SCHIBSTED ASA Schibsted Media Group's full year 2015 financial statement will be published 19 February 2016. Schibsted announces today that the regular impairment testing at year end 2015 has resulted in an impairment loss related to intangible values of NOK 465 million, which will be recorded in the Q4 2015 financial statement. This is primarily driven by impairment loss related to the Group's subscription based newspapers in Norway. Impairment losses are included in Operating profit (EBIT), but do not affect Gross operating profit (EBITDA). The impairment testing has resulted in no impairment loss for Schibsted's Online classifieds operations.
On a full year 2015 basis, the impairment loss will be more than offset by a gain of NOK 858 million on remeasurement of previously held ownership in new subsidiaries, primarily Shpock (Finderly), which was recorded in Q3 2015 and a gain of a gain on sale of NOK 450 million related to Schibsted's agreement with Naspers, Telenor and Singapore Press Holdings, recorded in Q1 2015.
The valuation of the Group's intangible assets is based on the value of expected future cash flows. The background for the impairment is the negative development over the last few years for print newspapers, and that the negative trend for Schibsted's Norwegian subscription based newspapers has continued in 2015. Digital revenues increased, but it is not sufficient to offset the decline in revenues from print products. After the impairment, the total carrying amount of Schibsted's subscription based newspapers in Norway is around NOK 1 billion, of which around NOK 200 million is related to goodwill. Most of the value came into Schibsted's balance sheet in connection with the consolidation of the subscription newspaper market that was completed in 2009.
In the Q4 2015 results, Schibsted expects to book Other income and expenses of approximately NOK -80 million. This is primarily affected by restructuring provisions linked to Schibsted's continuous work on cost adaptions in the media houses to align the cost base to the changes in the markets.
Contact persons:
Trond Berger, EVP CFO. Mobile: +47 916 86 695
Jo Christian Steigedal, Head of IR. Mobile: +47 415 08 733
Oslo, 3 February 2016
SCHIBSTED ASA
Jo Christian Steigedal
Head of IR
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Schibsted via Globenewswire
