Sanoma Corporation, Stock Exchange Release, 30 October 2025 at 8:30 a.m. EET
Sanoma Corporation, Interim Report 1 January–30 September 2025: Solid quarter supporting improved operational EBIT for the first nine months
This release is a summary of Sanoma’s Interim Report 1 January–30 September 2025. The complete report is attached to this release and is also available at www.sanoma.com/en/investors.
Q3 2025
- Net sales decreased in both businesses and the Group's net sales amounted to EUR 515.8 million (2024: 540.0). In Learning, net sales were mainly impacted by the planned discontinuation of low value distribution contracts in the Netherlands, partially offset by growth in learning content sales. In Media Finland, continued growth in subscription sales was not sufficient to offset lower advertising sales. Organic net sales development was -5% (2024: -6%).
- Operational EBIT excl. PPA improved to EUR 172.4 million (2024: 170.0). In Learning, lower net sales, higher share of learning content sales and lower paper and printing costs led to stable earnings. Earnings improved in Media Finland driven by growth in digital subscription sales and lower operating costs.
- EBIT decreased to EUR 81.9 million (2024: 116.9), mainly as a result of higher impairments in both businesses. In Learning, the recent decision to not participate in multi-year distribution tenders in the Dutch market this year led to a EUR 48 million impairment. In Media Finland, impairments and restructuring expenses related to the expected closure of the printing plant in Tampere amounted to EUR 30 million. As a result, the Group’s items affecting comparability (IACs) increased to EUR -82.6 million (2024: -43.9). Purchase price allocation adjustments and amortisations (PPAs) amounted to EUR 7.9 million (2024: 9.3).
- Operational EPS was EUR 0.73 (2024: 0.70).
- EPS was EUR 0.34 (2024: 0.50).
- The Group's Outlook for 2025 is narrowed: In 2025, Sanoma expects that the Group’s reported net sales will be EUR 1.29‒1.31 billion (2024: 1.34). The Group’s operational EBIT excl. PPA is expected to be EUR 180−190 million (2024: 180).
Q1–Q3 2025
- Net sales decreased to EUR 1,076.7 million (2024: 1,103.4). In Learning, net sales declined mainly due to the planned discontinuation of low-value distribution contracts in the Netherlands, partially offset by growth in learning content sales. In Media Finland, lower advertising demand had an adverse impact on net sales. Organic net sales development was -3% (2024: -2%), being -2% in Learning and -3% in Media Finland.
- Operational earnings improved in both businesses and the Group's operational EBIT excl. PPA amounted to EUR 215.6 million (2024: 207.3). In Learning, earnings were supported by higher share of learning content sales as well as a more digital sales mix and consequently lower paper and printing costs. In Media Finland, growth in digital subscription sales and lower operating costs supported earnings.
- EBIT declined to EUR 99.5 million (2024: 128.7). IACs increased to EUR -90.6 million (2024: -50.8) mainly as a result of higher impairments recognised in the third quarter. PPAs amounted to EUR 25.5 million (2024: 27.7).
- Operational EPS was EUR 0.76 (2024: 0.68).
- EPS was EUR 0.34 (2024: 0.45).
- Free cash flow improved to EUR 86.3 million (2024: 76.7) driven by higher earnings and lower financing costs.
- Net debt/Adj. EBITDA improved to 2.0 (2024: 2.4), being well within the long-term target level of ‘below 3.0’.
- On 29 April 2025, the Annual General Meeting decided that a dividend of EUR 0.39 per share (2024: 0.37) shall be paid for 2024 in three instalments. The first instalment of EUR 0.13 was paid on 9 May and the second instalment of EUR 0.13 on 23 September. The third instalment of EUR 0.13 will be paid on 11 November.
Outlook for 2025 (narrowed)
In 2025, Sanoma expects that the Group’s reported net sales will be EUR 1.29‒1.31 billion (2024: 1.34). The Group’s operational EBIT excl. PPA is expected to be EUR 180−190 million (2024: 180).
The narrowed outlook is based on the following assumptions:
- Demand for learning content will be relatively stable across the Group's main operating markets.
- The advertising market in Finland will be relatively stable.
Previous outlook for 2025 (given 11 February 2025)
In 2025, Sanoma expects that the Group’s reported net sales will be EUR 1.28‒1.33 billion (2024: 1.34). The Group’s operational EBIT excl. PPA is expected to be EUR 170−190 million (2024: 180).
The outlook is based on the following assumptions:
- Demand for learning content will be relatively stable across the Group's main operating markets.
- The advertising market in Finland will be relatively stable.
President and CEO Rob Kolkman:
”We had a solid third quarter in both Learning and Media Finland, which – combined with our good performance during the first half of the year – led to improved operational EBIT excl. PPA and increased free cash flow for January–September.
The third quarter is always the important high season in Learning. As we had indicated earlier, the last year of the lower cycle in Spain and Poland was more than offset by growth in our other learning content businesses, especially in the Netherlands. The growth was driven by the successful introductions of new blended learning materials across all our markets. As an example, in Poland we launched SMARTbook that combines textbook, workbook, notes, exercises and multimedia in one format. And in the Netherlands, our renewed blended learning content for early literacy education, Lijn3, is used daily by students and teachers in approx. 2,000 schools.
Overall, Learning’s net sales declined slightly due to the planned discontinuation of low-value distribution contracts in the Netherlands, while the cost base improved as we continued to see the positive impacts of Program Solar. Together with the higher share of learning content sales and a more digital sales mix, this improved Learning’s operational earnings.
The use of AI is an increasingly integral part of the way we work in both our businesses, always with a strong emphasis on its responsible use and human oversight. Across Learning, we see great opportunities for AI to enhance the way we support teachers and to significantly improve personalised learning for students. One recent example of this is an AI toolkit for teachers within the itslearning platform, which is now being piloted across several schools. We also continue with the roll-out of Speech Coach, an AI tool that helps students to practise their pronunciation in a foreign language, which has recently been made available to schools and students in Finland. In Media Finland, we are for example piloting a new version of a news gathering automation tool, where AI recognises potential news topics. The target is that AI assisted news gathering can significantly help in quick news situations and in daily newsroom work. To enhance efficiency in our operations, we scaled different content creation initiatives, leveraging AI for editorial work in a way fully controlled by our publishing experts.
In Media Finland, subscription sales continued to grow driven by good development of the SVOD service Ruutu+ that demonstrates our attractive entertainment and sports content. As we expected after the first half of the year, the softness in the Finnish advertising market continued in the third quarter, while we continue to expect the advertising market to be relatively stable for the full year. Our advertising sales continued to decrease, mainly driven by lower TV advertising due to ending the reselling of a third-party TV channel advertising at the beginning of the year. Media Finland’s operational earnings improved as growth in digital subscription sales, together with continued cost containment, more than offset the impact of the lower advertising sales.
Our free cash flow increased as a result of higher earnings and lower financing costs, and we expect the free cash flow for the full-year 2025 to increase further compared to the previous year. The deleveraging of our balance sheet continued to progress well. Supported by the typical annual seasonality of the learning business, our leverage improved both compared to the previous year and the end of June, and Net debt / Adjusted EBITDA amounted to 2.0 (2024: 2.4) at the end of September.
During the third quarter, we made two important, yet difficult, decisions that strengthen the foundation for our future growth and the resulting impairments were booked in this quarter. In Learning, we are adjusting to changing market demand for distribution services from schools and we will not be participating in multi-year distribution tenders in the Dutch market this year. The decision is expected to reduce our Dutch distribution net sales by around 40m€ with no earnings impact, therefore improving Learning’s expected operational EBIT margin excl. PPA clearly above 23% in 2026.
In Media Finland, we are planning to centralise our news media printing operations to the Helsinki area and close the Tampere printing plant. This plan is based on the accelerating shift of media consumption towards digital channels, and supports our well-established practices for continuous efficiency improvements to mitigate the impacts of lower print revenues and cost inflation.
Following our solid performance in January–September, we have narrowed our Outlook for 2025, with the operational profit excl. PPA outlook now being at the higher end of the original range.
We have made good progress during the past two years in increasing our profitability and free cash flow and strengthening our balance sheet. Looking ahead, curriculum renewals in our major learning markets, particularly Poland and Spain, are expected to accelerate our organic net sales growth from 2026 onwards. In Media Finland, we are continuing, and accelerating, our successful digital transformation. We also aim to expand through value-creating M&A in K12 learning services, while being committed to meeting our leverage and equity ratio targets and paying an increasing dividend, equal to 40–60% of our annual free cash flow. We are hosting a Capital Markets Day on 25 November 2025 to elaborate more on our growth path 2026–2030 (more information at Sanoma.com).
I would like to extend my warmest thanks to all Sanoma employees for their strong commitment and dedication in serving our customers and delivering these solid results.”
Key indicators
| EUR million | Q3 2025 | Q3 2024 | Change | Q1–Q3 2025 | Q1–Q3 2024 | Change | FY 2024 |
| Net sales | 515.8 | 540.0 | -4% | 1,076.7 | 1,103.4 | -2% | 1,344.8 |
| Operational EBITDA 1) | 211.4 | 211.8 | 0% | 344.6 | 337.4 | 2% | 360.8 |
| Margin 1) | 41.0% | 39.2% | 32.0% | 30.6% | 26.8% | ||
| Operational EBIT excl. PPA 2) | 172.4 | 170.0 | 1% | 215.6 | 207.3 | 4% | 180.0 |
| Margin 2) | 33.4% | 31.5% | 20.0% | 18.8% | 13.4% | ||
| EBIT | 81.9 | 116.9 | -30% | 99.5 | 128.7 | -23% | 81.8 |
| Result for the period | 57.6 | 84.0 | -31% | 62.1 | 80.8 | -23% | 40.6 |
| Free cash flow | 138.0 | 134.8 | 2% | 86.3 | 76.7 | 13% | 145.3 |
| Equity ratio 3) | 43.1% | 40.8% | 45.0% | ||||
| Net debt | 535.9 | 615.5 | -13% | 568.5 | |||
| Net debt / Adj. EBITDA | 2.0 | 2.4 | -15% | 2.2 | |||
| Operational EPS, EUR 1) | 0.73 | 0.70 | 4% | 0.76 | 0.68 | 13% | 0.46 |
| EPS, EUR | 0.34 | 0.50 | -32% | 0.34 | 0.45 | -25% | 0.19 |
| Free cash flow per share, EUR | 0.85 | 0.82 | 3% | 0.53 | 0.47 | 13% | 0.89 |
| Average number of employees (FTE) | 4,676 | 4,858 | -4% | 4,820 | |||
| Number of employees at the end of the period (FTE) | 4,544 | 4,751 | -4% | 4,648 |
1) Excluding IACs
2) Excluding IACs and purchase price allocation adjustments and amortisations (PPAs)
3) Advances received included in the formula of equity ratio were EUR 186.9 million in Q1–Q3 2025 (2024: 186.1).
Analyst and investor conference
An analyst and investor conference will be held in English by the President and CEO Rob Kolkman and CFO Alex Green the same day at 12:00 p.m. EET at Sanomatalo, Flik Studio Eliel, 1st floor, Töölönlahdenkatu 2, Helsinki. To join the event, please register by email to ir@sanoma.com latest on Tuesday 28 October 2025.
The conference can be followed as a live webcast at https://sanoma.events.inderes.com/q3-2025.
The management’s presentation is followed by a Q&A session. Questions can be placed through the webcast chat function or by phone. To ask questions by phone, the participant is required to register at https://events.inderes.com/sanoma/q3-2025/dial-in. After the registration you will receive the phone number and conference ID to access the conference. If you wish to ask a question, please press *5 on your telephone keypad to enter the queue.
An on-demand replay of the webcast will be available shortly after the conference at www.sanoma.com/en/investors.
Interview opportunities for media by Teams or by phone are available after the conference. Media representatives are asked to book interviews via email at ir@sanoma.com.
Additional information
Kaisa Uurasmaa, Head of Investor Relations and Sustainability, tel. +358 40 560 5601
Sanoma
Sanoma is an innovative and agile learning and media company impacting the lives of millions every day. Our Sustainability Strategy is designed to maximise our positive ‘brainprint’ on society and to minimise our environmental footprint. We are committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and signatory to the UN Global Compact.
Our learning products and services enable teachers to develop the talents of every child to reach their full potential. We offer printed and digital learning content as well as digital learning and teaching platforms for primary, secondary and vocational education, and want to grow our business.
Our Finnish media provide independent journalism and engaging entertainment also for generations to come. Our unique cross-media position offers the widest reach and tailored marketing solutions for our business partners.
Today, we operate across Europe and employ close to 5,000 professionals. In 2024, our net sales amounted to approx. 1.3bn€ and our operational EBIT margin excl. PPA was 13.4%. Sanoma shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. More information is available at sanoma.com.
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