NHST Group’s development in the THIRD quarter of 2021

The recovery of NHST Media Group’s markets continued during the third quarter, contributing to improved income from digital subscriptions. Revenues from advertising and events were significantly higher than in the third quarter last year.

Total revenues for the Group ended at NOK 265.0 million for the quarter, compared with NOK 255.5 million in the third quarter 2020. Group EBITDA for the quarter was NOK 20.7 million, compared with NOK 19.4 million the year before.

In the media businesses, Dagens Næringsliv (reported as the business area Norwegian publications) showed good progress in user revenues, reflecting a continued strong demand for news and a positive readership response to Dagens Næringsliv’s journalism. The trend towards digital distribution continued. Digital-only user revenues grew 28 percent compared with the third quarter 2020.

Dagens Næringsliv also delivered good revenue growth from events.

The publications within the Global publications segment reported stable user revenues compared with the third quarter last year. Digital user revenues increased 24 percent compared with the third quarter last year. Advertising revenues have recovered from the market decline caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Conferences and events, which historically have represented an important source of income for Global publications, also showed signs of recovery through new digital event offerings.

In the Software-as-a-Service segment (“SaaS”), revenues continue to be negatively affected by the market downturn caused by the pandemic, which led to a slowdown in booking of new business during 2020. However, sales have improved somewhat this year, and bookings in the third quarter exceeded those of the third quarter last year. The two SaaS companies in the Group, Mynewsdesk and Mention Solutions, are stepping up investments in product development in order to further strenghten their market position.

During the third quarter, the Group announced a reorganisation that will be implemented during the fourth quarter 2021. All operational activities will be organised under two new sub-holding companies; one for media and one for SaaS. The commercial functions in the main media companies will be consolidated into the media holding and management company in order to secure efficient resource allocation. NHST Media Group AS will continue as the holding company for both businesses and will continue to be quoted on NOTC under a new name to be proposed to shareholders during the fourth quarter.

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