Mondadori stays on course, but profits slow. Porro: 'Optimism for the second half of the year'

It is the heart of Mondadori's business that is showing its side: the Trade Books area recorded revenues of euro 180 million, down 4.5% against the first half of 2024. In this context, the group reports a market context penalised by the transition from the App18 to the Culture and Merit Cards and, more generally, by reduced publication of strong titles by all Italian publishers.

Mondadori, however, held up better than the sector average. The decline in the sector in the first half of the year, as also highlighted in the conference call with analysts, was in fact 5% on a national scale. A sign, the Segrate-based publisher pointed out, that the group has been able to defend its market share.

While the traditional sector is marking time, the digital sector is accelerating. In the first six months of 2025, Mondadori's digital sector grew by 12.6%, an increase of around €3.9 million. Of this, 1.5 million came from "Fatto in Casa da Benedetta": the food and lifestyle project of the influencer Benedetta Rossi acquired in July 2024.

An operation that, as Porro emphasises, 'is bearing the hoped-for fruit' and that promises further surprises in the second half of the year, thanks in part to the summer publication of a new recipe book and another editorial release planned for the autumn, in view of the Christmas peak.

In the face of a drop in profit, cash generation remained solid: free cash flow as at 30 June was positive at EUR 33.8 million. In the twelve months prior to the date, ordinary cash flow was EUR 64 million, while extraordinary cash flow recorded a liability of about EUR 30 million, mainly related to M& A operations, restructuring charges, and the restyling of the Segrate headquarters.

The net financial position (excluding IFRS 16) was EUR -218.8 million, slightly worse than the EUR -211.9 million in 2024. This impact is also due to the full distribution of the dividends resolved: EUR 36.5m, half of which has already been paid in May and the other half coming in November.

Despite a macroeconomic and sector context that is not without its uncertainties, Mondadori confirms its forecasts for the full year 2025: "low single-digit" growth in revenues and adjusted EBITDA, stable margins around 17% and a reduction in the adjusted NFP/EBITDA ratio to 1.0x (0.5x excluding the impact of IFRS 16).

On the extraordinary operations front, the group is not standing still, but times are getting longer. Cfo Alessandro Franzosi confirms this: 'We are negotiating a couple of operations in our core areas - books and digital - but the structural and negotiating complexity has slowed the path. However, we hope to announce something by the end of the year'. Strategic interest in external growth remains high, especially in those areas that complement and amplify the group's core publishing and digital assets.

Giving the sector a boost could be the refinancing of the library fund, approved in the Senate Budget Committee. It is an additional EUR 30 million, on top of the EUR 25 million already allocated. "An unprecedented endowment," Porro emphasises, "that could account for almost 10% of the national book sales in the first seven months of the year.