactive virtual reality learning experience that is fully aligned with the national curriculum. VR is unlocking an entirely new dimension of learning by making complex subjects more tangible and immersive. Instead of simply looking at the static diagrams, students can actually explore the 3D models of the human body, the solar system, and they can even conduct chemistry experiments in a virtual safe lab. And this way, we are helping we are helping students to increase their engagement, making the complex phenomena easier. And it is incredibly important, especially in our student engagement.
I often visit the schools myself. And a few weeks ago, I even taught a lesson to high school students. And believe me, keeping student attention and engagement for 45 minutes is the real challenge for any teacher.
And this is not a demo. We are already present in more than 1,000 schools with our solution, and we expect that thanks to additional government funding, we'll increase our footprint in the near future.
Clearly, for Sanoma, this represents a growth opportunity, and this sets us apart from the competition. As I mentioned before, we want to be always 1 step ahead.
So the key takeaways. I'm confident to say that our leading market position, the trust in our brand and offering allow us to think boldly about the future and create favorable conditions for further growth.
K-12 education in my country is evolving for the future. And we are committed to expanding our digital offering not only our school methods, and we want to focus particularly on our student-parent assistant app, which will serve as a springboard for further growth and introduction of new subscription-based AI-supported personalized services.
And with that, I will pass on to my colleagues here who will tell you more how personalized learning can fuel Sanoma's growth. Thank you very much.
Well, thank you, Andrzej, for these exciting digital opportunities. Good morning. My name is Sander de Groot. I am Meaning Director for Sanoma Learning in Belgium and the Netherlands. And I'm excited to talk to you today about the opportunity in personalized learning and this is really a growth opportunity for us as a company. And to bring this to life, I would like to take you to the Netherlands to give you a couple of examples of how that works exactly.
So first, let me give you a snapshot of the situation in the Netherlands. We go back over 140 years in this particular market. It's a sizable market and attractive market with roughly EUR 450 million in revenues, a little lower than 3 million of students. And what is really important, especially for personalized learning is that there is a high digital -- highly digitized environment, both at home, of course, but also in the classroom, which is actually an enabler for personalized learning, as you will see later on in this presentation. We have a very strong position there, the #1 position. And almost all classrooms in the Netherlands make use of one or more of our methods. So that's a really important element.
One thing to mention, which is a bit different from other countries is that 2/3 of our publishing content, learning publishing content is subscription-based, which means that teachers and students receive regular updates of content and platforms, digital platforms as well as textbooks, which makes up for a yearly subscription that is being paid in advance, which is a bit different from the cycles we've discussed earlier with 4-year cycles with upfront payments every 4 years.
So you've heard about personalized learning through all the presentations from Cristina, for instance. So why is K-12 really moving into this direction? So maybe take an example, if you looked at a classroom in the past, it typically look like 1 teacher, 30 pupils in 1 classroom, taking the same lesson, learning the same thing at the same time, at the same pace and not personalized. So that's optimizing the average learning outcomes for a classroom rather than the individual performance of students. And also, this is mostly a transactional setup where textbooks are at the heart of the revenue generation. But what we see is that individual students have individual needs so we are personalizing their experience in the classroom with printed and digital materials. And what that typically looks like, indeed, 1 classroom, 30 pupils, 1 teacher, and the teacher gives instruction to the class as a whole and then the individual students working in little groups or individually to do the actual learning in the classroom, making use of the interactive materials as well as the textbooks that are available.
This is a shift in optimizing the learning results not so much to the average of the classroom but to optimize the learning for individuals. And that's something that's really important. And of course, the teacher is at the heart of this. He manages this whole process and decides what content and methods he would like to use in a classroom.
So let's take one step back. Why is this important? Why is personalized learning linked to better outcomes. And that starts with the teacher needs. If you are a teacher in these days, you faced a couple of challenges. as is touched upon by both Alejandro and Rob in their presentations. There's teacher shortages throughout Europe. There's challenging dynamics in the classrooms, falling learning outcomes. So that's quite a challenge for teachers to work with. And we feel that personalized learning can make a real impact there to improve on that to take away those challenges. And it allows teachers to really measure the progress that students make that classrooms make and have the flexibility to do their own thing and focus on the learning and the teaching, which they like best.
So the second driver is around the touching upon the teacher the student needs. So the methods are really tailored toward their needs, and it's being personalized along the way and which makes those methods indispensable in the Dutch classrooms.
Being there, teachers and students alike they use digital technology to get the most out of education. And that's a nice link towards AI, which we see as an accelerator of this development and even further improve on personalization of the classroom.
As you'll hear from Charlotte, she will touch upon some new developments, especially the AI teacher assistant will be launching to support teachers even more. And AI tools, will always be used as a choice by teachers. They will make their own decision on whether to buy them as an add-on to the learning method or to use them or not.
So how does that look exactly in the classroom?
Well, teachers use the methods to do their preparation of their lesson and how to transfer their knowledge towards the classroom in an efficient way. So that -- and we provide guidance in the form of manuals but also all kinds of digital instructions and tools to make it available to the classroom as a whole. As you can see on this photograph.
So for students, it works like small groups of individuals making use of all the digital materials and the printed materials in a combination. So we provide learning workbooks as well as digital instruction and all the exercises that come with it.
And finally, we all want to know whether the learning has really taken place. So it's crucial that a teacher can really test the understanding of the progress that pupils make. So we provide not only the test but also dashboards to measure and follow the progress of not only the individual but also the classroom as a whole. And when the progress is not sufficient, there's remediation available for teachers to provide to their classes to make sure that every student reaches their full potential.
So in the Netherlands, we offer a full scope of learning methods on a large number of subjects and both for primary education and for secondary education to support this learning process. And although the age and subjects vary a lot, the process of personalized learning is not very much different. It's a combination of printed materials. It's digital platforms. It's about testing, dashboarding and all the tools that come with it.
So to make this bring this to life to you even more, I would like to show you 2 very different examples in the Netherlands.
First of all, I'm very proud to about our new brand-new Lijn3 offering. It's a proposition for early literacy and it's a major innovation in our market. and a big success as well.
It is used by 5- to 7-year-olds children for reading, spelling and language and which is well, the most important topic in the classroom at that age and time. So they use it almost the full morning. They make use of data this method, which makes up for like 9 hours of teaching with Lijn3 every week. So quite intense. So what does that look like? And why do teachers find this a very effective method?
Well, it's about meeting the needs of students and give them the best possible experience and give them attractive materials as well. Because you can imagine, if I were a teacher, and I would need to manage a classroom full of 5-year- to 7-year-olds. It's a quite diverse group for language skills, concentration, other skills, quite a task for a teacher to work with. And Lijn3 really addresses the differences that there really are between those students. So it puts teachers at the helm, as Cristina put it, to guide the class step by step through the learning process, by use of the different board, for instance and it offers children a great diversity of very attractive materials that they can use to do the actual learning. And this includes 9 board games, but also a digital library of over 100 books that cannot only be used in the classroom but also at home with parents. They had to get them involved as well.
So Lijn3 is also is seamlessly connected to the subsequent methods for 8 to 12 year olds for languages. So it's a very nice way to learn throughout your career at primary education. So that's Lijn3. They're being used by over 2,000 schools in the Netherlands and still growing, and we are really, really positive about this development.
Now let's dive into a very different example. Let's go to secondary education, 12- to 17-year-olds and the subject of biology. And we have a method called Biologie voor Jou in this particular market. And let me show you a bit about that.
Actually, it's the same personalized learning approach as we use in primary education. It's a combination of printed materials. It's about digital platforms. It's about testing, dashboarding and tools that come with it. So very similar Lijn3. Pupils experienced a great structure, a clear structure and a great learning, practical learning path, and teachers can adjust their approach to the individual students. And that's the reason why Biologie voor Jou is also very successful in the Dutch market and is the market-leading biology method in the Netherlands.
To summarize all of this, I would like to stress that -- before I hand over to Charlotte, who will talk about productivity, innovation and AI, I would like to summarize it this a bit.
It's what personalized learning is all about. It's a combination of printed and digital materials really tailored to the needs of individual students. It drives better learning outcomes. And it offers teachers the flexibility to do their teaching in the best possible way with up-to-date content and innovative tools. And by that, it's a key driver for us as a growth opportunity for Sanoma as a whole as well.
And now let me hand over to Charlotte.
Thank you, Sander, for that great example of blended learning and personalized learning. And good morning, everyone. My name is Charlotte Svensson. I'm the Chief Operating Officer of Sanoma Learning. I'm here today to talk about to you about 2 important areas for half to 2030. Firstly, productivity. We have created a foundation that enable us to do more with less, and it's a scalable model that delivers operating reach.
Secondly, I would like to go a bit deeper into what Rob talked about, the innovations and AI for teachers and students. But firstly, let's start with productivity. The foundation for what Sander, Alejandro, Andre talked about is our scalable model. And as you know, we have delivered program solar successfully, and Alex Green will talk about that more later. But I want to put emphasis into 3 of the areas, starting with harmonizing our digital platform, reusing components, modules, products innovated in 1 country and scale it across Sanoma's footprint.
And then we, of course, also have the organizational optimization. And what does that mean? It means to give you examples. It means that we have less layers less duplication, we move faster. And thirdly, centers of tech excellence. It gives flexibility to a lower cost but as well add access to tech talent. We can add adjust, adapt and expand teams and talent fast with cost discipline.
But what's next then around productivity? We see AI as an enabler for internal efficiency. Let's start with content. How can AI support us in the content creation process? It can adjust, reuse, correct and more. And Alejandro talk to you about Spain and the complexity of Spain, 17 regions, 5 languages. We used AI to -- in the translation process of Sanoma books into Catalan Bask and Galicia. We saved 80% of the time.
And as we always use human expert oversight. It means that we can create high-quality content at a faster pace to a lower cost. That human expert oversight is equally true when it comes to software development. Yes, it's about development cycles and being faster, but it's also about quality and documentation. [indiscernible] and well aware, but it has real benefits. Think about it. It's a new developer being productive from the start, less dependence on key resources, more time for high order thinking, investing in development into innovation and growth instead.
And then we have workflow automization and of course, it is about customer service. It's about admin. It is really freeing up time, letting AI agents do repetitive tasks. And here in this area, there's a lot of opportunities moving forward.
So in summary, on productivity, we have delivered real productivity gains. With our scalable model and AI coming into play, there are more opportunities here.
But AI is not only about internal efficiency. Rob talked about this, and he highlighted these areas, and I want to add to it. It is also about building products and innovating. And when we see AI being an integral part of the future of education for both teachers and students. And you can argue that the trend right now is more going back to the physical books, not wanting digital tools in the classroom, but there is a place for both books and AI as the fundamentals stay the same, what students learn, curriculum, how they learn, pedagogy; teaching approach, didactics; and high-quality trusted content, and that should not be underestimated in this world.
And some of my is ideally placed as we invest in our products and adapt to the learning goes and the individual learning personalized learning, you heard from Sander. And we are also the leading K-12 publisher in Europe, meaning that we have the trust and the reach to schools and teachers. But shall we take a look a bit more on the product side of this and what we are seeing?
We see that we will deliver AI products to help both the teachers and students to improve learning outcomes. And let me start with the student and the student assistant.
We build adaptive tools for personalized learning, building on what Sander said. There's a real individual need for the student to have its own learning path based on the method and the content already used in the classroom.
And with that, we will have one of our teachers here today to show you more about the type of tooling we will give to the students moving forward as one of the examples. There are more to come. And I will deep dive instead into a teacher system.
The problem we solve with AI teacher resistant is clear, simplifying time-consuming tasks, helping teachers to spend more time in the classroom and as well as simplifying life whether that is about planning a lesson, assessing grading feedback, adapting add-on content, and we take the LLM and connect it to our content with the pedagogy and the didactic in a safe environment. And we intend to move both fast and responsible in this. But instead of listening to me, shall we take a look at the product?
[Presentation]
Yes, that was an early version with one of the functionalities we will bring to market. And we intend to give early access to teachers in 2026, and that is based on our books across our markets.
And before we open up for questions, I want to boil this down to 3 themes. Firstly, our operating model is delivering real productivity gains and true economy of scale.
Secondly, AI for internal use will deliver real productivity opportunities. And thirdly, as a natural next step on personalized learning, we will bring cross-boarding AI products to market for both teachers and students.
With that, thank you. And over to you, Kaisa, for Q&A.
Thank you, Charlotte. Thank you all the presenters, and we are now happy to take questions for this first presentation section. And as said, we will start from here at the event venue, so please raise your hand and then wait for the microphone before you kick off. Please also introduce yourself before the question. Thank you.
2. Question Answer
This is Nikko Ruokangas from SEB. Thank you for the presentation. So far, I have a couple of questions, and I'll go one by one. And starting with the AI, which we have been or you have been discussing a lot so far and maybe on competed landscape. So how do you see AI affecting your competitive landscape going forward? And then do you see that creating more opportunities or threats.
Yes. So first of all, we try to follow that very carefully, of course, right, because it's an important point. What we currently see is that when you look at the competitive landscape, we, of course, compete with some other players that also go from the strength the content, right? We are normally the #1 player. That's also #2, #3. So that competition currently looks to be the key one because you need that trusted content to be able to deliver these AI tools.
Our view currently, and we look at all kinds of scenarios for this is that, yes, technology is there. And like the last 10, 15 years, edtech could pay a role in that. But fundamentally, so far that has been limited because you need content and the trust with the schools and the teachers as well. So we see the competition mainly from our the key players that also have this high-quality content.
All right. Thank you. Then on kind of financial impact as you discussed kind of 2 sides of AI benefits both from what you can offer more to your customers and students, teachers and then also internal efficiency. So which one do you see to be more important? And then kind of continuation of that if you think about your financial targets for learning. So how much do they impact includes impact from kind of a market contribution and then about your kind of own actions?
Yes. So the way I look at it is that there is a lot of opportunity to shape the market, and we try to bring that to life here as well, right? So if you think about it longer term, the new products that come to market, that's really, of course, where the excitement is, that's also where part of the growth driver comes from.
The faster we can do that, the better it would be. And for that, we need to be as efficient as possible with, for example, the content creation examples that Charlotte mentioned. So it's really that combination that I think is very powerful. But fundamentally, for the longer term, it's all about shaping the market with more personalized solutions.
If I look at it from an investment point of view, then we do see, of course, the opportunities to really benefit from like cost savings and things like that, but we also will invest a significant part of it in those new solutions and bringing the clicker to market. So that's sort of the way we think about it. And all that is reflected in our updated targets, which effectively says that our growth, of course, is mid-single digit on the revenue, and our costs will not be much higher than that there, where we see the margin improvement happening as well. That's partly benefiting from what I just described.
All right. So kind of from an investment point of view, you don't see kind of a big needs to increase your investment levels due to AI and [indiscernible]?
Well, if we would see that we would do it because I think nobody knows exactly how this will play out, right? At the moment, what we see is if we go fast now also on the productivity gains, that gives a lot of time and also money to invest in those personalized solutions.
And maybe one other thing to highlight here is we're working in a market that is, of course, not moving the fastest of all markets, right, in a way that it is really about continuing with that trusted relationship with the teachers. So from that point of view, it's not about the latest technology, the quickest. It's really doing it in the right way when also the governments and the schools are ready for them.
All right. Then the last one from me. You showed us great examples, for example, the personalized learning in Netherlands and the B2C solution in Poland. So how do you make sure that you can kind of scale these success stories in all of the countries you are operating in?
Yes, I think that's a really important point, right? So if you think about the personalized learning solutions, this starts now from developing it in one, right? So centralized development and then rolling it out in the different markets. So from that point of view. What Charlotte just highlighted for the AI teacher is, of course, we develop it and then roll it out and tweak it with the content that we have in those specific markets. So that's the real scale opportunity. We're not building it scratch in all the markets, building one, rolling it out and adapting when needed on the content.
Thank you.
This is Pia Rosqvist-Heinsalmi from DNB Carnegie. A few questions. If we start by discussing something you touched upon. Learning kind of moving slightly outside the classroom. So do you see a future where homes carry a larger cost of learning materials.
Yes, that depends market by market. I think Andrzej highlighted that very well for Poland. You probably noticed, of course, you look at total market size of Poland compared to Netherlands or Spain, it's very different. And that shows that there is also much more eagerness and need for parents to want to be more involved and also pay for it. That's the link we see also, let's say, if you look at solutions for the parents.
And then, of course, when you think about blended learning, personalized learning, it is a logical extension than what the child does in the classroom to also do that at home when you think about the preparing for the next day, et cetera. So it's a real continuum increasingly, I think.
And then maybe focusing on Poland and this parent-student assistant. What's the cost of it now? And what kind of monetization path do you see?
Yes, I don't think we comment specifically on the cost of an example. But the monetization path is very clear, which is a subscription model Andrzej already highlighted that. We've only just started it, and I think it's very exciting to see that about 850,000 parents see the benefits of doing that. And of course, it's a starting point for adding a lot more personalized solution going forward in a market where parent paid is important given the funding structure.
And then if I can finish off with the numbers question. So you mentioned the share the learning market in Europe is roughly EUR 5 billion and expected to grow. So what is your market share currently in that market? And how has it developed?
I think it's roughly if you look it depends a bit on how you calculate roughly 17% or so if you look at the total market. We see a lot of opportunity, as I think, highlighted on consolidating that market being one of the consolidators so to also increase that percentage. And of course, as you've seen, we're always trying to step into a market-leading position or the prospect of becoming a market leader when we actually step into a specific country.
Thank you. And then we have further questions from the back of the room. Just a moment, please.
Katri from Nordea. Firstly, thank you for the great presentations and the practical presentation you had of the new AI tools. Maybe I have a couple of questions regarding the new targets. Comparing to the previous targets you have for 2030, you released a couple of years back. Do you have any specific reason why you decided to move away from these numeric targets you had before to this more rough estimates? You mentioned that the market you're operating in isn't maybe moving the fastest. So are there any market reasons or uncertainty relating to current market conditions or any other reason you decided to move to these new targets?
Yes, I think it's obviously a very good point, right? So from our perspective, this better reflects how we think about growth. So if you think about the mid-single digit on the learning in particular in the high single digits, but effectively, of course, means we see opportunities to improve our margins over time.
I think it's also a better way for us how we look at the acquisitions. And there, of course, rather than the exact profitability at the point of acquisition, it's more about what can we do with an acquisition to then further improve it, either with our market-leading position or the synergies. So this now better reflects that.
And on media, just to also highlight that, there, we just try to stay very transparent if you think about what do we see underlying happening with the digital transformation and then the best of our ability, how do we see now the impact of the gambling market opening up?
Sure. And maybe just another quick question regarding the previous targets. How should we view the old target of reaching biotin it was, if I recall correctly, which of 75% was from learning. Is that still a kind of rough guiding point? Or have you completely moved away from it?
Well, we are as ambitious as we were then. So from that point of view, nothing has changed in the way how we look at M&A, et cetera. Of course, if you look at what happened over the last few years, all kinds of things have happened also to our top line. So when we reflected on target setting, we said it's more important to show our continued ambition here, where that exactly will end up when you think about it from a top line growth is always more difficult to see. But the ambition is there with that really disciplined focus that I highlighted.
Sure. And maybe lastly, regarding learning and it's new markets and acquisitions you talked about. You mentioned that you are considering entering new markets. Which new markets would this be? Have you do you have any mention or any guidance on that?
You mean with the focus on K-12, right, to start off with that. Very good. Well, I mean you look at the map, and you can see where we would be. Our focus is on Europe. You can never rule out that something really exciting happens that could slightly go beyond it, if we look at acquisition. But really, Europe is the focus, and then it's not difficult to see where, of course, we would like to play. But it always takes 2 parties for that. And we are a rush. We have a good scale at the moment. We benefit from it, but we have the ambition to grow further.
Thank you. We will now round off this Q&A. There were a few questions from the chat that we already actually now answered. And we will have a final Q&A when you have, again, an opportunity for questions, but we will continue with the program. So now you really see how teaching in Finland with blended materials works.
So first, I would like to invite Kirsi on stage to introduce our teachers. Thank you.
Good morning, everyone, also on my behalf. My name Kirsi Harra-Vauhkonen, and I'm the Managing Director of the Nordic region here at Sanoma Learning. You have heard a lot about the future of K-12 education and also our learning materials business in different regions. And this particular session will then focus more on what teaching and learning is in practice.
We will start from the primary education, and I have the pleasure to invite [indiscernible] to the stage. [indiscernible] comes from Kuopio and has a background as a primary education teacher. For the past 15 years, he has been also creating a lot of learning materials for the primary in several subjects and lately also for mathematics. So please welcome [indiscernible] will discuss 3 key points from his perspective in primary education and also show us how it actually is to learn mathematics in primary classroom today in Finland. Over to you, Jarmo.
Thank you. Thank you. Good morning, everybody and best wishes from primary school. Today, I'm proud to present to you Sanoma's [indiscernible] latest primary school mathematic material called [indiscernible], a unique path for every math learner.
In my presentation, I'm going to focus on 3 points: blended teaching, differentiation and blended learning. And we start with blended teaching first.
If we think a primary school teacher, the main tool for primary feature is the digital teaching material. And why is that? It because it's very easy to use and it saves a lot of teacher's time.
Primary school teacher needs to keep lessons like 10 different subjects during 1 week 25 lessons. So they don't have time to plan a lesson from the scratch. So that's why digital teaching material helps the teacher. It includes all the animations, videos, digital teaching materials, all the assessment materials they need during lesson. So it's easy for them to plan the lesson when everything is ready made for them. So it helps the everyday life, and it helps to focus on teachers', students's different needs as well. With the digital teaching material, it includes all the things the teacher needs so that they can keep versatile teaching and use different kind of learning methods as well.
Let's take a look at in action, what a digital teaching material look like.
So I'm going to take you to a multiplication lesson. And if someone is now concerning that I'm going to teach your math skills, you can relax, we're going to take a look at this from teacher's point of view. On the menu on the left side, there is all the content the teacher needs. The content of the book, warm-up activities, teaching methods and also the digital exercises.
In primary school, it's necessary that the visual appearance of the digital teaching material is the same. And in all Sanoma Pro's learning materials, the menu on the left is -- looks like the same. So the headings are same. So no matter if you're teaching English or math, the headings are the same here. So it's very easy for teachers to use it.
If I would start a lesson with you, I would start with video. In our material videos challenge the students. We want to present a real-life problem, and we want the students to solve the problem. In this particular video, there are 2 characters arguing which one has more stickers. And in this lesson, we want to learn about commutative property or multiplication and the third person, the one in the middle, comes in and try to solve the problem.
We're going to take a look at the end of this video. The video is in Finnish, but I think you can figure out the problem and the solution to this as well.
[Presentation]
So that was one example of the digital material. We continue with the differentiation then.
If we think a school nowadays, the biggest challenge, in my opinion, is differentiation for the teachers. The school pupils are more diverse than ever. They need more support. There are different backgrounds, different skill levels, different support needs, and this challenge teaches a lot.
There's also been a growing diversity in the classrooms and inclusive expectations, and education requirements are increasing a lot. There has been a lot of new added emphasis on learning support, and teachers are expected to provide personalized feedback to every student in the same classroom with their peers.
And also, parents expectations have increased a lot lately. They expect that the teacher can provide support to each kid in the classroom. So all these expectations challenge the teachers a lot nowadays.
I want to show you one example from our book, what is differentiation, how we solve the problem in the book. itself. Here, we are in the same lesson. At our book consists of 2 spreads. The first spread is consists of basic skills, and every people do the exercise is on the first threat. At the end of the spread, there is a self-assessment section. In this section, the pupils answers how they did on the first spread. If they thought that the exercises were a bit difficult, they can mark, for example, 1 box here. If they think that the exercises were easier, they can mark 2 or 3 boxes.
And according to this self-assessment, the pupils choose the exercises they want to do the second spread. And on the second spread, we have on the left side, the basic exercises, and they are marked with a poll. And then on the right side, there are more challenging exercises and they are marked with the cloud. So the kids can choose which path they want to do the exercises. Of course, they can also mix those parts and do exercises from both of those paths. But this way, the kids get exercises they want and they need. And in this way, the teacher has more time to help the kids that really need help during the lesson. So this was only one example of that. But I think we've received a lot of positive feedback from teachers about this solution because it helps to save again the teacher's time to focus on things they want to focus.
The third topic I'm going to talk about is blended learning. Now we take a look at the lesson from a 9-year-old kid point of view. The basic of the lesson is the book, the printed book. It offers logically structured material and it's used in every lesson. But if you combine the digital materials to the printed books, you get even more supportive learning and you get even more personal feedback. It also increases students' motivation. And of course, when the motivation is increased, the learning becomes better. Sanoma is offering Bingel, a virtual learning environment and its main idea is that it can give students exercises they need. For example, when they answer the questions there correctly, it gives more difficult exercises to the student. And on the other hand, if they answer the questions incorrectly, it gives easier exercises. So this way, the student gets exactly the exercises they need at the time.
And we have received a lot of positive feedback from the guardians of this feature because they can trust the is doing Bingel exercise, if they can trust that they get the exercises they really need.
I want to end up my presentation with one of pupils' favorites and exactly 1 of mine as well.
Usually, gamification is associated with the digital environments, but we have brought a math themed escape room in the book. You can find it at the end of the book if you want to look at the book there.
This is a very good example how we keep up the motivation during the math lesson, but this is also a very good example of the group work we do when we make these materials. There is, of course, as authors who do the exact exercises there. But we also need editors, layout designers. Everybody is focusing on bringing the engaging experience engaging pedagogical logically structured materials for teachers and students. And the main focus for us all, is, of course, to bring the joy of learning and teaching to every classroom. Thank you.
Thank you very much, [indiscernible]. And then we will move over to the secondary education. And I have the pleasure to invite Kirsi Silansari on stage. Please welcome Kirsi. Kirsi is a very experienced English teacher in upper secondary and also one of the authors of our new English method for the [indiscernible] elements that you have on the table as well.
Some of you might remember Kirsi from our previous Capital Markets Day, and we invited her back to share her experiences how things may have evolved and changed since then and also to share her key points about secondary education at the moment. Over to you, Kirsi.
Thank you. Yes, my name is Kirsi. If you were here 2 years ago, I was talking about the hybrid materials and the learning analytics that I use in my teaching. But today, I'm going to give you an update on what's happening in upper secondary school today and what the development has been like in the past 2 years.
I'm going to be touching on 3 key points, teaching English today and the meaning of study materials in my work, plus also the role of artificial intelligence and education in 2025.
Now you may all remember what it was like to study English when you were at school. And what we do differently today is what I'm going to be talking about. Yes, there's still grammar and exercises and text some vocabularies, but we also teaching thinking mainly critical thinking through English. We teach contact through English. We teach communication skills through English. We teach the students to do augmenting and debating and standing for a cause and also attending job interviews in English.
The Finnish national core curriculum mandates the teams that we need to teach, but the learning materials and the teachers need to be up to date because the world is developing fast and education actually needs to be a vision of the future.
We don't want the students to graduate with skills and knowledge that is already outdated when they graduate. The curriculum [indiscernible] these are set as a goal for teaching in upper secondary schools, and they include well-being interaction and creativity, plus also societal, environmental, ethical, global and cultural competencies, and we teach them in English.
We also teach through several different media. We have the study materials that offers text for new information. Sometimes we watch a video or we do online research we listen to podcast or create podcasts. We have discussions and listening comprehension exercises. We saw ethical dilemmas in different ones. We might even look at some chemical compounds and what they're formed of. We built puzzles forming logical sentences and assays and research reports, and we do that in English.
Most students show individual interests and styles and characteristics, and the teacher in the classroom has to cater for all of these tastes and different learning styles by creating individual path for each of these learners to reach their goals.
Most importantly, what we're trying to do is plant a seed of passion for learning for individual growth and gaining new knowledge. So how do we do this? I'm going to give you an example of how these competencies are taught in our Element series.
In Module 5 in Elements, we start by looking at the future of food. There's a text where a financer, a research team, a start-up and a food activist express their ideas on the future of food. So with this 1 text only, we teach sustainability technology, economy and ethics in English.
This leads me to my other key point, the meaning of study materials in teaching today. Now if one person compiles the study material, we get a material that represent that one person's values and interests and perspectives however wide or professional they may be. But if we gather a team of professionals, teachers from various backgrounds with various knowledge, we get study materials that reflect several viewpoints and also represents the world better.
When you build a team of pedagogues and experts, you can create a product that is more than a product built by 1 person only. And now we can also discuss whether we should let AI build the study if we did that only without the teaching experts there, AI would provide us with an inauthentic narrow of the world. It doesn't know what we need or where we want to go with teaching. It basically looks at the task through algorithms that are essentially just calculations of likelihood. It would ignore the less traveled areas, the interesting ones. It would provide us with material that is mechanical, repetitive and mostly also incorrect.
I mean neither AI or I would have thought of finding a text on the [indiscernible] valid answer to teach Arts, one of my co-authors did. Or maybe I wouldn't have come up with a text on health and different kinds of treatments from the past, like is in the [indiscernible] to cure a cold, but one of my co-authors did. And maybe one of my co-authors wouldn't have suggested a text on the different stages of economic cycles, but I did. So these examples prove that a diverse author team builds a diverse study book series.
The meaning of a professional author team for a learning material is essential. We need the variety. We need the pedagogical expertise to inspire the teachers, but most importantly, to inspire the students to use English as a tool to learn about the world, not just the world that they see, but also the whole world that they don't see in their vicinity.
As I mentioned before, we can't really talk about the world or education without taking AI into account. That's a given fact today.
We can paint the black and white picture at schools, saying true learning only happens when the learner does it themselves without the assistance of AI. And then at the far end, we can say, okay, we should let AI do everything that it is capable of doing and focus on other things. But as teachers, we need to draw the line on how much of AI use we allow, if any, and in which context we allow the students to use AI, if in any. We don't want the students' knowledge and skills to be sort of superficial, kind of veneer or cover for the lack of true know-how.
So what I prefer is the option where we teach the students to do it themselves with assistance of AI in some parts. The study materials, as seen today, they will innovatively include AI exercises in the future, to some extent, yes. And I think that's a good development. As a teacher, I support that development, but it needs to be carefully planned and implemented by a team of teaching experts.
I am going to take you through some pedagogically well-thought tasks that AI currently assist with the Element series in my work. There are 3 exercise types in the book that we use to practice oral communication skills that it takes my time off of giving feedback for the students and also it makes the path individual for each student. So what we can do is practice pronunciation with the help of AI. Again, if the student feels very confident in pronouncing these words, they can go straight on to recording them and getting feedback from. But if the student feel less confident, they can listen to the recording and practice and then record it. These are words that are gathered by the team of authors. So we know that these words are difficult for finished students to pronounce. And now AI gives some feedback on the words that we have chosen.
So let me record the first one, and I'll show you what kind of feedback gives me.
Acoustic. I got it green, 98% doing pretty well. If I tried the next war, this might already be a bit more difficult. So I could listen to the recording. Choir, choir, and then record it myself. Another exercise type that we use currently is practicing the words in context.
Again, we, as the textbook authors have gathered these sentences, because in these sentences, we know that the students struggle in pronouncing the word in bold. It is pronounced differently in these contexts. So again, what I would do as a student, I could do this, for example, at home. I would listen to the sentence. The concert will be broadcast live on TV. And then I would record it and then in the next sentence, as you can see, it's not any more live, it's long live rock enroll. So the word live is pronounced differently, and this would allow me to practice it.
And then the last exercise type that AI assists with is a conversation type of exercise. So in this exercise, we, as teachers, have gathered the sentence starters, the conversation starters. And now if I wanted to start a conversation with AI I would click on record and then choose one of the conversation starters.
Hello, in your opinion, is it better to buy and download music or stream it online? And then I would wait for AI to respond to my question. Might take a while. Let's see.
Hello, both buying and downloading music and streaming it online have their advantages. Buying and downloading music allows you to own the files permanently and listen without Internet access.
So AI is generating an answer to my question. And then as you can see at the end of it, they're asking me a follow-up question that I can then answer and then maybe ask something from AI again, and we can have conversation so I can practice my conversation skills, for example, at home, individually at my own level, and this will adapt to my level as well.
So if you want to try your hand at these exercises you can during the coffee break.
To wrap things up, we want the students to go to the books and go online with a purpose with curiosity but most importantly, with critical thinking. But we also want the study materials and any technological devices to give them insights into the world, we want them to feed their curiosity. We might even want the study materials to give them something that they couldn't even imagine finding.
The demands of the modern world, the changing world can be met with quality learning materials, inspired teachers, expert teachers inspired learners and with pedagogically critically reviewed use of AI assistance in education. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Kirsi. And I hope that these presentations brought you some curiosity about our learning materials. And if you want to have a bit closer look at them, the demo booths will be over there during the break, and both given Jarmo will be there also to explain to you a little bit more. Thank you very much.
And as mentioned, we will now enter into a break. And the webcast will continue at 11:45 EET. And as said here in the room, please use the opportunity to get to know our solutions. There is a solution also from the media side that you can try out, it's called Watch Dog, which is kind of looking for new topics over Internet. and coffee and refreshments at the same place where the breakfast was available as well.
So with this, thank you, and enjoy the break.
[Break]
And as I promised in the morning, we will now focus on the Media business and the growth opportunities we see there. After that presentation, we will look at the financials, what this all means for Sanoma Group now in '26-'30. Following that, we will have a joint Q&A with Rob, Alex, and Pia answering the remaining questions. So with this, I would like to invite Pia on stage, please.
Good to see you all. I'm Pia Kalsta, CEO of Media Finland. It feels great to be here today for two reasons. Since we last met in CMD '23, Media Finland has continued its digital growth, and we have improved our profitability in a quite challenging macro environment. Now, over 10 years in the role after changes in the media industry and Media Finland, I see this coming period towards 2030 as truly exciting. I will share with you today why. As we look ahead to our strategy towards 2030, it focuses on three main areas: we will continue to grow in digital, capture the opportunities of AI, and grow in advertising when the gambling market opens up in '27. Let's dive into each of these areas together today.
But before we look to the future, let's take a moment to reflect on where we are today. With our strong brand portfolio, we have a unique position in Finland. Our portfolio consists of well-known brands known to all Finns. These brands with strong heritage are highly relevant today. Out of our total net sales, two-thirds come from journalism, one-third from entertainment, and the share of subscription revenue is increasing. We reach 96% of Finns weekly, 89% digitally. Over 80% of our digital visits are direct, and over 90% of all our digital usage comes from direct traffic.
I want to stop there. The importance of direct traffic is increasing for media companies. Now that AI is disrupting traditional Google search, referral traffic is unpredictable, and we know that traffic from social media could change overnight due to unpredictable changes in algorithms. With this portfolio, with high reach and an extremely high share of direct traffic, we are a truly exceptional media company, not only in Finland but actually even in the world. Just to give you one example, ILTA-SANOMAT is the most used digital news media company when measured by usage per capita in the world.
We have a robust platform to continue our successful digital transformation and improve profitability. We stand on a solid foundation. With this portfolio, combined with first-party data, we are the marketing partner of choice for our advertisers, and we have the scale to produce and deliver unique content for our audiences. We are digitally advanced. After all these years in this role, we are reaching a point in digital transformation that I have been waiting for. We have progressed to a phase where in news, digital growth for our key brands starts to compensate for structural print decline. In TV, VOD growth is strong enough to turn the TV net sales to growth.
This business has demonstrated its resilience over the past years with corona, with the war in Ukraine. We have a good solid track record of driving transforming business and delivering healthy profit. We plan to continue on that track. We will not only take care of the digital growth and our net sales, but we will also continuously improve our productivity. Although most of the productivity work consists of continuous work we do throughout the organizations, larger actions also take place. In early November, we announced the closure of the Tampere printing plant and consolidation of our news printing into the Sanomala facility in Vanta. This strong foundation gives us confidence to execute our strategic plan towards 2030.
Now let's take a closer look and see how our digitalization has progressed and shaped our business. Look at development from the past 10 years. Our weekly digital reach has grown from an already high 70% to 89%. However, the most pronounced change is the strong growth of digital-only subscriptions. Now over 50% of all our subscriptions are digital only. During that time, TV has transformed from a linear advertising-funded business to a digital business where subscription revenue is the largest net sales component.
When you look at this picture over all these years, you might ask why aren't we 100% digital already. Even though digital usage increases, our customers know how to use digital. They enjoy the experience of print and linear. Given that we want to have high reach and high scale here in Finland, we will digitalize at the same pace with our customers. But the direction is definitely digital. So Media Finland today is a modern integrated digital media company. After the development and consolidation of our systems, processes, and very importantly, data, we are also well-positioned to take the next step with AI.
The media landscape is always evolving. We continue to see changes in consumer behavior, business models, technology, and regulation. When we look at consumers, we see ever-increasing competition for consumers' time. Gen AI is exploding the volume of content with various quality. This development makes trust the key asset for any news media company. There will not be a lack of content, but there will be a lack of content that you can trust and that is worth your valuable time. According to the annual Reuters News Media report, Finland continues to have the highest trust in news in the Western world. That makes us and Finland unique.
When we look at business models, we see increasing consumers' willingness to pay for digital, supporting the media industry going forward. We also see the stickiness of print and willingness to accept price increases, which is lengthening the life cycles of print products. Gen AI is changing the way content is being produced, as you could see in the demo here today, and how content is being distributed and consumed. Regarding media and AI, the key questions currently are what will happen to search and how to differentiate and maintain trust. Finally, what is the impact of regulation?
So far, regulators in Europe and Finland have not really been able to regulate global platforms. Instead, the focus has been to regulate domestic media and especially to enforce that regulation because that's easier to do. But now we start to see a change. One example is the gambling regulation that is being prepared. There, we saw a real willingness to create a level playing field between domestic media and global platforms. Another key topic is, of course, the protection of unique content and IPRs in the age of AI.
What are our strategic priorities going forward amid all these changes? They are very clear. We will continue to drive digital growth, both in subscriptions and advertising. This growth will be supported by the work we have been doing for the past years in our capabilities like data and personalization. Those capabilities will combine with our new cross-functional operating model that has made us faster and more customer-centric. We will not only grow in digital, but at the same time, we will smartly optimize print and linear, given that they are more resilient businesses than earlier thought. We know the value they deliver to our customers.
We are embedding AI into our operations to improve productivity and to free up time for value-added work and innovation. We have chosen key focus areas for AI to drive real business results. Given how important trust is in our business, we are very transparent about the way we use AI, and our people are always overseeing the work and responsible for the results. With our strong portfolio across media segments, high reach, and first-party data, we are well-positioned to capture the growth from the gambling market opening in '27.
Let's now take a deeper look into digital growth and specifically at digital subscriptions. I'm pleased to hand over to Jenni Nummela.
Good afternoon also on my behalf. My name is Jenni Nummela, and I'm the Chief Commercial Officer for B2C at Media Finland in BST. I've had the privilege to work with our media brands and their digital growth and transformation for almost 20 years now. First, in entertainment and TV, and now focusing on our news brands and our subscription business. This is an area that is the cornerstone of Media Finland's B2C strategy and the core engine of our transformation. In the next minutes, I'll show how subscriptions have grown into the largest part of our business and, more importantly, how we're set to drive growth in the future.
At the heart of our success in subscriptions is our content and our brands. They're attractive because they genuinely matter to people. In journalism, the need for trustworthy curated content is stronger than ever. Our flagship brand, Helsingin Sanomat, is the largest news media subscription brand in Finland and, relative to population, has the largest reach among Nordic subscription news media peers. In TV, against many popular beliefs that everybody only watches Netflix these days, the Finns want to watch domestic programming. With Finnish stars and Finnish hosts, this programming is on the top of most viewed programming lists and drives subscriptions. It is very cool to sell these products that are part of everyday lives of the Finns.
Even though it all starts with content and brands, to complement this, we've developed a strong know-how of running and growing digital subscription business, both in News Media and in TV. Where are we now? Over the past few years, as Pia already described, the weight of the subscription business in our portfolio has increased. It is now the largest part of our business. This underlines the continued shift toward a more recurring, more predictable revenue base. Digital subscriptions are a main driver for this development. In the graph, you see that the total subscription base at Media Finland, the digital subscription base has grown 6% per year over the past 3 years. This includes both News Media and TV, and in News Media, both digital-only subscriptions and digitally active customers who have a print component in their subscription. The key isn't whether you have the print component or not, but the digital relationship and engagement. We've grown 6% per year over the past 3 years, and we expect the growth to continue at a similar pace.
What does this look like from the revenue perspective? Our digital-only revenue growth has been strong. In News Media, with the ongoing transformation of our subscription business, we've grown at about 13% per year over the past 3 years. Going forward, in terms of subscription penetration in News Media, there is room to grow and some unmet demand in younger cohorts. When I speak about younger, I mean under 45-year-olds, which might not sound that young for all of you. Teens and people in their 20s are not traditionally big news subscribers. You have other priorities in life at that point. We aim to build a relationship with them so that before they reach their 30s and life gets more settled, and you are more likely to subscribe to any news media, for example, we are already an alternative there.
In TV's subscription VOD, the so-called SVOD, we've seen strong revenue growth over the past years, over 20% per year. This reflects the rapid expansion phase of the market that we've been in. The growth dynamics are evolving. By that, I mean that we expect the current and future growth to rely more than earlier on ARPU, the average revenue per user. This development is visible in international comparisons, as many of you probably are aware. In SVOD, we've been particularly strong in younger demos. In terms of volume growth opportunity, the focus is more on the older demos as opposed to the younger demos in News Media. Our ambition is high single-digit growth in both News Media and TV's SVOD.
How do we plan to drive that growth? I'll illustrate with an example from News Media and our thinking behind productization and sales strategy. First of all, our customers have diverse needs and diverse willingness to pay. Our value creation is based and must be based on a deep understanding of both. Our productization vision is clear. We have and continue to develop an offering that meets those diverse needs. From entry-level digital products on the left-hand side of the graph, for example, for new and younger subscribers where the willingness and maybe also the ability to pay is lower, and also to ensure that we have a pipeline of new digital loyalists in the making all the way to the right-hand side to premium bundles for our more engaged readers, including maybe also print.
There are three main levers for value creation. Firstly, regarding our existing customers, premiumization and personalization. Premiumization here means creating new features that increase the value experienced by our customers. This, of course, when we succeed, increases customer satisfaction but also unlocks new revenue potential. We are set to create these growth pockets here depicted with the dotted line boxes. In the personalization part, through targeting, we ensure that a customer finds the right productization for him or her, and for example, that the price reflects the true value our products deliver to a customer.
Secondly, reaching new customer segments, for example, by using targeted offers so that we don't undermine the value experienced by our existing loyal customers. We've researched the demand in non-customers quite recently, and the results are promising. Younger people are used to paying for digital subscriptions with entertainment services like SVOD and podcasts. According to our research, younger audiences are willing to pay for digital news, given, of course, that the price and productization is right for them.
Thirdly, the print transformation. We are good at managing print with discipline, but in a customer-centric way. This is a premium product still driving high willingness to pay. In an era of screen fatigue and constant modifications, print offers something rare, a calm experience. Not only older segments but also other audiences value these types of curated and tangible experiences. These can be, for example, weekly or weekend subscription formats. Ultimately, our focus is on delivering the right value to the right customer at a price reflecting that value as well as possible.
We have quite recently refined this thinking. We've invested in IT systems that help us enable it and be in this sort of foundation-building mode. These are capabilities that are just coming in and are not visible in our historical performance, but we think they position us well for more profitable growth going forward.
Finally, some concrete results. Part of our subscription business know-how is driving scalable digital growth through productization of existing brands and content. As the latest example, we have IS Extra and +Kaikki product bundle, where we have 100,000 subscribers combined. This is achieved in a fairly short amount of time, with these products launching 1 to 1.5 years ago. A more established example is our entertainment and sports video service, Ruutu+, where we have over a decade-long strong track record in delivering growth. As Pia said, transforming TV, traditionally a B2B business, into this sort of hybrid where subscriptions account for a large share of revenue. Our SVOD subscription base fluctuates with content schedules, for example, sports series. To give you an idea of the scale, we have about 400,000 subscribers.
I want to leave you with a thought that with these brands and this content, our customer understanding, our refined strategy, the new capabilities, and so forth, we are ready to raise the bar and drive the next wave of subscription growth at Sanoma Media Finland. Now I'll hand back to Pia. Thank you.
Thank you, Jenni. Jenni and her team make excellent work to drive our subscription growth with the help of data and, as you could hear, deep customer insight. Let's then turn to advertising and specifically to gambling advertising. As you know, the domestic advertising market has been slightly declining for the past years due to weak macro conditions in Finland. Going forward to '26, we expect the domestic markets to stabilize as consumer confidence and GDP start to gradually grow. However, the real game changer for the domestic advertising market will be the opening of the gambling market in '27, which will bring a step change to this market.
The gambling market is expected to open up to a license model in '27. In our figures here, we assume the start to be in January, but the start could also be delayed until, let's say, mid-'27. We will learn that soon, given that the law should be passed in the parliament still before Christmas. According to the current plan, advertising will be permitted in the majority of the categories where we are present without any major regulations. For example, gambling advertising will be allowed in prime time TV and radio. Regulators have understood that you cannot protect minors with time limits in media.
We assume the first years to be peak years as advertisers will invest to build their positions and brands here in Finland, and then markets will stabilize towards 2030, similar to other markets. Brand building means that advertisers will invest in TV, radio, sponsorship, and digital. Over time, as the market stabilizes, the share of digital will grow. At Sanoma, we will be positioned well in both phases.
So how do we estimate the size of this potential? We estimate our share of the gambling advertising to be 20 million plus during the first years. How have we ended up with these figures? We have learned from other markets when the gambling market has opened. We have discussed with the gambling operators and used our advertising inventory as input. We estimate that the total incremental marketing spend from gambling operators is around EUR 200 million in the first years, with EUR 150 million of that to be spent in advertising. Fifty percent of that EUR 150 million is expected to be spent in the domestic market and 50% on global platforms. This global market growth estimate assumes an increasing price level with increasing demand in key advertising categories. We estimate that we get roughly 1/4 of the domestic ad spend, resulting in EUR 20-plus million for the peak years. The margin contribution is expected to be high, given that it's advertising. This might be a conservative estimate, but I'll be happy to increase it later if there is a reason to.
When the gambling market opens up, Media Finland will be well positioned for several reasons. With our comprehensive presence across media segments and target groups, combined with rich first-party data for compliant targeting, we are well positioned to work with these companies and capture the growth. We are looking for a sustainable long-term approach that takes into account the consumer experience in our media and other advertising customers. This means that we will not only comply with all regulations, but we will also use, for example, frequency caps in our brands to safeguard the consumer experience and guarantee a quality advertising context for our other advertisers. Gambling represents a major growth opportunity for us, and we will approach this opportunity responsibly.
Let's now turn to another opportunity, AI, and how it's shaping the media industry and how we are approaching it. For media, AI represents the latest phase in the digital transformation. Like before, media is at the forefront of this change. Consumer and advertiser behavior is changing. Thanks to a high share of direct traffic, high trust, and high subscription penetration combined with digital capabilities, we are in a good position to embrace AI. As I said before, but I want to repeat this, it is of utmost importance for us to harness AI responsibly. We want to safeguard trust and always use human oversight.
Let's take a closer look at our approach to AI and its impact. At Media Finland, we embrace AI as both an opportunity to drive productivity and increase customer value and provide innovation. Our approach is both top-down and bottom-up. By top-down, I mean we automate FTE-heavy data-driven core processes with always human oversight. In the bottom-up approach, we augment individual work with new AI tools.
Let's see how all this translates into tangible business results. In our top-down approach, our current focus is to leverage AI in four key areas. I dare to say that in the AI-driven newsroom transformation, we are among the forerunners even internationally. Our teams have both the capabilities and motivation to drive the change, and we are well advanced. When we look at marketing, operating a large portfolio of brands, including TV show brands, we purchase and produce a vast amount of marketing content for our own use and for our advertisers. We see great potential in using AI in the production of video, audio, pictures, and whole campaigns.
Our digital development leverages AI at every stage of the process. All our developers use AI in their daily work, from planning to coding, to testing, to documentation. Already, 1/3 of all our code is produced by AI. Finally, in B2B advertising sales, especially in the SME segment, with increased automation, we will be able to serve underserved customer segments and deliver new growth, meaning that our salespeople will have more time to spend with customers.
Having worked with AI for years and specifically with Gen AI in recent years, we can see that in most use cases, we can improve both productivity and customer value at the same time. This is great news. We are not only more productive, but we are faster. We can improve our offering, whether it's deeper insights, better solutions, or a broader variety of content types for our readers to choose from. All these initiatives that I described here are running at full speed and are expected to deliver significant business impact by 2030. The fastest and most visible impact is expected to come from reduced external spend and growth from underserved customer segments.
To bring this to life, let's look at how our journalists are transforming the newsroom with the help of AI.
As we are approaching the end of Media Finland's presentation, let's recap our strategic priorities and take a look at our financial targets. To sum up, Media Finland is built on a strong platform to succeed in an evolving media landscape. Our strategic priorities are clear. We will continue to drive digital subscription and advertising growth and optimize print and linear. We are embracing AI at full speed to unlock productivity and customer value. These efforts will support stable net sales development with an increasing share of digital and low single-digit improvement in operating profit. On top of this, we are preparing to capture significant advertising growth as the gambling market opens up in '27, creating a step-up in our profitability given the high margin of advertising revenue. I'll be very happy to embark on this journey with a highly capable and motivated Media Finland team. Thank you. And now I hand over to my colleague, Alex Green.
Per, and good afternoon to you all. You've now heard from our business leaders in both Learning and Media Finland about the exciting journey we have between now and 2030, a journey of growth that leads us to high single-digit earnings growth for the period of 2026 to '30. Now let me take you through what it looks like in the financials. I'll start with the chart that Rob started out on earlier, showing growth powered by Learning and our unique position.
To go through the financial targets again: On Learning, we'll see mid-single-digit comparable net sales growth and high single-digit adjusted operating profit growth. The Dutch distribution business, which has that EUR 40 million drop in '26, will actually improve the Learning margin in '26, clearly above 23%. As you've just heard Pia talk through, stable comparable net sales in Media Finland will lead to low single-digit operating profit growth with efficiencies coming through. On top of that, there's a substantial opportunity from the opening up of the gambling market with EUR 20-plus million per annum. This growth is measured using our 3-year annual CAGR, based on the previous 3 years.
In terms of the balance sheet, we've adjusted our net debt to adjusted EBITDA target to 2.5x or lower, based on the strong balance sheet we have following the deleveraging we set out to do from the last Capital Markets Day. Our dividend policy remains unchanged. This growth story is supported by a unique sustainability profile, where we have a positive impact on millions of people through students across Europe and also through our sustainable media with trusted journalism and inspiring entertainment. This is supported by four key pillars: trustworthy data, responsible business practices, valued people, and a vital environment, all of which have clear targets and where we are well positioned to hit them going into 2030. On the right-hand side, you can see our sustainability ratings, which confirm our strong position in this area.
Now let me take two slides to focus on 2026, starting with Program Solar, which Charlotte talked about in her presentation earlier. We set out with Program Solar to increase the margin of the Learning business. In doing that, we worked on the program streams you see on the left, which Charlotte highlighted the key ones and said that this would generate EUR 55 million of increased earnings from 2026. That we have achieved, and we will demonstrate that in 2026. We set out to do this at a one-off cost of EUR 45 million booked in IACs, and we have also achieved that. The majority of that, EUR 39 million, was booked in 2023 and 2024, and the remainder is almost done. We've delivered on this going into '26.
So what does that look like? On this slide on profitability, left-hand side Learning, right-hand side Media Finland. If you look on the left-hand side, we have been increasing the profitability, and in 2026, it goes clearly above 23%. Up to 23% with the full solar impacts. If you remember, I have talked about this before, the impacts of solar were delayed getting into the P&L for two clear reasons. Firstly, the fact that we had reduced in our restructures the size of our content creation teams in a number of key places. That is booked as pre-pub onto the balance sheet and then depreciates over time. Therefore, it takes a little while for the depreciation to fully hit. Secondly, our improved operating model reduced the unit costs of production, which then hits us in a positive way when the volumes go up. In 2026, with the curriculum renewals that you've heard about, that lifts the volumes, therefore, lifts the margins through the unit costs. That's taking us along with the mix impact from the Dutch distribution drop, which then lifts it above the 23% to be clearly above there for '26.
On the right-hand side, Media Finland, you heard Pia talk about the improvements made over the years in terms of efficiencies, creating margin improvements. The key assumption we're making here for 2026 is, as Pia talked about, the stabilization of the Finnish advertising market, which is one of our big uncertainties as that is not necessarily certain. But with the stabilization of the advertising market and the continued efficiencies, an example of which is the closure of the Tampere plant, that does lead us to assuming the stabilization, a slightly increased margin here in 2026 with, if you remember, the large game-changing change coming in 2027 with the advertising market opening. Worth pointing out also with the closing of the Tampere printing plant, some of the savings there will be reinvested into the preparation for that advertising market opening.
Now let's look at the longer period. On this chart, we look at between 25% and 30% in terms of net sales growth. First of all, on the learning side, you've heard about each of these buckets. We talked about the Dutch distribution drop, but we talked about the curriculum renewals, both in Alejandro and in Andrzej's presentations, lifting us up and also personalized learning and innovation with Sander and Charlotte. This lifts us to mid-single-digit growth on the sales side and leading to high single-digit growth for profitability.
On Media Finland, we talked about the stable situation, excluding gambling, with digital growth in both B2B and B2C, balancing off the print decline in B2B and B2C. That is stable before the gambling, and the gambling advertising market opening lifts it up to get to where we show in 2030. With the stable excluding gambling, having low single-digit growth with the gambling on top, that together at a group level is what's leading to the high single-digit organic earnings growth in the period. As Rob mentioned, on top of that, we have the M&A opportunities in K-12 learning.
Focusing again on the profitability and the pathway there. If we look on the learning side on the left, the net sales growth that we talked about in the previous slide lifts us up here, but with increased volumes and the more centralized operating model that Charlotte talked about and the AI productivity gains, this is leading us to the high single-digit profit growth. On the Media Finland side, the top two bullets, so the offset of the digital offsetting the impact of print and the continued improvements further supported by AI takes us to the low single-digit growth and then the uplift further from the gambling market opening lifts us beyond that. As I've said, we have been increasing the profitability and more of that coming in the future years.
In terms of cash, that has lifted our cash. As mentioned before, some of the solar impacts were visible in the cash earlier than in the P&L, helping us to grow our cash in the past couple of years. That cash growth, free cash flow growth will increase with the high single-digit operating profit growth going forward, together with stable investments, including into AI. So higher free cash flow coming.
I take the chance here to confirm our new definition of free cash flow. Going forward, we will include lease payments because we feel it better reflects the amount of available cash. The lease payments relate mainly to property leases and are considered particularly operational costs and are around about EUR 30 million per annum at the moment. You can see there in the box, the full definition. Our increased profitability, increased free cash flow growth, that leads us to enabling higher dividends. As I said before, the dividend policy is unchanged. The Board makes its dividend proposal based on euros per share, looking at the performance of the company and the cash flow generated. The new free cash flow definition does not change this consideration and therefore, any decision. It just gets reflected as a higher payout ratio.
If you look on the right-hand side of this slide, you can see that in 2024, we had a dividend that equated just above 40% of free cash flow. If you follow the arrow up into the bubble, that would have been 56% based on the new definition. Our increasing free cash flow in the past has enabled us to deliver on one of the key objectives we had in Capital Markets Day last time around or key financial objectives, which was to generate free cash and deleverage. As you can see, it's come right down to 2 at our last report in Q3, considerably below our new target of 2.5. It will go down a little bit further at the end of the year with a positive cash flow in Q4 as usual. This is the basis for us changing that target to 2.5, which better reflects where we are as a company. This target should mainly be considered as a year-end when the whole cycle is finished. An example of that being, if you look at the seasonality of cash, we see a cash out in the first half of the year coming from the Learning business coming back in the second half of the year. So our leverage does move seasonally.
In addition to this, we will repay the hybrid bond in Q1 2026, which will also lift this leverage number because that hybrid bond is booked as equity. We'll refinance it with a combination of cash and debt that does lift it temporarily, but it will come down quickly to below the target. Also, if we consider M&A, M&A would lift us above this target temporarily, but we'd always expect in the type of M&A we do and how we operate it with synergies generating synergies that we would come back below the target within a few quarters.
Behind this, our capital allocation priorities remain unchanged: increasing dividend, M&A, and deleveraging. The solid balance sheet and our free cash flow generation have left us in a pretty good position in terms of our funding with a maturity profile of external debt, as you can see on the top right. We have a refinancing underway. A couple of points though of what we've done recently. A year ago, we issued the first social bond, EUR 150 million, the first social bond in Finland by a corporate. We've just released recently the report around that about how that is being invested in, primarily in learning. We also extended the revolving credit facility of EUR 300 million by a further year to November 2027. We are currently in the process of working on a refinancing, which is refinancing the EUR 150 million hybrid bond and also the term loan from 2023, where the remaining EUR 119 million comes due next year. We will refinance that in a combination of cash and debt and expect to finalize that in December this year.
The strong balance sheet and free cash flow generation leave us in a really good position, well placed to grow through M&A in K-12 learning along with a strong operating position. Rob showed this slide on the left-hand side of this slide earlier and talked through our key position in M&A. Three particular points to add on this. In terms of the significant headroom highlight on the left, if we do the math, we work out we have headroom of above EUR 300 million in the short term available for M&A. I say in the short term, obviously, as we generate more cash and deleverage further, that goes up. So significant headroom there or reasonable headroom there, if you like, to do M&A in the short term.
Secondly, in terms of our route, and we talked about -- Rob talked about whether it's new geographies or existing geographies or adjacencies. In order to execute on those, we've got an experienced team that has done well in integrating businesses that we have done recently. Typically, we can generate 10% to 20% of synergies on in-market acquisitions through our scale, through our existing operational setup, and the efficiencies we can create. With new markets, that is clearly going to be lower, more like 5% to 10% of the net sales as synergies and still significant to enable the creation of value.
The third point we have on here is that we said it's supporting our net sales and earnings targets. As Rob mentioned earlier, as part of one of the questions that was asked, one of the reasons we wanted to change our financial targets structure is it better fits with not only where we're on our overall journey but how we think about M&A. We want M&A to add value to the existing financial targets. It doesn't matter specifically, as Rob mentioned earlier, exactly what the margin is initially. It's what we can do with it through growth and through the synergies that I talked about. Those things will add value on top of our financial targets.
I'll leave you with three key financial takeaways. As you've heard throughout the day, we have a pathway to high single-digit earnings growth for the group in the period of 2026 to '30. We're increasing our free cash flow. We've been doing this recently. We will continue to do that, which enables higher dividends. We are well placed to grow through M&A in K-12 learning, supported by a solid balance sheet. With that, I welcome my colleagues back to the stage for the final Q&A.
Thank you to all speakers during the second presentation slot. We are now happy to take the final questions, starting here from the audience in person. Let's start from the back row, please. Please introduce yourself before the question.
Sam Wilson from Nordea Credit Research. A few questions regarding the balance sheet, reflecting your new financial targets. You're decreasing your leverage target, but you're not targeting the equity ratio anymore. In terms of conservativeness or aggressiveness, how should we interpret this? What's the rationale behind this?
Yes. We believe that the leverage target fully enables us to steward ourselves in terms of the balance sheet and its strength. We will continue to report the equity ratio on a quarterly basis. In fact, we will continue to manage it and think about it in the same way, but we felt that having both was not necessarily necessary. We felt that the leverage ratio as a financial target was enough to ensure that we stay in the right place.
Okay. Then perhaps on the capital allocation in the slide, you showed that the capital allocation plan is as before. But during this day, perhaps we've got an idea that there might have been some change in the M&A approach. Could you return to that? Are you now more looking to acquire something if there's an opportunity? How actively are you focusing on seeking inorganic growth going forward?
Yes. Let me take that one. We are as ambitious and keen to do acquisitions going forward. What Alex highlighted was that we continue to look at capital allocation in that way. For us, success over the coming years is also to continue on the inorganic growth, and we feel that we have good headroom to do that as well.
Next questions, please.
This is Niko from SEB again. I have a couple of questions, and I'll go one by one. Starting for Alex, you mentioned that some of the gains from the Tampere printing facility closure will be invested back into preparing for the gambling market. This is also for Pia. How much investment does that really require?
I would say from 2026, low single-digit millions. Yes, low single-digit millions from 2026.
If we leave the gambling market potential out, does your Media Finland profitability target require that the advertising market at least stabilize? Or can you reach a slight improvement in earnings even if the advertising market is slightly declining?
Our assumption is that the market will stabilize and then start to gradually grow, but we have modest assumptions there.
All right. Thank you. How do you assume the pricing in the advertising market will be impacted by the gambling market opening? Do you think that increased demand for advertising will lift the prices, or are you assuming more aggressive competition from that point?
We assume that prices will increase in categories where there is limited supply. This means linear TV, radio, and overall in sports context. We have seen this in other markets as well. In TV, when we look at experiences from other markets, the price increases have been the most pronounced, but there have been many variations between countries, though they have always been double-digit growth.
All right. The last one from me regarding Media Finland, you mentioned productivity investments and actions you have taken to improve efficiency through AI, for example. How much are they already visible in your numbers as profitability contribution? How ready are you currently with your AI capabilities to support your employees' work?
Yes. They are visible in our financial targets. AI, when it comes to productivity, is part of the continuous productivity work that we do. We have many actions ongoing, but we know it doesn't happen overnight. The productivity improvements will be more pronounced towards the end of the period. First, we will see impact in external spend where we can replace that with internal work. Part of that productivity gain will also be reinvested into unique content and differentiation.
The next one...
This is Pia Rlvis from DNB Carnegie. Reflecting upon your previous target in Media Finland of reaching a margin level of 12% to 14%, I'm trying to grasp why you stepped away from that given that you now signal a clear step change ahead.
Yes. It's a good point because if you do the math, you will see us getting probably quite close to the 12% to 14%, if not in it. We honestly believe this is a better way of reflecting where the business is now going and also to have that transparency on how we see it being impacted by the two key elements: the continued digital transformation and the opening up of the gambling market.
Within Media Finland, you are in transformation, and there are businesses which have not been as successful as you planned. I'm thinking about the events business. Are you still committed to the events business?
Yes, we are committed and currently working to improve the profitability of the business. For example, the cooperation agreement with Warner helps us improve the attractiveness of the business and also remove the overlap of costs we might have in the production of those events. That's a constant work we do.
Reflecting upon any risks or downside potential to your current targets, anything we should be aware of?
Yes. That's a very important point. If you look at it from the two businesses, on the media side, it's very clear. I think it's the advertising market and, as Pia highlighted, that stabilization and hopefully some improvement. That's a key element here. On the learning side, we are in a really good position to deliver on the new curriculum changes, personalized learning, etc. But that's a position we need to defend and further build on. Competitive pressure is always one of the elements there. When it comes to the fundamental funding of the markets, we are in a really good position if you think about continuous funding and increase from the government as well.
Thank you. Any further questions from the audience? If not, I take one from the chat. It's for you, Rob. You operate two quite different divisions, Learning and Media under the Sanoma umbrella. Could you update us on the synergies you see from this structure and how these have evolved in an increasingly AI-driven world?
Yes, very good point. To give a bit of a feel, the direct synergies are in the order of magnitude of about EUR 6 million. They're not to be sniffed at but also not very big. If you look at AI, the teams are really trying to learn from each other. Charlotte presented on AI. The team on the media side works closely together on that because when you think about productivity gains, there's a real opportunity to learn and roll out similar solutions. From the AI perspective, it's really an opportunity. Overall, these are two strong businesses. That's what I started off with, where we have exciting growth prospects going forward. I'm very pleased to have both as part of the overall Sanoma structure.
I think this is a good place to conclude the Q&A, and we will hand over to you, Rob, for closing remarks, please.
Good. At the start of today, I promised to be as engaging as possible with our team. I hope you have seen that today, bringing to life all the key elements we talked about. Fundamentally, if you look at the years ahead, it's about growth. It's about growth on the learning side, built on the unique position we have as an organization, but also shaping the market in K-12 education. That all comes from the robust position we now have on the balance sheet and being able to grow there as well. The role of media, as we touched on even in that last question, is a strong one as well. The digital transformation will continue successfully. We see real opportunities for strong growth because of the opening up of the gambling market. I look forward to continuing the conversation with all of you on this topic and on the growth within Sanoma. For now, thank you very much for joining both here in the room and online. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Sanoma — Q3 2025 Earnings Call
1. Management Discussion
Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to Sanoma's Third Quarter Results Presentation. My name is Kaisa Uurasmaa. I'm heading Investor Relations and Sustainability at Sanoma. We had a solid quarter, and it supported our improved operational EBIT for the beginning of the year. And today, President and CEO, Rob Kolkman; and CFO, Alex Green will present you the results. After the presentation, we will have a Q&A session. We will first take questions from the audience here at Sanoma House. Please use the microphone. We will then hand over to the telephone line and you can also use the chat function in the webcast platform. The full event, including the Q&A will be recorded, and the recording will be available on our website shortly after the event.
With this, I would like to invite Rob on stage, please.
Thank you very much, Kaisa, and good afternoon, everybody. It's my pleasure to present the quarterly results to you today. And they were indeed solid results. And let me highlight you of the key points first, and then as usual, zoom into the different parts of the business. On the sales side, what really played out in quarter 3 is what we also indicated before, which is on the Learning, the impact of the planned discontinuation of the low-value distribution contracts in the Netherlands was partly offset by the growth in the Learning content sales. And in Media Finland, we saw lower advertising sales, which was also partially offset by the continued growth in digital subscriptions.
We're very pleased that for the first 9 months, the operational EBIT improved in both businesses and also our free cash flow continues to improve, and that's driven by those higher earnings and lower financing costs. And Alex will later on go a little bit deeper into that as well.
As a result of that, our deleveraging continues to progress well with our leverage now improved to 2.0 compared to 2.4 in same period last year. And there were 2 key decisions that I would like to highlight to you. One is on the Learning side. And there, we decided to not participate in multiyear low-value distribution tenders in the Dutch market. And we took the impairment for that in quarter 3. And this really is a continuation of our view on the Dutch market that it is changing more and more to dealing directly from a publisher with the schools. So that's what's reflected there. And again, Alex will talk a bit more on the technicalities also on the financial side. That does mean that we expect for 2026 to have about EUR 40 million year-on-year less revenue for the distribution part, but with no impact on the earnings.
So logically speaking, that also means if you think about it, we're working towards the 23% margin that as a result of the slightly lower top line, but absolute profit expected to be the same, the margin is now going to be clearly in our expectation above 23%. The second one decision that we took difficult, but we think is also an important one is on the Media Finland side, and we already announced that earlier in the quarter, which is the expected closure of the Tampere printing plant, which really supports our well-established practices for these continuous efficiency improvements. And also there, the impairment of EUR 30 million and the restructuring expenses, we took that in quarter 3. And as a result of these solid results, we have also now narrowed our outlook for the year which is now between EUR 1.29 billion and EUR 1.31 billion on the sales and the operational EBIT at the higher end of our original guidance being EUR 180 million to EUR 190 million.
And before I do my usual slides on Learning and Media, just something to bring to life to you how important are quarter 3 for us is if you see what's happening across the business. And that really is reflected, I think, quite nicely here. So on the one hand, we continuously look for the longer-term growth profile of our business, how can we improve that further? And I'm very happy with the agreement we closed with Cambridge to have a partnership in the Spanish market to really try to improve English language across the Spanish schools. And that is going to be one of our growth drivers as well in the Spanish market going forward.
And in Poland, great example of when we talk about blended learning, what does that mean specifically in this case in Poland. And that is the launch we did there of something called the SMARTbook. It really combines textbook, workbook, notes, exercises, multimedia, all in the one format for the kids in Poland. And that is the start of also a rollout that we will do as part of also the curriculum changes going forward in Poland.
The Netherlands, key growth driver for us for many years already and continues to be, also has, of course, continuous new releases when you think about our blended content there. The one I wanted to highlight here is Lijn3, which is really the blended content for early literacy education in the Netherlands. And that is now used at the start fiscal year in about 2,000 schools across the Netherlands, just as one example. And on the media side, very happy to see the continued good growth on Ruutu+ subscriptions, driven by the attractive entertainment package we have there and also the sports content. So just few examples to bring to life what an important quarter it is and how that also drives both the results now, but also sets us up for the growth going forward.
Let me now zoom in on learning specifically. Top line further and then profit. So on the top line, you see the point that the growth in our other learning content businesses were actually more than offsetting the last year of the lower cycle in Spain and Poland. The Netherlands, I mentioned it already. We see continued strong growth there in the learning content sales, new product launches, but also continue to improve even further our market position. In Poland, although it's the lower end of the cycle, if you purely think from a curriculum point of view, we continue to see really good momentum around our digital platform sales, particularly also selling directly to parents and students. And again, that is a basis for further growth in the years to come. And then the impact this year of the discontinuation of the low-value distribution contracts in the Netherlands was about EUR 19 million on the top line.
So with all that, the result in profit is an improved operational earnings for learning for the first 9 months. And the key elements, as you can see here. So the highest share of learning content sales versus the low-value distribution going down, that has a positive impact on our margins, also slightly more digital sales mix. Solar continues to start to show the impacts in our P&L as well. We already, of course, saw it for some time in the cash, and that is expected to continue. And of course, we also see here the benefits of all the efforts we've done on the paper and printing, and that continues to come down as well. And that results in the picture you see on the right which clearly indicates we're on that trajectory to get towards the 23%. And as I've highlighted before, a big step-up is, of course, in '26 and then also the volumes on the learning content sales are expected to go up significantly.
Let me now go to the media side of the business. There, we actually see the trends continuing, which is good growth on the subscription sales and that was driven by what I already mentioned, good growth in Ruutu+. And then we still see a challenging market on the advertising side. And there overall, it was lower advertising sales driven by TV because a big part of that is also around the third-party advertising reselling that stops this year and a bit in the newsprint as well.
I'm very pleased to see how Pia Kalsta and the team have continued to manage this business so well that although there is this top line pressure, we do see a further improvement on the profitability and on the margins that is driven, of course, by the growth in digital subscription sales, but it is also this continuous focus on improving the performance of the business overall. So the lower paper printing distribution costs, volume-driven has an impact there, too, and also the lower TV programming cost. So overall, in still a tough advertising market, really solid results on the media side for the quarter.
Then just briefly coming back to the outlook. We've narrowed it in line with what I said, which is also reflected here on the slides, on the higher end of the EBIT guidance between EUR 180 million and EUR 190 million now. The underlying assumptions are actually the same, which is the demand for the learning content relatively stable this year across the group's main operating markets. The remaining part, just as a reminder, in quarter 4 is still a bit of uncertainty around returns, particularly in countries like Italy and Spain. And then the advertising market in Finland, relatively stable. So plus or minus a few percentage points. Of course, there, we still see the pressure, but we factor that into our narrow guidance that you see here.
So with that said, I would like to hand over to Alex, who can go a bit deeper into the financials.
Thank you, Rob, and great to be here again with you. Let's start off as usual with the Q3 operational EBIT. So you can see here an improvement in operational EBIT year-on-year, driven by Media Finland. In the Learning business, we have stable operating EBIT with the lower net sales being offset by a higher -- the impact of a higher proportion of learning content and also the lower expenses around paper and printing. But the Media Finland, the -- as Rob just said, the growing digital subscription sales and the lower programming costs, the lower costs as well offsetting the -- offset slightly by the declining advertising sales, but netting to a positive EUR 2 million.
Moving to the key income statement-related items. You can see here that the improved performance leads to a higher operational EPS but on the overall EBIT and in the IACs, you can see the impacts of our 2 recent strategic decisions in terms of the impairments. So first, in terms of the Dutch distribution market, the EUR 48 million impairment. If you remember this time last year, we booked a EUR 27 million impairment. At that point, although we were still participating in tenders, our expectation of winning those tenders had come down and therefore, reduced our expected revenue streams leading to that EUR 27 million impairment.
This year, we've made that recent decision not to participate in the multiyear distribution contracts, tenders rather. And that significantly further reduces the revenue expectations, as Rob said, going down EUR 40 million from this year to next, and leading to a EUR 48 million impairment booked in Q3. This leaves no material remaining intangible assets connected to the Dutch distribution business.
Looking further down on the net financial items, that came down again in Q3, so lower average interest rates, as you can see there, 3.7% versus 4.9% and also lower net debt, helping us in this line. And we can see that lower net debt here on the next slide in terms of deleveraging. So EUR 536 million versus the EUR 615 million last year, taking our leverage to 2 versus 2.4. And as you can see on the usual trend going into Q4, it will come down a little bit more from here. And our equity ratio at the high end of our range, up to 43.1%.
And the free cash flow improved, as Rob mentioned earlier, EUR 86 million, so up following the higher -- primarily the higher earnings and also the lower financing costs, offset slightly by some further investments in TV and the Media Finland business and some working capital movements. And as you can see there, with the 12-month rolling line going upwards, which supports the view that we've said that we expect '25 cash flow to be increased further from the '24 total of EUR 145 million.
With that, I'll make a quick mention of the Capital Markets Day, whilst welcoming my colleagues back to the stage on Tuesday, 25th of November. We welcome you all to that event, and Kaisa will talk more about that at the end.
Thank you, Alex. Thank you, Rob. And we are now ready to take questions. As agreed, we will start from here at Sanoma House. So if we can have a microphone first to Sami.
2. Question Answer
I have 2 questions. Starting from the guidance, the midpoint suggests EUR 5 million higher EBIT for the full year. You're EUR 8 million ahead after first 3 quarters. So what's your thinking on Q4? Why would Q4 be below last year level?
Yes. I think the biggest uncertainty remains the advertising market for us in quarter 4. So that's, of course, where also the visibility is still the most limited, right? If you compare it, particularly to learning, where we have a really good to feel, of course, it's the advertising side that makes us be also on this kind of range now for the outlook.
Anything else than the advertising media market?
No. There is always -- I think I briefly mentioned, there's always, of course, the returns in Italy and Spain that -- but that's in the order of magnitude of maybe a couple of million, but that's normal business, I would say. It's the advertising, does the Finnish market now improve, yes or no? That's the key uncertainty.
But you're expecting Q4 to be somewhat below last year level?
If you go to the higher end of this, it's somewhat similar. So it's that pressure that we still see. It's not like we see at the moment in quarter 4, an improvement in the advertising market.
Okay. Then secondly, a bit of a housekeeping question. If we think about Iddink, you did now EUR 48 million impairment. What is kind of the cumulative number on impairments front you have done on Iddink over the years?
Well, I mentioned the 2. So the EUR 27 million plus the EUR 48 million is EUR 75 million. There were some smaller amounts earlier to do with the rental books business in the previous years, which were EUR 4 million, EUR 5 million in that sort of range. But as mentioned, there's no remaining intangible assets connected to that business now.
So maybe about 1/3 of the acquisition has been written down so far. What is the business -- remaining business left? I mean if we think about next year, you will have EUR 40 million lower distribution revenues. So what will be the size of Iddink next year?
So we're expecting this year to be roughly EUR 50 million, and we're talking the learning materials business, right? So -- and that's going down by EUR 40 million so roughly EUR 10 million. We also -- within that original acquisition, we had the -- what we now call Schoologica, the business that contains Mahisto, which is doing well and also a small business in Spain as well, which is profitable.
And will you still need to do impairments next year related to the business coming down by EUR 40 million? Or was that done?
No, that -- so what we've done now is based on the projections of future revenues as we did last year, but the projections of future revenues last year, we were expecting to win some tenders. But now we're not expecting to win the tenders. So the balance sheet test is effectively what's the future value that would support the balance sheet intangible assets. So that's all done now.
So you think you don't have to revisit anymore the book values of...
Now as I said, the intangible assets are now gone. The goodwill related to that acquisition is part of the overall goodwill of Sanoma Learning and that gets tested for impairment. That's not amortized, that gets tested for impairment annually based on the overall results of Sanoma Learning, and there is sizable headroom there. So no concerns there.
Thank you, Sami. And Nikko, please.
This is Nikko Ruokangas from SEB. I have also 2 questions, and I'll continue with the Netherlands. And you said that you should now be able to reach the 23% margin target next year following this decision to not participate in tenders. So is it still the case that you would be able to -- or you believe that you will be able to reach that even without this decision?
I can take this. So what we are trying to say is the fact that the sales comes down with EUR 40 million year-on-year has no impact on the absolute profit we already predicted. And then logically, of course, and Alex can go into more detail, logically, then that means that where we already had the target of 23% margin that effectively, of course, on a lower revenue base means that the percentage goes up somewhat. And that's what we're trying to indicate. So no impact on the bottom line, although it's coming down on the top line. Alex, anything?
Yes, just to reemphasize right, we would hit the 23% irrespective of Iddink and the Iddink drop with no profit actually lifts it above. So the target of hitting 23% by 2026 is achieved without that Iddink drop.
Yes. Good. So that you don't need that decision to reach.
No, that wasn't part of it.
Okay. Then on your decision to close the printing facilities in Tampere. Can you a bit more open kind of comprehensively the profitability impacts to you from that decision?
Yes. I mean we -- and just to clear the process around that is still not yet get completed. So however, we expect the savings, if you like, to be roughly in the form of EUR 5 million of Media Finland on an annual basis.
All right. And then cost side.
So that -- I mean that's the cost savings of around that for the annually related to the lower costs needed of running 1 plant versus 2.
And the provision for the one-off cost is booked now in Q3.
So yes, the IAC provision is reflecting primarily the amortization of these future lease liabilities for the equipment and the plant that's already being booked and together with estimate of reorganization costs as well.
Thank you, Nikko. And over to Pia, please.
It's Pia Rosqvist from DNB Carnegie. A question regarding Netherlands. If I looked at the numbers correctly, sales declined by only EUR 6 million in the third quarter, and this is despite you discontinuing, I think you said EUR 490 million. So what's happening, underlying growth is really strong. What is driving? Is it primary? Is it secondary? Anything specific?
We are very happy with the learning content sales in the Netherlands. And we have a strong position there, and that is both in primary and secondary showing really good growth. And it's partly also why you see of course, our mix changing so much, therefore, also the profitability margin, right? So that's all, of course, less visible as you highlight on the overviews because of the decline of the low-value part. But the underlying core business of content methods K1 is really strong. And we, of course, see that as one of our key growth drivers also going forward.
And if I continue, maybe on the distribution contracts still. So just to be very clear, so do you have any distribution business left in the Netherlands?
Yes. So we're not participating in the future multiyear contracts, but these are multiyear contracts. And so the ones we've had before are still ongoing for the next year or 2. So as I say, we're going from a EUR 50 million business this year to down by EUR 40 million next year, and then those contracts will eventually...
And maybe just to add to that, of course, the students are still getting their books, but the way that then goes is more directly from publishers, including our own publishing to the schools. So it's a different way of delivering it.
And is this -- are you the only one doing this? Or is this a broader trend in the market?
The market has been, of course, difficult in this area for quite a number of years. There's a few other players there. and they need to make their own decisions on this.
All right. Then maybe to Media Finland, if I can continue on the solid performance in Ruutu+, so the subscription revenue growth, is this driven by price increases? Or are volumes also growing?
Volumes are also growing. And I think what is very encouraging to see there is that the offering we have, that combination that I mentioned of entertainment and the sport packages, the right kind of mix there is also driving the growth. So it's both that and of course, also the value in the way of pricing.
And then you mentioned lower TV programming cost supporting profitability. Was this kind of isolated in Q3? Should we expect them to be lower in the future or normalize in Q4 and...
This is -- the level we have is actually -- the reason it's lower, it's lower year-on-year. We actually had slightly higher costs the previous year due to some timing of some write-offs of TV programming. So the actual amount we have this year is a more normal level.
Thank you, Pia. Any further questions from the audience? If not, do we have any questions on the telephone line? We have one. So I would like...
[Operator Instructions] The next question comes from Sanna Perälä from Nordea.
I have a couple of quite detailed questions. Sorry, if I missed this, if you mentioned this earlier, but these contracts you chose not to apply for or participate in tenders. So did I interpret correctly that you have been the chosen distributor for those deliveries before? And for how long have you delivered this? How long have these been part of your revenue, if so?
The contracts that we are talking about tend to be a mix of what we already did and also sometimes from our competitors. But the impact for us is the impact that we highlighted around EUR 40 million year-on-year on the top line with no impact on earnings.
All right. Then perhaps touching learning a little bit more, how did the digital platform sales in Poland developed during Q3? I know there was a lower cycle otherwise in Poland, but what was the magnitude of the digital platform sales?
Yes, we don't disclose the exact amount there, but it continues to grow well. You saw that in the smaller quarter 2 already and effectively, that continued in quarter 3 as well. So it's a really good base also for future growth. And then as you also highlighted correctly, of course, because of the lower cycle, that growth in itself is less visible in quarter 3, but it's still there and continues to be really good.
All right. Then how much did EBITDA contribute to Q3 growth, meaning like what was the organic growth in Learning or perhaps in Finland, if you like to mention that?
So we don't -- I mean, we're not disclosing the individual details of that within the Finnish learning content business, but safe to say that, that was a sort of minor acquisition that's been integrated well, is doing fine and is contributing considerating decently to the growth in that market.
All right. Then my question about the Media Finland subscription sales was already asked. So I have no further questions at this stage.
Thank you, Sanna. And if there are no further questions at the telephone line, there are actually no questions on the chat this time. So we have quite a big audience at Sanoma House. So I think that's one of the reasons.
So before we conclude, as I said, Capital Markets Day will be held on the 25th of November. We will start in the morning. You are mostly welcome live in Helsinki. And in addition to Rob and Alex and then of course, Pia Kalsta, CEO of Media Finland. We also have several members of the Learning and Media Finland management teams participating the event. And next week, we will be sending the actual invitations and the registration will start.
And in the event, we will elaborate more on the growth path, especially on the learning side with the upcoming curriculum renewals and the growth outlook for '26, '30. So we are looking forward to seeing many of you there.
And this concludes the presentation. Thank you all, and we will be happy to be in touch with -- at IR in the afternoon with any further questions. Thank you.
Financial data from Sanoma
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 | 1,297 1,297 |
3%
3%
100%
|
|
| - Direct Costs | 386 386 |
9%
9%
30%
|
|
| Gross Profit | 911 911 |
1%
1%
70%
|
|
| - Selling and Administrative Expenses | 391 391 |
0%
0%
30%
|
|
| - Research and Development Expense | - - |
-
-
|
|
| EBITDA | 326 326 |
2%
2%
25%
|
|
| - Depreciation and Amortization | 277 277 |
12%
12%
21%
|
|
| EBIT (Operating Income) EBIT | 49 49 |
43%
43%
4%
|
|
| Net Profit | 18 18 |
54%
54%
1%
|
|
In millions EUR.
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Company Profile
Sanoma Oyj engages in the provision of consumer media and learning solutions. It operates through the following business segments: Learning and Media Finland. The Learning segment provides multi-channel learning solutions for teachers in primary, secondary and vocational education. The Media Finland segment provides information, experiences, inspiration and entertainment through multiple platformts such as newspapers, television, radio, magazines, online and mobile channels. The company was founded in 1889 and is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland.
StocksGuide Premium
| Head office | Finland |
| CEO | Mr. Kolkman |
| Employees | 4,500 |
| Founded | 1889 |
| Website | www.sanoma.com |


