”We had a good start to the year driven by improved performance in Learning in a seasonally small quarter. Growth in learning content sales in the Netherlands was partially driven by earlier ordering and supported by the continued underlying growth in the Dutch market. Digital learning platform sales increased in Poland, mainly driven by consumer demand. We also saw the first positive impacts of Program Solar in Learning’s cost base, which – together with the net sales growth – improved the seasonally negative operational earnings.

Economic uncertainty has increased during the first quarter. The US trade tariffs are not expected to have an impact on Sanoma's businesses or performance in the short term. However, we expect the softness in the Finnish advertising market to continue in the coming months, especially in comparison to the second quarter of 2024. While the economic turmoil could cause somewhat different quarterly phasing compared to the previous year, our Outlook for the full year 2025 remains unchanged.

The 2025 Sanoma Learning European Teacher Survey, with nearly 7,000 participants, continued to show stable and consistent value placed on high-quality learning materials throughout our markets, with 84% of the teachers agreeing that our learning materials help students in reaching curriculum objectives. The teachers have a strong preference in using printed and digital materials together, and they see the benefits of digital tools on improved inclusiveness among different learners, for instance.

In the first quarter, we continued to advance the use of AI in both businesses with a strong emphasis on its responsible use and human oversight. In Learning, for example, we integrated Speech Coach in some of our learning materials in Finland and Belgium, applied AI translations in editorial processes in Spain and implemented AI tools to improve coding efficiency. In Media Finland, the newsrooms have developed their capabilities for automatic news gathering from public sources and introduced an AI tool pack to support journalistic work processes. AI also assists in creating daily audio news summaries, in the B2C customer service chatbot and in generating B2B customer reports based on their sales results data.

In Media Finland, subscription sales increased, driven by continued good development in digital, especially the SVOD service Ruutu+. The digital news media subscriptions and +Kaikki, a bundle subscription including all of Media Finland's digital consumer products, also performed favourably. Digital advertising continued to grow despite the fact that the overall demand for advertising weakened during the quarter. Media Finland’s advertising sales were further impacted by the ending of reselling of certain third-party TV channels advertising in the beginning of this year.

During the seasonally small first quarter, our free cash flow increased mainly due to improved working capital and higher operational earnings in Learning, and the deleveraging of our balance sheet continued to progress well. At the end of March, our Net debt / Adjusted EBITDA was well within the long-term target of < 3.0. 

Our focus remains on increasing our profitability and free cash flow, while the upcoming curriculum renewals in our major learning markets, particularly Poland and Spain, are expected to accelerate organic growth from 2026 onwards. In Media Finland, we are continuing and accelerating our successful digital transformation. We aim to also expand through value-creating M&A in K12 learning services, while being committed to meeting our leverage and equity ratio targets and paying an increasing dividend, equal to 40–60% of our annual free cash flow.

After the first three months, we are in a good position to continue on our strategic path, to grow and further strengthen our business, improve our performance, and create value for all our stakeholders. I would like to warmly thank all Sanoma employees for their dedication and strong commitment in supporting our customers in the best possible way and delivering these solid results.”

29 April 2025