• Strong growth in the Group’s adjusted operating profit; earnings improved in both Learning and Media Finland
  • In Learning, strong growth in learning content and digital platform sales
  • Earnings Outlook for 2026 narrowed to the higher end

”We had a good third quarter, and with improved earnings in both businesses, we delivered strong growth in the Group’s adjusted operating profit for January–September. Following our performance to date, we have narrowed our earnings Outlook for 2026 to the higher end, and will be delivering the earlier indicated step change in the Group’s adjusted operating profit for this year.

In Learning, reported net sales were relatively stable due to the discontinuation of the low-value Dutch distribution contracts we announced a year ago. Growth in learning content and digital platform sales was strong, driven by Poland, where our renewed offering for the educational reform was well received by teachers and supported by the increased government textbook funding. In Spain, net sales grew mainly driven by the contribution from Vicens Vives, while late government funding decisions in certain regions resulted in a lower change rate of materials in the market. Together with the sales cycle continuing into October, this impacted the organic growth in Spain. Learning content sales continued to grow in the Netherlands. A more digital sales mix in the Netherlands and Belgium results in more revenue recognised over the school year. Examples of our continuing efforts to support teachers and students across Europe include the new maths method supporting the changes in the Dutch curriculum and resulting in an increase in market penetration, as well as a new generation of immersive primary textbooks for the new curriculum in Poland, combining print, digital and VR learning experiences in history, science and maths. 

Growth in Learning’s adjusted operating profit was strong, driven by higher learning content sales in our largest markets, in particular Poland and Spain. The benefits of our increased scale and improved operational efficiency became visible with that growth.

Artificial Intelligence is becoming an increasingly integral part of how we work, always with responsible use and human oversight. In October, we launched Sanna as our common educational Teacher Assistant brand with a unified proposition across seven markets. Co-created with more than 1,500 teachers, Sanna combines our trusted content and pedagogical expertise to help teachers save time and differentiate teaching, while enabling us to leverage our scale. We are also progressing well with our AI Student Assistant, which will be launched during this school year. In Media Finland, we have been coaching all our journalists into using AI. This systematic approach started from identifying concrete topics related to each journalist’s day-to-day work rather than from the technology itself. Together with the shared tools that have been developed, this is significantly scaling the use of AI in our newsrooms – always with human oversight. In B2B, AI is helping deepen digital customer dialogue and steer purchasing towards digital channels. By freeing up time for customer work, AI has also helped to generate new business opportunities and sales. 

Media Finland’s net sales were stable in the third quarter. Subscription sales continued to be relatively stable, with growth in Ruutu+ and digital news media subscriptions. Our advertising sales declined slightly driven by TV and print advertising in an overall stable market. For the events business, the season was record-breaking with 25,000 more tickets sold compared to the previous year as well as several successful concerts – the series of Eppu Normaali farewell concerts attracted a total audience of 120,000 people. Media Finland’s adjusted operating profit increased, driven by the improved performance of events and our continued robust cost containment.

As indicated earlier, we expect our free cash flow for the full-year 2026 to grow moderately compared to 2025. The collection of our growing learning content sales takes place mostly in the fourth quarter, which – together with the seasonal impact of the acquired Vicens Vives business – was reflected in the January–September free cash flow development.

In line with the seasonality of the learning business, our deleveraging resumed during the third quarter and at 2.7, our leverage (net debt / adjusted EBITDA) was close to its target level. Compared to last year, it was affected by the refinancing of the EUR 150 million hybrid bond with senior debt in March, the acquisition of Vicens Vives at the end of April and extension of rental agreements of our main properties in Finland.

Our positive impact and robust sustainability progress received further recognition during the quarter. In September, our ISS Corporate Rating was upgraded to Prime B, and our Morningstar Sustainalytics ESG Risk Rating improved to 9.9, placing Sanoma in the Negligible Risk category. Morningstar Sustainalytics also awarded us a Low Carbon Leader status, indicating strong performance on carbon risk and emissions management.

Following our strong performance in January–September, we have narrowed our earnings Outlook for 2026 to the higher end of the original range. We now expect the Group’s net sales to be EUR 1.30–1.32 billion and adjusted operating profit to be EUR 215–225 million (2025: 188), indicating a significant step change in the Group’s adjusted operating profit compared to 2025.

Looking ahead, we continue to focus on capturing exciting growth opportunities across our business, increasing our adjusted operating profit over 2026–2030 and creating long-term value for our stakeholders. I would like to warmly thank all Sanoma employees for a successful third quarter, and for their continued commitment and passion in supporting our customers.”