Publishing

Feltrinelli returns to profit: growing results for books, bookshops and education

Revenues of EUR 530.8 million (+3.9%), net profit of EUR 3.4 million. Margins improved and positioning strengthened in the three poles: publishing, retail and training

8 May 2025

3' min read

After years of challenges and transformations, in its own house as well as in the entire publishing sector, the Feltrinelli Group turns over a new leaf and returns to a positive balance sheet. In fact, 2024 closed with a net profit of EUR +3.4 million. A plus sign that represents a sign of discontinuity compared to the red balance sheets of recent years.

The change of pace

But now the change of pace, announced exactly one year ago, with the presentation of the 2023 figures. A promise kept and a change of pace compared to 2023, when the red was 1.3 million. To drive the group, an industrial plan that has begun to bear fruit and a strategy that integrates publishing tradition and digital innovation.

The result was an important signal for the publishing and retail group, which in the second year of the 2023-2027 business plan sees the strategies launched consolidated, with positive results on all key economic indicators.

Revenues amounted to EUR 530.8 million, up 3.9% from EUR 511 million in 2023. Ebitda also improved, reaching EUR 25.9 million (+3.2%) with Ebit increasing 119% from EUR 2.1 million to EUR 4.6 million. Recurring Ebitda rose 6.2% to EUR 28.1 million. The net financial position also improved, which remained negative but decreased to -5 million (it was -6.6 million in 2023).

Adda Carra: 'Strategic choices inaugurated in 2023'

These results are the result of an action orchestrated on three levels: publishing, bookshops, and training. "The 2024 results," comments managing director Alessandra Carra, "confirm the effectiveness of the strategic choices inaugurated in 2023 and consolidate a growth path actively driven by all three operational hubs: books, bookshops and training. From the editorial successes, culminating with the victory of six literary prizes in Italy and Spain, to the opening of four new bookshops, from the performance recorded by the e-commerce platforms to the construction of the synergic development between Feltrinelli Education and Scuola Holden: during the year the Group has shown a better performance than the market, in the perspective of a long-term growth, attentive to the challenges of a historical phase in which we feel the responsibility to make Feltrinelli's drive for the future of books in Italy and Europe even more solid and energetic".

There are three operational poles into which the Group's activities are divided: publishing (Content Pole), bookshops and digital channels (Channels Pole) and training (Training Pole).

Publishing

The Content Pole (Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore, Gribaudo, Crocetti, Apogeo, Gamma, Sem, Marsilio, since last year Gramma and, in Spain, Anagrama) reported revenues of EUR 90.3 million, up 8.2% year-on-year. Market share also grew, up to 7% from 6.8% in 2023. Six literary prizes. Among these, summarises a note from the group, 'the Bancarella Prize to "Il Cognome delle Donne" by Aurora Tamigio (Feltrinelli); the Campiello Prize to "Alma" by Federica Manzon (Feltrinelli); the Campiello Prize - Selezione Giuria dei Letterati for "Il fuoco che ti porti dentro" by Antonio Fraschini (Marsilio) and the awarding of the Cervantes Prize, the most prestigious for Spanish-language literature, to Álvaro Pombo (Anagrama)'.

Libraries

The Polo Canali represents the preponderant part of the turnover: 81.5% and closes 2024 with revenues of EUR 432.3 million (+3.1%), bucking the trend of a declining book market (-0.9% in value, -1.8% in volume according to Gfk). "The performance of the e-commerce platforms laFeltrinelli.it, IBS.it and Libraccio.it was good," the group stated in a note. And meanwhile, bookshops - the physical ones - are not closing, but opening. In Capaci, in Taranto, in Rome. Openings that in the end are not only commercial expansion, but also symbolic gestures, political almost, in territories where the presence of books means presidium, citizenship, future.

Training

Finally, the Education segment recorded revenues of EUR 8.1 million (+1.5%), with the joint development of Feltrinelli Education and Scuola Holden, after the Group acquired 100% of the shares of the Turin school.

"The Group," reports Feltrinelli in its note, "has drawn up its first Sustainability Report, which will be published shortly, in which all the activities carried out and the results achieved during the year will be presented. At the same time, the path towards regulatory compliance in the field of sustainability reporting continued, in line with the requirements of European Directive 2022/2464 (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive - CSRD)'.

Andrea BiondiVicecaposervizio
Luogo: Milano
Lingue parlate: Italiano, Inglese, Francese
Argomenti: Finanza, Media, Telecomunicazioni, Economia dell'entertainment, Innovazione
Scheda autore
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