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Schibsted ASA (SCHA/SCHB) - News Media reduces costs

24.1.2023 10:05:36 CET | Schibsted | Non-regulatory press releases

Today, Schibsted informs that its media division, News Media, will be reducing

costs by NOK 500 million over the next two years, in order to improve

profitability and to bring its EBITDA margin back to the target range of 10-12

per cent in 2024.

The cost reductions are due to the rising costs through 2021, primarily

connected to the print business. Rising paper and energy prices have impacted

the print profitability, and News Media's overall profitability significantly.

The media industry has been undergoing a structural change for many years, a

transformation from print to digital, driven by user behaviours and accelerated

during the pandemic. This transformation is further accelerated as a result of

substantially increased costs linked to the print value chain.

With the significantly pressured print business and the macroeconomic

uncertainty going forward, measures need to be taken. News Media will realise

gross cost savings of NOK 500 million by 2024 through improvements within three

focus areas. Net savings will be reduced by inflation and wage increases.

The first focus area is improving profitability in the print value chain.

The second focus area is increasing operational efficiency across the

organisation.

The third focus area is establishing a more effective and efficient organisation

across the product, tech and consumer business domains, to better cater to user

needs.

"We are not planning any large-scale workforce reductions, which is always the

last resort. But our different units will set tougher priorities, reduce

complexity, and identify areas where they can work more efficiently. Reducing

the number of employees is not a goal in itself, but in some cases it will be

the effect when we aim for less complexity and more efficiency." says Siv Juvik

Tveitnes, EVP News Media at Schibsted.

"I have strong faith in the measures we are now taking, and I think we are very

well placed to succeed. Our newsrooms create world-class journalism, our

advertising positions are unique, and Scandinavians have the highest willingness

to pay for news in the world. Change is nothing new in our organisation. We have

experienced challenging times before, and we have come out stronger," says Juvik

Tveitnes.

CONTACTS

* Atle Lessum, Director of Schibsted Group Communications, +47 415 05 645,

* Malin Langtvet, Investor Relations Officer, +47 916 86 710, [email protected]

ATTACHMENTS

Download announcement as PDF.pdf -

https://kommunikasjon.ntb.no/ir-files/17847482/2053/2733/Download%20announcement

%20as%20PDF.pdf

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