15.7.2022 07:00:01 CEST | Schibsted | Half yearly financial reports and audit
reports / limited reviews

Strong performance in Marketplaces Norway continued

"Following similar trends as seen during the two previous quarters, revenues in
Q2 continued to grow by an underlying¹ 6 per cent while EBITDA ended at NOK 620
million, 17 per cent down from a strong Q2 last year due to continued high
investments across the Group," CEO Kristin Skogen Lund says.

"While these investments come with higher costs, we are confident that they will
put us in a better position, securing future growth and increasing value in the
longer term. Meanwhile, we are aware that there needs to be an improved balance
between investments, costs and profitability going forward, and we have
identified and started to implement cost measures having effect from Q3 and
onwards," CEO Kristin Skogen Lund says. 

"Nordic Marketplaces grew underlying¹ revenues by 10 per cent in Q2 compared to
last year. I am particularly satisfied with the continued strong performance in
Marketplaces Norway where revenues grew by 20 per cent compared to last year,
translating into a very strong EBITDA margin of 57 per cent and a year-on-year
EBITDA growth of 25 per cent. Jobs in Norway continued to be the main growth
driver, and also performed well in Sweden. Real estate in Norway was another
important growth driver thanks to an increase in the average revenue per ad as a
result of our new product offering. Motors, particularly in Denmark and Sweden,
continued to be affected by the temporary car supply shortage, and a soft
quarter for advertising in Finland led to flat revenue development for our
Finnish operations," CEO Kristin Skogen Lund says.

"Sweden reached an important milestone this quarter with the removal of ad
insertion fees for our Generalist C2C offering. While this affects financial
results negatively in the shorter term, it has strengthened our market position
looking at traffic and not least listings, and will enable the transition to a
fully transactional model entailing good growth potential over time. As
mentioned in Q1, going forward we will start to work more along the vertical
dimension across our four countries to unleash the full potential of our Nordic
Marketplaces business. As a first step in this journey, we are currently
establishing common Nordic vertical strategies. Over time, this will likely lead
to changes in how we organise and run our Nordic Marketplace business," CEO
Kristin Skogen Lund says.

"News Media continued its good revenue trend with an underlying² growth of 6 per
cent thanks to a strong quarter for digital subscriptions, and growth in digital
advertising. Costs continued to increase year-on-year due to investments in
strategic growth initiatives with focus on content, as well as significantly
higher paper prices, leading to an EBITDA margin of 9 per cent," CEO Kristin
Skogen Lund says.

"Due to the decline in the e-commerce industry after a longer period of strong
growth and the COVID-related bump last year, revenues in eCommerce &
Distribution and Prisjakt dropped in the second quarter which affected EBITDA
negatively. Given the weak development in the first half of 2022, we have
identified cost measures in eCommerce & Distribution to curb EBITDA losses in
the second half of this year," CEO Kristin Skogen Lund says.

"Lendo, which is currently under strategic review, continued its strong revenue
performance seen during the last quarters. The underlying² revenue growth was 25
per cent driven by Sweden and Norway, while higher marketing and expansion costs
negatively affected EBITDA margin. Ventures saw lower activity in the second
quarter," CEO Kristin Skogen Lund says.

"Lastly, headquarters increased its EBITDA losses in Q2 compared to last year,
driven by a higher level of activity within the Group's product and technology
team, projects within the Group's Chief Investment Officer function and certain
one-offs," CEO Kristin Skogen Lund says.


This quarter's highlights 

 * Underlying¹ revenue growth of 6 per cent, EBITDA of NOK 620 million.
 * Nordic Marketplaces: 10 per cent underlying¹ revenue growth, primarily driven
   by the Job vertical. Another strong quarter for Norway with 20 per cent
   revenue growth and 57 per cent EBITDA margin. Denmark and Sweden were still
   affected by the temporary car supply shortage. Removal of ad insertion fees
   for Generalist C2C offering in Sweden at the end of May to enable the
   transition to a fully transactional model entailing good growth potential
   over time.
 * News Media: Continued good revenue trend continued with 6 per cent
   underlying² growth thanks to digital subscriptions and digital advertising.
   High investments in content and higher paper prices resulted in a 9 per cent
   EBITDA margin.
 * eCommerce & Distribution: Weak quarter with a 13 per cent decline in revenues
   driven by a slowdown in the e-commerce space. Cost measures to curb EBITDA
   losses going forward to be implemented in Q3.
 * Financial Services & Ventures: Continued strong underlying² revenue growth of
   25 per cent in Lendo. Lower activity in Ventures, adjusted to market
   environment and financial gearing.
   

                    | Second quarter  |         | Year to date    |        
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
(NOK million)       | 2022   | 2021   | Change  | 2022   | 2021   | Change 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Schibsted Group     |        |        |         |        |        |        
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Operating revenues  | 3,880  | 3,619  | 7%      | 7,528  | 7,019  | 7%     
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 - of which digital | 2,692  | 2,353  | 14%     | 5,150  | 4,461  | 15%    
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
EBITDA              | 620    | 743    | (17%)   | 1,100  | 1,338  | (18%)  
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
EBITDA margin       | 16%    | 21%    |         | 15%    | 19%    |        

Alternative performance measures used in this release are described and
presented in the section Definitions and reconciliations in the quarterly
report.



Webcast presentation including Q&A, 15 July 2022 at 09:00 CET

Due to construction works inside and outside of our headquarters in Oslo,
Akersgata 55, it will not be possible to attend the presentation in person.

CEO Kristin Skogen Lund and CFO Ragnar Kårhus will present the Q2 results as a
live webcast, including a Q&A session. The presentation and following Q&A
session will be held in English. The webcast can be viewed live at:
https://channel.royalcast.com/landingpage/hegnarmedia/20220715_2/

For the Q&A, participants can send in written questions via Slido.

Link: https://www.sli.do/

Event code: 3007539

It will not be possible to ask questions by phone.

A recording of the presentation will be available on our IR website shortly
after the live webcast has ended.



Oslo, 15 July 2022

SCHIBSTED ASA



¹ Foreign exchange neutral basis and including pro-forma revenues for
Marketplaces Denmark in Q2 2021

² Foreign exchange neutral basis

DISCLOSURE REGULATION

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section
5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

CONTACTS

 * Jann-Boje Meinecke, VP, Head of Investor Relations, +47 941 00 835,
   jbm@schibsted.com 

ABOUT SCHIBSTED

Schibsted is a family of digital brands with a strong Nordic position, and more
than 5,000 employees. Millions of people enjoy interacting with our companies
every day through our online marketplaces such as FINN, Blocket and Oikotie