Sanoma Corporation, Half-Year Report 1 January-30 June 2026: Solid first six months
Sanoma Corporation, Stock Exchange Release, 29 July 2026 at 8:30 a.m. EET
Sanoma Corporation, Half-Year Report 1 January–30 June 2026: Solid first six months
ON TRACK FOR THE FULL-YEAR STEP CHANGE IN ADJUSTED OPERATING PROFIT
This release is a summary of Sanoma’s Half-Year Report 1 January–30 June 2026. The complete report is attached to this release and is also available at www.sanoma.com/en/investors.
Q2 2026
- Net sales amounted to EUR 334.7 million (2025: 339.8). Net sales grew in Learning. Comparable sales were relatively stable as growth in learning content sales in the Netherlands and in digital platform sales in Poland was offset by significant phasing to the third quarter, mainly in Spain and Italy. The Vicens Vives acquisition contributed positively to net sales. In Media Finland, net sales decreased driven by advertising and fewer events. The Group’s organic net sales development was -3% (2025: -1%).
- Adjusted operating profit amounted to EUR 62.6 million (2025: 62.0). Earnings were stable in Learning as the positive impact of increased sales was offset by higher sales and marketing costs ahead of the curriculum renewals. In Media Finland, earnings were supported by profitability of events and lower paper-related and TV programming costs.
- Operating profit was stable at EUR 48.1 million (2025: 48.9). The items affecting comparability (IACs) amounted to EUR -6.3 million (2025: -4.4) and mainly consisted of costs related to recent acquisitions and technology transformation. Purchase price allocation adjustments and amortisations (PPAs) amounted to EUR 8.2 million (2025: 8.7).
- Adjusted EPS was EUR 0.23 (2025: 0.21).
- EPS was EUR 0.20 (2025: 0.19).
- On 7 May 2026, the Annual General Meeting decided that a dividend of EUR 0.42 per share (2024: 0.39) shall be paid for 2025 in three equal instalments. The first instalment of EUR 0.14 was paid on 19 May, the second instalment of EUR 0.14 will be paid on 22 September and the third instalment of EUR 0.14 on 10 November.
- On 30 April, Sanoma strengthened its position in Spain by acquiring Vicens Vives, one of the major local learning content providers.
H1 2026
- Net sales amounted to EUR 555.8 million (2025: 560.9). Net sales increased in Learning despite significant phasing to the third quarter. Growth was driven by learning content sales in the Netherlands, digital platform sales in Poland and the Vicens Vives acquisition. In Media Finland, net sales declined mainly driven by advertising. The Group’s organic net sales development was -2% (2025: -1%), being 1% in Learning and -5% in Media Finland.
- Adjusted operating profit increased to EUR 46.4 million (2025: 43.3). Earnings were stable in Learning as the positive impact of higher sales was offset by the impact of higher sales and marketing costs ahead of the curriculum renewals. Earnings increased in Media Finland.
- Operating profit increased to EUR 19.2 million (2025: 17.6). IACs increased to EUR -11.5 million (2025: -8.1) and mainly consisted of costs related to recent acquisitions and technology transformation. PPAs were EUR 15.7 million (2025: 17.6).
- Adjusted EPS was EUR 0.10 (2025: 0.04).
- EPS was EUR 0.04 (2025: 0.00).
- Free cash flow was negative in line with the typical seasonality of the learning business and amounted to EUR -73.4 million (2025: -67.7), mainly reflecting higher investments across businesses.
- Net debt/Adj. EBITDA was 3.0 (2025: 2.5), being seasonally above the target level of below 2.5. The leverage was impacted by the typical annual seasonality of the learning business, the repayment of the EUR 150 million hybrid bond as well as the Vicens Vives acquisition.
Outlook for 2026 (unchanged)
In 2026, Sanoma expects that the Group’s net sales will be EUR 1.29‒1.34 billion (2025: 1.30) and the Group's adjusted operating profit will be EUR 205−225 million (2025: 188).
The outlook is based on the following assumptions:
- Demand for learning content will increase, driven by curriculum renewals in some of the Group's operating markets.
- The advertising market in Finland will be relatively stable.
President and CEO Rob Kolkman:
- On track to deliver the step change in the Group’s adjusted operating profit for 2026; Outlook for 2026 unchanged
- Well-positioned for high season growth in Learning
- Three acquisitions in Learning so far in 2026
”We had a solid first six months, and we are on track to deliver the step change in the Group's adjusted operating profit for 2026. Learning's high season in the third quarter is decisive, and we enter it continuing to benefit from our scale and disciplined cost management across the business.
Learning's net sales grew, even after absorbing approximately EUR 15 million of sales phasing into the third quarter from late curriculum renewal and ordering decisions mainly in Spain and Italy. Growth came from learning content sales in the Netherlands, digital platform sales in Poland and the contribution from Vicens Vives. Adjusted operating profit was stable for the first half, reflecting the sales phasing and approximately EUR 8 million of higher sales and marketing investments in Spain and Poland ahead of their curriculum renewals. We expect these to convert into margin as those renewals take effect in the second half. We are on track to deliver an adjusted operating profit margin clearly above 23% in Learning for the full year.
We go into the high season well prepared, having published more than 60 new learning methods across our markets. Sweden is already delivering strong growth from the upper secondary curriculum renewal. In the Netherlands, new mother-tongue and maths materials have been well received; in Italy our new maths material for secondary education has already sold well. In Spain, we have renewed our flagship series, launching Construyendo Nuevos Mundos, as the next generation of the successful Construyendo Mundos series. In Poland, our renewed offering for the educational reform is selling well, supported by the 20% increase in government textbook funding.
We continued to strengthen our leading position in K12 across Europe through three acquisitions so far in 2026 – in Spain, Poland and the Netherlands – each adding scale in a market where we already operate, in line with our strategy (more information about the acquisitions on p. 10 of the report). The most recent acquisition, Fluentbe in Poland, completed in early July, adds AI-powered digital language-learning capability with cross-selling potential across our existing base of more than 2 million digital users.
AI is an increasingly integral part of how we work both in Learning and Media, and we always emphasise its responsible use and human oversight. In Learning, AI enhances our personalised learning offering and supports teachers in their daily work. Our AI Teacher Assistant helps teachers create exercises, tests, lesson plans and other materials grounded in our trusted content and pedagogy. Launched earlier this spring in seven markets, 88% of the first group of teachers who used it found the materials comparable to or better than their own. We have also continued to develop our AI Student Assistant, integrating capabilities from the recent Mr. Chadd acquisition. In Media Finland, AI is supporting faster digital product development and enabling journalists to uncover and use data in ways that were not previously possible, contributing to distinctive, high-quality journalism. Together with the production companies, we are exploring ways to enhance storytelling and production capabilities across video and TV.
Media Finland’s adjusted operating profit improved even as net sales declined on continued soft advertising demand and fewer events than a year ago. Subscription sales were stable with growth in digital subscriptions offsetting the decline in print, while solid development in the number of subscriptions continued across products. We are pleased with the performance of the events, supported by our refined portfolio and successful line-ups that attracted a higher number of visitors throughout the summer season. The Finnish advertising market showed some encouraging signs towards the end of the quarter. The improvement in Media Finland’s adjusted operating profit was driven by continued robust cost containment and improved profitability of events.
Our free cash flow was negative in the first half, in line with the seasonal pattern of the business. The development also reflected the higher sales and marketing costs in Learning as well as higher investments across the business, including the timing of TV programming spend. For the full-year 2026, we expect free cash flow to grow moderately compared to 2025 (EUR 129 million) and to be more weighted towards the fourth quarter than last year.
Our net debt and leverage (net debt / adjusted EBITDA) were at their seasonal peak and increased from the previous year. This was mainly due to the refinancing of the EUR 150 million hybrid bond with senior debt in March and the acquisition of Vicens Vives at the end of April. We expect deleveraging to resume towards the end of the year, supported by positive and growing free cash flow generation in the second half.
Our positive impact and robust sustainability progress received further recognition during the summer. In June, we were for the first time included in the TIME magazine and Statista’s list of the World’s Most Sustainable Companies and in July, our score in S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment improved by three points to 58/100, positioning us among the top companies within our industry.
We enter the second half well positioned, with the third quarter decisive for Learning and the development of the Finnish advertising market the key variable for Media Finland. Based on our performance to date and current visibility, we keep our Outlook for 2026 unchanged, indicating a significantly improving adjusted operating profit compared to 2025.
We continue to focus on capturing exciting growth opportunities across our business, increasing our adjusted operating profit over 2026–2030 and creating long-term value for our stakeholders. I would like to warmly thank all Sanoma employees for delivering this solid performance, and for their continued commitment and passion in supporting our customers.”
Key indicators
| EUR million | Q2 2026 | Q2 2025 | Change | H1 2026 | H1 2025 | Change | FY 2025 |
| Net sales | 334.7 | 339.8 | -1% | 555.8 | 560.9 | -1% | 1,302.5 |
| Adjusted EBITDA 1) | 103.0 | 107.2 | -4% | 129.5 | 133.2 | -3% | 366.1 |
| Margin 1) | 30.8% | 31.5% | 23.3% | 23.7% | 28.1% | ||
| Adjusted operating profit 2) | 62.6 | 62.0 | 1% | 46.4 | 43.3 | 7% | 188.2 |
| Margin 2) | 18.7% | 18.3% | 8.4% | 7.7% | 14.4% | ||
| Operating profit | 48.1 | 48.9 | -2% | 19.2 | 17.6 | 9% | 48.6 |
| Result for the period | 32.5 | 33.0 | -2% | 8.4 | 4.6 | 85% | 19.9 |
| Free cash flow 3) | -34.5 | -29.6 | -17% | -73.4 | -67.7 | -8% | 128.6 |
| Equity ratio 4) | 29.7% | 38.5% | 47.1% | ||||
| Net debt | 775.8 | 659.0 | 18% | 486.1 | |||
| Net debt / Adj. EBITDA 5) | 3.0 | 2.5 | 23% | 1.8 | |||
| Adjusted EPS, EUR 1) | 0.23 | 0.21 | 10% | 0.10 | 0.04 | 162% | 0.57 |
| EPS, EUR | 0.20 | 0.19 | 7% | 0.04 | 0.00 | 3116% | 0.06 |
| Free cash flow per share, EUR 3) | -0.21 | -0.18 | -17% | -0.45 | -0.42 | -9% | 0.79 |
| Average number of employees (FTE) | 4,632 | 4,655 | 0% | 4,645 | |||
| Number of employees at the end of the period (FTE) | 4,957 | 4,845 | 2% | 4,554 |
1) Excluding IACs
2) Excluding IACs and purchase price allocation adjustments and amortisations (PPAs)
3) Definition amended in 2026 to include payments of lease liabilities. Using the previous definition, free cash flow was EUR -22.1 million in Q2 2025, EUR -51.7 million in H1 2025 and EUR 159.7 million in FY 2025 and free cash flow per share was EUR -0.14 in Q2 2025, EUR -0.32 in H1 2025 and EUR 0.98 in FY 2025.
4) Advances received included in the formula of equity ratio were EUR 160.4 million in H1 2026 (2025: 159.8).
5) The adjusted EBITDA used in this ratio is the 12-month rolling adjusted EBITDA, where acquired operations are included and divested operations excluded, and where programming rights and prepublication rights have been raised above EBITDA on the basis of cash flow.
Analyst and investor conference
An analyst and investor conference will be held in English by the President and CEO Rob Kolkman and CFO Alex Green today at 11:30 a.m. EET at Sanomatalo, Flik Studio Eliel, 1st floor, Töölönlahdenkatu 2, Helsinki.
The conference can be followed as a live webcast at https://sanoma.events.inderes.com/q2-2026. Management presentation is followed by a Q&A session. Questions can be placed through the webcast chat function or by phone. To ask questions by phone, the participant is required to register at https://events.inderes.com/sanoma/q2-2026/dial-in. After the registration you will receive the phone number and conference ID to access the conference. If you wish to ask a question, please press *5 on your telephone keypad to enter the queue.
An on-demand replay of the webcast will be available shortly after the conference at www.sanoma.com/en/investors.
Interview opportunities for media by Teams or by phone are available after the conference. Media representatives are asked to book interviews via email at ir@sanoma.com.
Additional information
Kaisa Uurasmaa, Head of Investor Relations and Sustainability, tel. +358 40 560 5601
Sanoma
Sanoma is an innovative and agile learning and media company impacting the lives of millions every day. Across Europe, we support teachers and students with the best-in-class learning content and solutions to help all students reach their potential. We combine pedagogical expertise with quality content and innovative educational technologies to help shape the future of K12 education.
Our Finnish media provide independent journalism and engaging entertainment also for generations to come. Our unique cross-media position offers the widest reach and tailored marketing solutions for our business partners.
We have a clear organic growth pathway in K12 education and aim to accelerate growth through value-creating M&A. Across our business, we are responsibly harnessing the opportunities of AI, always emphasising human oversight. Our Sustainability Strategy is designed to maximise our positive ‘brainprint’ on society and to minimise our environmental footprint. We are committed to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and signatory to the UN Global Compact.
Today, we operate across Europe and employ close to 5,000 professionals. In 2025, our net sales amounted to approx. 1.3bn€ and our adjusted operating profit margin was 14.4%. Sanoma shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. More information is available at sanoma.com.
Attachment
