Exor: Repubblica and Stampa make Gedi’s accounts blush
Here are all the accounts in the red of the Gedi group which publishes the newspapers Repubblica and Stampa according to the half-yearly report of the parent company Exor
Excellent numbers for Exor in the first half of the year. It's a shame the same cannot be said for Gedi, a subsidiary of the Agnelli family holding based in the Netherlands. The editorial group chaired by John Elkann, which has la Repubblica and La Stampa as its flagship products, has in fact seen losses and financial debts increase.
GEDI'S ACCOUNTS FOR THE FIRST HALF OF 2023
According to what can be found in the report on the accounts for the first half of Exor – which owns 89.62% of the capital -, in the period January-June of the current year Gedi's overall revenues remained stable (237 million compared to 238 million in the same period of 2022) but the alarm is triggered by the red of 37 million compared to -22 million in mid-2022. Therefore the loss – which impacts Exor's accounts for 32 million – grew by 68%. .
It should be added that as of 30 June there was also a discreet increase in gross financial debt, which reached 255 million, and net debt at 245 million (in fact, it is necessary to remove the 10 million in cash or equivalent). Six months earlier, however, the gross financial debt was 209 million from which, after deducting the 18 million in liquidity, we arrived at a net financial debt of 191 million.
Il Sole 24 Ore reminds us that part of Gedi's debts are loans granted by the parent company Exor. In fact, in the half-year report of the Dutch holding it is specified that the gross financial debts of the publishing group, net of intragroup debts towards Exor, as of 30 June last were equal to 110 million, an increase compared to 102 million as of 31 December 2022. In total, the net financial debts are higher than Gedi's net assets, which as of 30 June stood at 157 million, down compared to the 194 million at the end of 2022 as a result of the losses in the half-year. According to analysts, generally a company's capital structure is balanced if financial debts do not exceed net worth. It should be remembered that as of 30 June 2023, Gedi's total assets were 840 million, also down compared to 937 million at the end of December.
As we were saying, the numbers of Exor are of an opposite sign, closing the first half of the year with a consolidated profit of 2.157 billion (compared to 0.265 billion in the same period of 2022) and a net value of assets at 34.2 billion from 28, 2 billion on 31 December 2022.
THE LATEST DATA ON REPUBBLICA AND PRESS SALES
According to the latest available Ads data (July 2023) relating to newspaper circulation , the two leading newspapers of the Gedi group recorded a significant decline with Repubblica at 101,172 copies (-15%) and Stampa at 72,870 copies (-12%) .
It must be highlighted that this is a different figure compared to that of generic circulation as it is obtained by subtracting the number of copies distributed free of charge or at a discounted price of more than 70% and those purchased by third parties, i.e. companies, institutions, hotels. As regards digital subscriptions alone, for Repubblica we are at 25,873 and for Stampa we are at 8,603. The first in the ranking, Corriere della Sera , has 43,325.
THE LATEST DISMISSIONS OF THE GEDI GROUP
In recent months, however, Gedi has sold some "pieces" of the group , namely the newspapers Corriere delle Alpi, il Mattino di Padova, il Messaggero Veneto, la Nuova di Venezia and Mestre, Il Piccolo, la Tribuna di Treviso and Nordest Economia (only digital newspaper).
The operation was completed by a consortium that involved various names in Venetian business: Alessandro Banzato (Acciaierie Venete), Enrico Carraro (Gruppo Carraro), Federico De' Stefani (Sit Group), the Nalini families (Gruppo Carel ) and Zanatta (Tecnica Group), Videomedia (a company active in the television field with TvA and TeleChiara). Banca Finint was the promoter and direct underwriter on behalf of a specially established newco.
In November there will be the debut of the new publishing company (president Enrico Marchi, president of Banca Finint); in the meantime the board has appointed Giuseppe Cerbone as managing director (former CEO of Ansa and the Sole 24 Ore group) and the journalist and writer Paolo Possamai as editorial director.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/gruppo-gedi-exor-conti-rosso/ on Fri, 13 Oct 2023 14:19:03 +0000.