Interim report for the first quarter of 2022
Announcement no. 16-2022
4 May 2022
Earlier today, the Board of Directors of North Media A/S approved the interim report for the first quarter of 2022.
Q1 highlights
The Q1 2022 results were in line with expectations and supported our full-year guidance.
- Consolidated revenue was up by 2% to DKK 248m.
- EBIT was down by 25% to DKK 48m, for an EBIT margin of 19.4%.
- The Last Mile business area (FK Distribution) saw a 0.5% drop in revenue, while its EBIT margin dropped to 22.9% due to higher costs of deliverers, transport, paper and packing, etc.
- Rising consumer prices have made consumers more interested in reading leaflets.
- The Digital Services business area recorded 20% growth. BoligPortal and Ofir both achieved their highest revenue for a quarter, and Bekey restored growth.
- Lead Supply, the 50%-owned associate, delivered its best-ever quarterly performance on 83% revenue growth.
- Due to a negative return on securities of DKK 95m, North Media incurred a loss for the period of DKK 35m. Disregarding the securities return, the Group achieved a net profit of DKK 39m.
Guidance for 2022 maintained
The guidance for 2022 is unchanged relative to that expressed in the 2021 annual report:
- Revenue is still expected to be in line with the 2021 figure, i.e. in the DKK 1,010-1,045m range.
- EBIT is still expected to be in the DKK 190-220m range. The acquisition of Boligmanager is expected to reduce EBIT by DKK 8m due to costs for upscaling purposes, depreciation of the purchase price and provisions for the remaining purchase price.
- Last Mile (FK Distribution) expects revenue of DKK 850-870m and EBIT of DKK 190-210m due to substantially higher costs, especially for distribution.
- The Digital Services businesses expect revenue of DKK 160-175m for an increase of about 16% and EBIT of DKK 9-17m. Ofir and BoligPortal are accelerating investments for growth and upscaling purposes, while Bekey expects to expense all development and installation costs.
“We’re seeing fair improvements in operations, but as expected earnings have come under pressure from external cost increases in Last Mile and because we’ve made the choice to scale up costs in Digital Services in order to accelerate growth. The unrealised negative return on securities is regrettable, but it doesn’t change the fact that, over time, place unrestricted funds in securities creates the most value. Since the end of 2015, we’ve generated total positive returns of DKK 318m on securities,” says CEO Lasse Brodt.
Further information:
CEO Lasse Ingemann Brodt, tel. +45 20 24 32 92
CFO Kåre Wigh, tel. +45 25 65 21 45
The members of the Executive Board will present the interim report in a conference call (in English) on 5 May at 13:00 CET. Register on https://streams.eventcdn.net/northmedia/q1-2022/register to follow the conference call live.
North Media develops and operates platforms for transactions that bring businesses and consumers together. These platforms help consumers find the right products, whether they are looking for groceries, rental housing, jobs or digital access management solutions. North Media has two core business areas: Last Mile: FK Distribution is Denmark’s leading distributor of leaflets and local newspapers; it runs the digital platform ‘minetilbud’ and provides logistics services. Digital Services: Three businesses with the potential for double-digit growth, rising earnings and scalability: BoligPortal is Denmark’s leading home rentals platform, offering services to both landlords and tenants. Ofir is Denmark’s most comprehensive jobs universe. Bekey delivers digital access solutions for secured stairwells and private homes for the use of homecare services and companies delivering parcels, groceries, meal services, etc.
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