De Agostini

The decline in the traditional markets in western Europe continued in 2010, although there were some encouraging signs in the developing markets and business lines.

This situation led to the launch in the second half of 2010 of a procedure to reorganise the Publishing business, focusing on three separate and autonomous business areas: Partworks, Direct Marketing and Books.

The objectives of this reorganisation are to speed up the decision-making processes in order to be able to seize opportunities for growth with new business models in place and to streamline the organisational structure to reduce its complexity and the risk profile.

Key financial and operating performance indicators for the Publishing business are shown in the table below.

Revenues

Revenues in 2010 totalled EUR 1,326 million, including the contribution from joint ventures. This represents a decrease of EUR 57 million versus 2009, which mainly involved Partworks and Books.

The table below shows revenues for 2010, broken down by sphere of operations, compared with the previous year.

EBITDA / EBT

In 2010, EBITDA for the Publishing business was EUR 27 million, an increase of EUR 16 million compared with 2009; this improvement was due to the cost savings achieved as a result of the efficiency plans launched in the previous year. Note also that the costs of the restructuring undertaken in Italy and France also impacted both the 2009 and 2010 figures.

EBT for 2010 was therefore EUR 8 million compared with EUR -7 million in 2009.

Net profit/loss

The net loss attributable to the group in 2010 was EUR 8 million, an improvement on the loss of EUR 24 million reported in 2009.

The net loss attributable to the group in 2010 included financial charges of EUR 7 million, tax charges of EUR 9 million and a net loss of EUR 7 million relating to “Discontinued operations” (linked to certain companies/business units of Grupo Planeta-De Agostini).