2019 another good year for Egmont

Media group Egmont had another revenue record of EUR 1.7bn in 2019, up EUR 79m on 2018. Building on a solid tradition of publishing, journalism, quality content and storytelling, Egmont has a healthy core business. At the same time, the company is successfully transforming its media business with significant growth in computer games, TV streaming, e-commerce and marketing services.

“I’m delighted to report another year of solid growth and an overall strong result thanks to the great efforts of our many competent employees. We are innovative, and at the same time successful with our quality-based publishing, journalism and strong storytelling. Looking into 2020, we are like the rest of society very affected by the present COVID-19 crisis and concerned by the well-being of our employees, and that society and we as a company get well through this crisis,” says CEO and President Steffen Kragh.

Three quarters of Egmont’s business is now in film, TV, streaming, computer games, digital media and e-commerce. Increasing the use of technology to optimise the media products and consumer experiences is an important element in the media group’s development. Egmont’s total business activity, including its share of non-consolidated companies, generated revenue of EUR 2.0bn.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew to EUR 250m in 2019, while earnings before tax (EBT) was EUR 80m, on par with 2018. EBT includes a write-down of EUR 28m relating to TV 2 Norway increasing its stake in TV distributor RiksTV to 50%. The result reflects TV 2 having a very good year with higher viewing shares and marked growth in subscribers to the streaming service TV 2 Sumo; Nordisk Film releasing a string of successful movies and computer games; Egmont Publishing’s magazine titles outperforming the general print market; strong growth at the marketing services agencies; and numerous bestsellers and digital growth at Egmont’s book publishers.

Egmont is a commercial foundation which in 2020 celebrates its centenary. The foundation has a dual purpose: to develop modern media and to support vulnerable children, young people and families. In 2019, Egmont made charitable donations of EUR 13m to vulnerable children and young people in Denmark and Norway and to film talents through the Nordisk Film Foundation. The Egmont Report 2019 focused on helping children make a good start at school, and Egmont entered into a new five-year partnership with charity Børns Vilkår during the year to work on school absenteeism. Egmont also supported e.g. 12 new projects focusing on dyslexia. Since 1920, Egmont has made total donations of EUR 410m.

Read more about Egmont's Annual Result

TV 2
Revenue: EUR 509m (465m) Operating profit after result from associates: EUR 43m (41m)

TV 2 is Norway’s largest commercial media house and delivers news, sports and entertainment through eight TV channels and the streaming service TV 2 Sumo. From 1 January 2019, TV 2 has supplied public service TV under a new five-year contract with the Norwegian government, and a recent survey by the Norwegian Media Authority found that TV 2 is the country’s second-most credible nationwide news source. TV 2 had a very good year in 2019, with growth in both revenue and operating earnings thanks to strong content, higher audience share, more advertisers and more streaming subscribers. TV 2 and NRK bought out Telenor’s stake in TV distributor RiksTV during the year, with each now holding half of the company. This led to a write-down of EUR 28m being charged against TV 2’s operating earnings. The aggregate audience share of TV 2’s channels increased 1.3 points to 30.4%. TV 2 now reaches 71% of the population each week with its linear TV channels, with programme formats such as reality show Farmen, celebrity dance show Skal vi danse? and crime show Åsted Norge again proving very popular. Streaming service TV 2 Sumo saw marked growth and now has more than 485,000 subscribers. TV 2 boasts Norway’s strongest range of sports coverage and broadened its offer further in 2019 with more winter sports rights. Together with Nordisk Film, TV 2 has launched the kids’ universe Oiii with a variety of new Norwegian children’s programmes. Vimond, which supplies streaming technology to media companies worldwide, saw double-digit growth in licensing income.

Nordisk Film
Revenue: EUR 541m (559m) Operating profit after result from associates: EUR 34m (30m)

Nordisk Film produces movies and TV series in the Nordic region, operates cinemas in Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and has a substantial computer game business. 2019 brought solid revenue and strong operating earnings. The computer game portfolio currently consists of six companies: Avalanche Studios, Star Stable Entertainment AB, Raw Fury, Reto Moto, Flashbulb Games and Multiverse (Kogama). Nordisk Film increased its holdings in Star Stable Entertainment AB and Raw Fury during the year. The wholly-owned Avalanche Studios had a very strong year, launching two new titles – Generation Zero and Rage 2 – while the hunting simulator theHunter: Call of the Wild was a continued success. Nordisk Film had a fantastic year for movie productions, with strong titles such as Queen of Hearts, Before the Frost and Hunting Season in Denmark, the fifth film in the Sune series in Sweden, and The Tunnel in Norway. Nordisk Film was also behind the TV series DNA in Denmark and Twin in Norway. New distribution agreements were entered into with YouSee in Denmark and TV 2 in Norway, and another with Com Hem in Sweden followed at the beginning of 2020. Nordisk Film Cinemas opened a new luxury multiplex in Bergen and sold nearly 9 million tickets across its 45 cinemas in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Digital gift card company GoGift again reported double-digit revenue growth.

Egmont Publishing
Revenue: EUR 575m (522m) Operating profit after result from associates: EUR 27m (27m)

Egmont Publishing is behind a wide range of popular magazine titles and books in more than 30 countries, as well as leading e-commerce companies and marketing services agencies. Revenue increased in 2019, driven by e-commerce and marketing services. Operating earnings also grew slightly despite substantial investment in areas such as e-commerce and restructuring costs in the publishing business. Defying the structural decline in the market for printed weeklies and magazines, the publishing business reported strong profitability, including at Egmont Publishing’s international joint ventures. Egmont Publishing has a portfolio of seven Nordic e-commerce companies – Jollyroom, Fjellsport, Outnorth, Bagaren och Kocken, Med24, Nicehair and Garnius – which saw substantial growth in 2019 and generated combined revenue of EUR 363m. Egmont Publishing is now the majority shareholder in Bagaren och Kocken, Fjellsport, Outnorth, Nicehair and Garnius. The portfolio of seven Nordic marketing services agencies – Ingager, s360, Belong, Klintberg Niléhn, KAN, Sempro and MarkedsPartner – also posted strong revenue growth and earnings. Egmont Publishing is now the majority shareholder in Belong, Sempro, s360 and Ingager. 

Egmont Books
Revenue including Egmont’s holding in Cappelen Damm: EUR 126m (131m)
Revenue excluding Cappelen Damm, which is not consolidated under IFRS: EUR 53m (52m)
Operating profit after result from associates: EUR 0m (2m)

Egmont Books comprises the Danish publisher Lindhardt og Ringhof and the part-owned Norwegian publisher Cappelen Damm. Both publish printed books, audiobooks, e-books and educational materials. Lindhardt og Ringhof delivered revenue growth and solid operating earnings while investing heavily in building up SAGA as a global digital publisher. SAGA is the leader in the Nordic region with a range of around 50,000 e-books and audiobooks, and expects to release more than 10,000 new digital titles in more than 30 languages worldwide in 2020. Lindhardt og Ringhof was behind a number of the year’s most noteworthy new books from Danish authors such as Niels Krause-Kjær, Maren Uthaug, Michael Kretz Krefeld, Ane Riel, Steffen Jacobsen and Thomas Korsgaard, as well as international bestsellers such as Margaret Atwood’s The Testament. Norway’s largest publishing house, Cappelen Damm, had a good publishing year with new books from authors such as Lars Saabye Christensen and Roy Jacobsen, but earnings were reduced by a write-down of bookseller chain Tanum’s stores at Oslo Airport.

Charitable activities

Egmont is a commercial foundation. Some of the profit generated by the media business is donated to charitable activities helping vulnerable children and young people and supporting film talents, while the remainder is reinvested in developing the media group. The foundation mainly supports activities in Denmark, but also makes some donations in Norway. The foundation celebrates its centenary in 2020 and has distributed a total of EUR 410m in today’s money during its history. In 2019, Egmont made donations of EUR 13m, including EUR 0.7m via the Nordisk Film Foundation. Egmont is working towards the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4 of a quality education for all by 2030. The theme for 2019 was a good start at school. The Egmont Report 2019 unveiled new data showing that 11.6% of the 60,000 Danish children starting school each year do not thrive in the youngest classes. Egmont has earmarked funds to support projects to help children get off to a good start at school. Egmont entered into a new five-year partnership with charity Børns Vilkår during the year to help tackle the growing number of children who are absent from school. Egmont also awarded EUR 1.9m to 12 new initiatives to help dyslexic children and young people from disadvantaged homes. In Norway, Egmont supported projects for children and young people under the Norwegian Women’s Public Health Association, LES and the Crown Prince Couple’s Foundation. The Nordisk Film Foundation sent 60 film talents out into the world through its travel grants during the year and supported four initiatives focusing on scriptwriting and new technology in movie production.

Further information:

Jesper Eising
Head of Press, Communications & Public Affairs
+45 29603019

Line Aarsland
Vice President, Communications & Public Affairs
+45 24407471

Photos for media use: www.egmont.com/media-archive