24 Ore Group, half-year profit of 1.1 million

In detail, the main dynamics that characterised the consolidated revenue trend:

- The Group's advertising revenue of €43.4 million (41.2% of consolidated revenue) increased by 0.9% compared to 2024 as a result of the combination of different collection trends across the various media. In particular, there was a growth in sales on radio and events and a decrease in sales on print and digital media;

- Publishing revenues amounted to €46.9 million, down from €48.4 million in 2024, mainly due to the trend in circulation revenues of the daily newspaper (print + digital) and the decline in revenues from add-ons, books and magazines;

- other revenue amounted to EUR 14.9 million, a decrease of EUR 0.5 million, mainly due to the performance of the exhibition sector.

In the first half of the year, the 24 ORE Group launched three major projects under the banner of multimedia, multichannel, and innovation: the launch of the multimedia and cross-media platform 24ORE Salute, which brings together in a single digital hub all the most relevant content produced by all the Group's media in the health and healthcare sector, aimed both at citizens and at businesses and institutions; the successful implementation of AI in the professional databases of Il Sole 24 Ore, already adopted by more than 4.000 customers; and the debut on 24 June of the new TV channel Radio24-IlSole24OreTV, which makes the 24 ORE Group the first Italian editorial pole to have a complete multimedia information platform, equipped with all the main news media.

For the 160th anniversary of Il Sole 24 Ore, the first half of the year saw the launch of a series of celebratory initiatives that will continue throughout 2025, involving readers, businesses, professionals and institutions. In particular, February 2025 saw the launch of the initiative aimed at readers 'Become an Opinion Reader', which has resulted in Sole 24 Ore's first participatory campaign, where the protagonists are the faces and testimonies of 8 reader-readers of the newspaper, selected from hundreds of applications received. The communication campaign celebrating the 160th anniversary of Il Sole 24 ORE, Opinion Reader, was presented at the XX Festival dell'Economia in Trento, which confirmed its role as the highlight of the events organised by the Group, where the exhibition '16x10 - 160 Years of Information in the Light of the Sun' and the preview of Paolo Colombo's podcast 'Edizione Straordinaria - 10 spectacular events in the history of Italy' were also organised. In line with the Group's internationalisation process, Trento also saw the debut of the English-language version of the www.ilsole24ore.com website, translated thanks to the help of AI.

Lastly, the most recent awards received confirm the quality of the content and experimentation of formats: Il Sole 24 ORE for the eighth consecutive year was the leading daily newspaper in Italy in terms of reliability, as certified by the Digital News Report 2025 conducted in 48 countries by the Reuters Institute of Oxford University, and won first prize at the Global Brands Awards in the Media, PR and publication awards - Italy category as 'Most Innovative Business News Platform' and 'Excellence in Financial & Economic Journalism'.

The gross operating profit (ebitda) for the first half of 2025 was a positive EUR 10.6 million, compared to a positive ebitda of EUR 13.2 million for the same period in 2024. The change in ebitda is attributable to lower revenues and operating income totalling EUR 2.3 million and overall costs increasing by EUR 0.3 million compared to the first half of the previous year. Net of non-recurring income, ebitda was a positive EUR 8.6 million (EUR 12.0 million in the first half of 2024). Non-recurring income totalling EUR 1.9 million was recognised in the period.

With regard to personnel costs (equal to EUR 40.8 million, up by EUR 2.1 million compared to 2024), it should be noted that the increase is mainly related to the trend of contractual dynamics and a lower use of holidays. At 744, the average number of employees increased by 10 compared to the same period in 2024.

At EUR 49.4 million, service costs decreased by EUR 0.4 million (-0.7%) compared to the first half of 2024.

The operating profit (ebit) for the first half of 2025 is positive EUR 2.8 million, compared to a positive ebit of EUR 5.5 million in 2024. Net of non-recurring income, ebit was positive EUR 0.9 million, compared to a positive EUR 4.3 million in H1 2024. Negative net financial income and expenses of EUR 1m (negative EUR 0.8m in 2024) were recognised.

The net result was a profit of EUR 1.1 million, compared to a profit of EUR 2.9 million in the first half of 2024. Net of non-recurring income and expenses, the net result was a loss of EUR 0.9 million.

The net financial position as of 30 June 2025 was positive by EUR 0.1 million and improved by EUR 6.5 million compared to the value as of 31 December 2024 (negative by EUR 6.5 million). The NFP before IFRS 16 was also positive by EUR 31.5 million, improving by EUR 3.2 million compared to 31 December 2024. The change in the net financial position is related to the cash flow generated by operations in the period.

Shareholders' equity was EUR 33.8 million, an increase of EUR 1.3 million compared to 31 December 2024, when it was EUR 32.5 million.

The Publishing & Digital area closed the first half of 2025 with revenues of 47.1 million euros compared to 49.2 million euros in the same period of the previous year. Of particular note was the growth recorded by Radiocor Agency with revenues of 4.8 million euro, up by 0.5 million euro (+11.4%) compared to the first half of 2024.

In detail, circulation and other revenues totalled EUR 27.9 million compared to EUR 29.0 million in the first half of 2024. Advertising revenue amounted to EUR 19.3 million compared to EUR 20.3 million in the same period of 2024.

Circulation (paper + digital) of the daily newspaper Il Sole 24 ORE for the period January-May 2025 was 116,671 average copies per day (-3.8% compared to the same period in 2024, a better performance than the market, which fell by -5.4%), confirming the newspaper in third place in the ranking of national newspapers (net of sports titles).

With regard to the data on copies sold of Il Sole 24 ORE, the average Total Paid For Circulation in the first half of 2025 was determined to be 163,690 copies, including all multiple digital copies sold, but not reportable as circulated for ADS purposes and therefore not included in the relevant declaration.

Growth indicators on all fronts for the www.ilsole24ore.com portal. In the first half of 2025, the newspaper's website recorded a daily average of 1.0 million unique browsers, up 1.7 per cent compared to January-June 2024. The figure for page views was also positive, with a daily average of 5.9 million, up 4.5 per cent compared to the first half of 2024, demonstrating increased user engagement (source: Mapp Intelligence, formerly Webtrekk).

On the media side for January-June 2025, there was growth for both the video (16.3 million average monthly views, +2.2% vs. 2024) and the podcast (970,000 average monthly listens, +36.2% vs. last year).

With regard to Social Networks, Il Sole 24 ORE exceeded 6 million followers in June 2025 with a year-on-year improvement for all platforms (Whatsapp Web +64.0%, YouTube +38.0%, TikTok +26.4%, Instagram +11.1%, Linkedin +3.9%, X-Twitter +1.5%, Facebook +0.4%; sources: Whatsapp, YouTube Analytics, TikTok Analytics, Meta Analytics, Linkedin Analytics, X-Twitter Analytics). On Linkedin, Il Sole 24 ORE confirmed its position as the first Italian publisher in terms of number of followers (over 1,400,000) on the social network dedicated to the professional world, with its native newsletter Management 24 closing the semester at 440,000 subscribers.

Revenues from the Professional Services and Training business in H1 2025 amounted to EUR 28.2 million, broadly in line (-0.1%) with the same period in 2024. In detail, revenues from the Professional Services business amounted to €25.9 million, essentially in line (-0.4%) with the first half of 2024, mainly due to growth in revenues from databases of +1.4% (+€0.3 million), NT+ vertical newspapers of +2.9%, ItalyX certification and Quality 24 certification of €0.2 million, which essentially offset the decrease in the periodicals, books and newsstand product lines of -26.6% (-0.4 million).

Also important was the contribution deriving from the re-entry into the Training business, whose revenues were in line with the previous year, thanks to the development of the catalogue of courses offered with regulatory and journalistic content developed in-house and the partnership in Sole 24 ORE Formazione, launched with Multiversity in areas other than those followed directly by Il Sole 24 ORE S.p.A.

The Radio area closed the first half of 2025 with revenues of EUR 9.6 million, an increase of EUR 0.7 million (+7.6%) compared to the same period of 2024, with advertising revenues through the radio medium, the website www.radio24.it and the new TV channel Radio24-IlSole24OreTV launched on 24 June 2024 amounting to EUR 9.3 million (+9.0% compared to 2024).

The Radio 24 - 4.0 platform recorded an average of 9.6 million page views per month in January/June 2025. The number of unique users reached a monthly average of 1.6 million (source: Mapp Intelligence - January/June 2025). From January to June 2025, audio streams (downloads and on-demand streaming) of podcasts, accessible from Radio24's website and app for Mobile, Smart TV, Automotive devices, Alexa Smart Speaker and from the main third-party platforms (Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music) amounted to 52.3 million, for a monthly average of 8.7 million downloads (sources: January/June: Audiometrix for website and app, Spotify Metrix for Spotify, Apple Analytics for Apple, Amazon Analytics for Amazon). An innovative multimedia and multi-channel platform that has been enriched with the new Radio24-IlSole24OreTV TV channel, accessible both on digital terrestrial channel 246 and through all of the Group's main digital entry points: the Radio 24 and Sole 24 Ore websites, the Mobile Apps and also the Radio 24 CTV Apps available for Android TV and LG.

In the first half of 2025, the reference market shows a decreasing trend compared to the same period in 2024 with a change of -1.7%, the local net newspaper market registers -5.0%, magazines -8.2%, radio +4.4% and digital -2.4% (source: Nielsen net data January/June 2025 vs. 2024).

In the first half of 2025 24 ORE System closed with revenues of EUR 38.8 million, down -1.0% compared to the same period of 2024. In particular, Il Sole 24 ORE (daily newspaper + supplements) closed the first half of 2025 at -6.5% compared to the same period of 2024. The Group's magazines had a shrinking trend and closed the first half of 2025 with -7.0%, with the reference market down 8.2% in the period January - June 2025 compared to the same period of the previous year (Nielsen net data January/June 2025 vs 2024).

In the first half of the year, the concessionaire's online sales fell by -3.5% compared to 2024 (net of fund type and sales of foreign titles); the Group's sites (net of funds) fell by -2.4%, in line with the market trend.

Better than the market (up +4.4%) for Radio 24's sales, which grew by +9.5% year-on-year, twice as much as the market.

The Events segment closed the first half of 2025 with revenue of EUR 5.2 million, an increase of EUR 0.8 million (+17.1%) compared to the same period in 2024.

The 20th edition of the 'Trento Economics Festival', held from 22 to 25 May 2025, co-managed by Il Sole 24 ORE and the Autonomous Province of Trento with the collaboration of the Municipality of Trento and the University of Trento, was a great success. The Festival confirmed the already excellent success of the previous editions. There were 325 scheduled appointments that saw the participation of more than 750 speakers. The broad success of the public was confirmed, with more than 40,000 participants at the physical events and more than 600,000 users following the events via live streaming on the Sole 24 ORE website and its social channels. The entire ilsole24ore.com website gave extensive coverage to the contents of the Festival, closing the four days with a total of over 7.5 million connected users.

The Culture segment recorded revenue of EUR 5.8 million in the first half of 2025, a decrease of EUR 0.9 million (-13.5%) compared to the same period in 2024.

On 11 April, the art&design24 shop was opened at Milan's Central Station, displaying the 24 ORE Group's editorial products and gifts.

The international framework continues to be characterised by high uncertainty, mainly due to the unpredictable evolution of geo-political tensions, risks stemming from protectionist pressures, and moderate growth prospects. In the first half of 2025, Italian GDP is expected to grow by 0.6% in 2025 and 0.8% in 2026, after having increased by 0.7% in the previous two years (source: Istat - Le prospettive dell'economia italiana - 6 June 2025).

The uncertainty of the current macroeconomic and geopolitical environment calls for continued caution regarding future forecasts.

In this scenario, the Group recorded higher revenues, ebitda and ebit in the first half of 2025 than forecast in the 2025 budget, and confirmed its will to pursue sustainable development over time, leveraging on the continuous enhancement of the brand, the digitalisation of products and processes, and internationalisation, further strengthening its role as a reference media group for the Country System in terms of information, training and tools to support the business community in facing the new challenges in national and international markets.

Therefore, the Group's growth target over the Plan period remains unchanged with respect to the main economic-financial indicators, even in the presence of a context that could determine the achievement of the relative targets with one or two years delay.