Promotora de Informaciones, S.A. (PRS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning. I am Jorge Bujía, Director of Investor Relations and Risk and Management Control at PRISA. Welcome to this presentation of the 2023 results. In order to explain in greater detail the results that were published yesterday when markets closed, today's presentation will be led by Pilar Gil, Deputy Chairwoman and CFO of PRISA; Carlos Núñez, Executive Chairman of PRISA Media; and Carmen Eulalia, Director of Corporate Management Control of Santillana. At the end of the presentation, we will open the floor to questions, which may be submitted either directly by calling or online. Without further ado, I'd like to give the floor to our Deputy Chairwoman and CFO, Pilar.

Thank you, Jorge. Good morning, everyone. This is Pilar Gil speaking, and I welcome you to this presentation of PRISA full year 2023 results. Before going into figures in detail, I would like to start by highlighting 4 key messages. First, our businesses, both education and media, remained robust and show a strong operating improvement with an overall growth in revenues of 11%, which has been translated into an EBITDA growth of 32%. Second, PRISA has exceeded the 2023 guidance in other indicators that we set as a target a year ago despite the ongoing complex macroeconomic environment and the uncertainty in the market. In the presentation to the market of our ambitious strategic plan 2022 to 2025 in March 2022, the group has been working hard on the roadmap that we set ourselves of taking results in line with established goals. And the company continues to focus on the fulfillment of the strategic plan. Third, we have reinforced the balance sheet structure. The company continues to focus on reducing its debt. As you all know, bringing it under control remains a priority. In this regard, the company has delevered despite the increase in interest rates, thanks to, first, the strong operating performance of the businesses and second, the inflow of funds from the EUR 150 million convertible note issuance successfully completed at the beginning of the year. We have thus been able to repay EUR 110 million of junior debt, bringing net debt-to-EBITDA ratio down to 4.3x by year-end 2023. And finally, a message on sustainability where 2023 has also been a key year. We succeeded in meeting the objectives as set in our master plan as we will review later on. Before getting into a detailed review of the results, I would like to make an overall assessment of this, taking into account the objectives that we communicated to the market a year ago. We are very pleased to present results that exceeded the 2020 guidance in all the indicators we set ourselves as a target. The group's total revenue in 2023 grew by 11% compared to 2022, reaching EUR 947 million and exceeding the EUR 900 million set in guidance. As for EBITDA margin, excluding severance expenses, we achieved a margin of 20%, thereby exceeding guidance, which we have set in the range of 17% to 18%. Despite cost pressures stemming from the current environment, PRISA's margin increased by 3 percentage points compared to 2022, mainly driven by the operational improvement of the businesses. And finally, with free cash flow, the company generated EUR 60 million, beating the target we've set of topping EUR 40 million. In other words, 2023 guidance in terms of retail has been exceeded by 50%. For 2024, we are setting new goals, which I will go into later. Let's turn to the guidance for 2024. We remain focused on meeting the challenges year after year to fulfill our plan by 2025. I would now like to briefly share our summary of the group's main financial and digital indicators in 2023, which illustrate just how robust our results are. The strong revenue growth of 11% has translated into a significant 32% improvement in EBITDA, with margins improving by 3 percentage points. This, in turn, has translated into a more than 90% increase in free cash flow generation compared to 2022. This increase in free cash flow, together with the convertible notes issuance has allowed us to improve leverage levels, reducing net debt by EUR 93 million. This means a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 4.3x as of December 2023 compared to 6.2x at the end of the previous year. Meanwhile, our commitment to digital transformation continues to drive the improvement of all key digital indicators with subscription at Santillana increasing by 7% and digital subscribers of EL PAÍS up by 58%. And we continue to enlarge the development of PRISA Media and PRISA Audio in our media business where consumption figures continue quarter after quarter. These indicators highlight growth, debt reduction, the momentum of digital transformation and increased efficiency that we achieved during the year. Let us now go into great detail with regard to the issuance of convertible notes. The first issuance of convertible notes launched last year was successfully completed with another subscription that exceeded the EUR 130 million offer. Thanks to this inflow of funds with the financial cost of 1%, we canceled EUR 110 million of the most expensive tranche of our syndicated debt, the junior debt, whose financial cost amounts to Euribor plus a spread of 800 basis points. To date, after the extraordinary conversion period ended in February, 82% of the notes from these first issuance launched in 2023 have been converted into shares. As recently announced to the market, the Board of Directors has approved a second issuance of convertible notes, which will take place in the coming days in similar terms to the 2023 issuance and for a total amount of up to EUR 100 million. This issuance will allow to complete the cancellation of junior debt and to facilitate the promotion of growth opportunities in our businesses. The key aspects of this new issuance are as follows: first, this operation will improve our financial leverage and allow us to continue to meet the priority objective of strengthening our balance sheet by reducing debt and financial costs. Second, we will be able to use part of the funds to enhance potential growth opportunities for the businesses. And finally, the operation will be open to participation. Any shareholder will be able to subscribe and subsequently request, within the stipulated period, conversion of notes into shares. I would like to highlight the firm support that the company has received from its main shareholders for the implementation of this operation. Let us now take a closer look at this 2023 results. From a financial perspective, the strong operational business performance has translated into positive financial results. We have improved EBITDA. We have generated positive cash flow with a significant growth compared to 2022, and we have reduced the level of indebtedness, strengthening the balance sheet structure, ended the year with a strong liquidity position. Revenues in 2023 reached EUR 947 million, up 11% from EUR 850 million in 2022. By business line, there was noteworthy growth in education sales, plus 15%, which were positively elected by a growth of subscription model, the good performance of the Northern and Southern campaigns, higher public sales, mainly in Brazil and extraordinary institutional sales in Argentina, which offset the lower Conaliteg public sales in Mexico. At the same time, the media business saw advertising sales grew by 5% in 2023, with increases in both offline and online advertising and in both radio and press. Circulation revenues grew by 3% in the year. All in all, our business in 2023 remained resilient and showed solid growth. This improvement in revenues translate into an improvement in EBITDA, which in 2023, reached at EUR 181 million, a 32% increase compared to the same period in 2022. EBITDA margin at 19% was up by 3 percentage points compared to 2022. Excluding Santillana, Argentina, which, as we noted on a number of occasions through the year, have extraordinary institutional sales in 2023, the group's EBITDA reached EUR 164 million, representing growth of 30% compared to 2022. In the year 2023 as a whole, the effect of exchange rates on revenues was not especially significant. In terms of EBITDA, the impact was positive amounting to EUR 3 million. However, in the fourth quarter of the year, the impact was significant in terms of both revenues and EBITDA, minus EUR 18 million and minus EUR 13 million, respectively, mainly due to the devaluation of the Argentine peso in the last quarter. Let us recall that this currency has devaluated by 59% compared to September 2023 and by 79% compared to December 2022. Finally, let me highlight the improvement in EBIT, which increased by 72% compared to 2022, reaching EUR 109 million, once again reflecting our excellent operating performance. Let us now turn to the detailed analysis of the financial results. The company's strong operational performance has been aggressively affected by the negative financial result. In this regard, we continue to make every effort to reduce the group's level of indebtedness and also to mitigate the risks posed by raising Euribor interest rates, the reference rate of our debt. To this end, during 2023, we canceled EUR 110 million of junior debt, thanks to issuance of convertible notes for a total value of EUR 130 million. And besides, we closed 2 new interest rate hedge with a cap close to 2.5% that's covered in almost half of the debt, especially EUR 400 million nominal. Furthermore, in 2024, the planned issuance of convertible notes will potentially lead to an additional saving in the cost of financing by allowing us to complete the cancellation of the most expensive debt track as well as the cost posed by debt interest. The financial result has also been affected by the refinancing accounting impact in 2022 and 2023. So while in 2022 refinancing had a positive accounting impact of EUR 12 million, in 2023, there was a negative impact amounting to EUR 12 million. Net profit is also negatively affected by adjustments for inflation due to the hyperinflationary economy of Argentina and by the higher corporate tax cost associated with the operational improvement of the business. Overall, excluding the refinancing accounting impact, net profit debt shows a 17% growth, EUR 4 million better compared to 2022. And reported net profit amounts to minus EUR 33 million in 2023 versus and minus EUR 13 million for 2022. Let us now analyze the group's cash flow generation. In 2023, the group saw positive cash flow generation of EUR 98 million, EUR 174 million more than in 2022, mainly due to, first, the improvement in free cash flow; second, the inflow of funds from convertible notes; and third, the lower cost with regard to corporate transactions and refinancing. All this, despite the increase in interest rates, which result in higher interest payments of EUR 27 million. I'd now like to focus on the performance of free cash flow in 2023 and how it compares to the year 2022. Free cash flow, in 2023, amounted to EUR 60 million compared to EUR 31 million in 2022. During the last quarter of the year, the negative temporary effects on working capital that the company had seen during the year up till then, whereas planned, reversed resulting in a plus EUR 43 million improvement in free cash flow in the last quarter compared to 2022. The improvement in free cash flow in 2023 would have been even higher, considering that EUR 9 million remains outstanding from the PNLD novelties order in Brazil. This amount will be received in 2024. Thus, free cash flow performed well 2023, beating last year's figures by 91%, thanks to higher EBITDA, good working capital management, CapEx control and lower severance payments. This improvement in operating cash flow, together with the hedge with our range, has made it possible to offset some of the higher interest payment of EUR 27 million that hit the company as a result of the Euribor increase. In addition, the improvement in total cash flow, all marked to the convertible note issuance, which result in a net inflow of EUR 28 million. What's more, in 2023, there were no refinancing payments and the payment for the hedging contract was lower last year. Finally, the payment for the purchase of 20% of radio from Godó was also lower. EUR 32 million were paid in 2022, while the outstanding EUR 50 million were paid in 2023. Let us now turn to the state of net financial debt. Net bank debt stood at EUR 767 million compared to EUR 856 million in December 2022, a decrease of 10% and an improvement in the net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 1.9x. It now stands at 4.3x. Taking into account the IFRS 16 liabilities, total net financial debt stands at EUR 832 million compared to EUR 926 million in December 2022, a reduction of EUR 93 million. In addition, the group continues to have a strong liquidity position of EUR 187 million as of December 2023. Having looked at the excellent results we have achieved in the 2023 financial year, I would now like to conclude the first part of the presentation by setting with you, PRISA's guidance for 2024. We remain committed to the exercise of transparency in the communication of our strategic objectives, and we are likewise committed to achieving our target in so far as the context and environment allow, with the full belief that it is important to present our guidance with clear and additional objectives for 2024. Our guidance seeks to achieve an EBITDA margin in the range of between 19% and 20% and free cash flow above EUR 60 million. Here, it's important to note that significant extraordinary sales in Santillana, Argentina took place in 2023. And note that the Brazilian government has now rescheduled the PNLD novelties for secondary education, Ensino Medio, for 2025. This, remember, is the education level with the highest volume of sales and this should have taken place in 2024 according to the usual calendar. We believe we have the assets, the businesses and the right organization to continue achieving our objectives in 2024 and to stay on track for 2025. I would now like to give the floor to Carlos, who will explain in detail the results of PRISA Media.

Thank you very much, Pilar, and good morning. This is Carlos Núñez, Executive Chairman of PRISA Media speaking. It is my pleasure to present PRISA Media's results for 2023, results which show an improvement in operating and financial indicators and in line with our road map. Needless to say, the macroeconomic environment and that of our sector is challenging. What's more, the outlook remains uncertain. However, PRISA Media's overall results are evidence that the efforts made in all businesses area are obtaining results, and this is a great motivation for us to continue forging ahead. First of all, I would like to start by highlighting the global reach that both our digital and traditional assets enjoy. Our online and off-line indicators highlight our leadership position in terms of audience in 2023. In radio, we exceeded 24 million daily listeners worldwide, a figure 1% higher than in 2022. Our premium newspapers only in Spain have an average of 1.2 million daily readers across all our titles, an increase of 5% over 2022. As for unique process, we have a total monthly average audience of over 200 million. Meanwhile, we remain firmly committed to audio, and we continue to see increases for both the number of downloads, up by 13% and listening hours up by 10%, to reach a monthly average during the year of 51 million downloads and 88 million listening hours, respectively. The video, earlier, we clocked up a monthly average of more than 141 million reproductions during the year, an increase of 24% over the previous year. Our audience figures continue to improve, and our brands continue to be leaders in the markets in which they operate. Meanwhile, the successful EL PAÍS subscription model also goes from strength to strength with high levels of subscribers acquisition. We closed the year with more than 350% total subscribers, an increase of 32% versus in 2022. The number of total subscribers has grown by 85,000, and that's a quarterly average of more than 21,000 net additions or an increase of 7,000 net registration per month. In 2023, we have continued to strengthen the leadership of our model in the Spanish language market for digital-only subscribers and we have managed to grow at higher rates than expected, which bring us closer to the goal set for 2025 of exceeding 400,000 subscribers. In terms of exclusively digital subscribers, we have reached 315,000 subscribers after enjoying 38% growth in 2023 with a monthly churn rate of only 2.4%. All of this makes EL PAÍS subscription model, the absolute leader once again in Spain's digital press subscription market. Let's now look at how advertising fared during the year 2023. Advertising is PRISA Media's main revenue source, accounting for 75% of revenue. I would like to highlight that despite the uncertain macro-economic environment and outlook, we have managed to increase our net revenue from advertising by 5% and we have increased our market share compared to our competitors, thanks to a diversified portfolio of assets, radio, digital press and magazines. Within the advertising markets in which we operate, we have gained market share in all of them. By business, both press and radio saw growth, 8% and 3%, respectively. The significant growth of radio in Spain, 4%; and radio in Chile, 12% are especially noteworthy, and this growth has offset the drop in advertising in Colombia, impacted by the effects of exchange rates. Specifically in Spain, our market share grew by 1.2 percent points to reach 28% market share. In Colombia, radios market share has remained practically at the same level with a slight growth of 0.2 percentage points to reach a market share of 41.6%. Chile, on the other hand, grew by 2.4 percentage points to reach a market set of 28.6%. Turning now to the operational performance of the businesses. Our revenues for the period were up by 7% in 2023 with a digital revenue mix 2 percentage points higher than in the previous year. As we mentioned earlier, advertising revenue grew by 5%. Circulation revenues grew by 3%, thanks to the growth of EL PAÍS subscription model which offset the decline in off-line circulation. In addition to advertising and circulation, our other businesses -- business lines contributed EUR 51 million to PRISA Media's total for the year, representing an increase of 26%, thanks to the diversification of digital revenues and the increase of the group's audiovisual production. Regarding costs, variable costs associated with revenue growth have risen and fixed costs are under control, up by 4% with respect to 2022, mainly due to the effects of inflation. In this regard, we continue to work on initiatives to improve the efficiency of our cost structure. EBITDA was up by 6% compared to 2022 to reach EUR 51 million compared to EUR 48 million the previous year. In terms of EBITDA margin, the year ended with levels very similar to those of 2022. I would now like to give the floor to Carmen, who will be telling us about our education business, Santillana.

Thank you, Carlos. Good morning, everyone. I'm Carmen Eulalia, Corporate Management and Control Director at Santillana. First of all, I would like to give you an overview of the financial year 2023. Santillana has had a very satisfactory year across all its business lines. In terms of the private market, we ended the year with 2.8 million subscriptions to our learning systems which represent an increase of 7% over the previous year. In Southern campaigns, we grew by 4%; and in other campaigns, by 19%. This growth has been 100% organic. That is without any acquisition or business -- of business or schools. Of the 2.8 million subscriptions, our core system, flexible and global, account for 2 million subscriptions, while the remainder correspond complementary or supplemental systems, mainly for English language learning, but also for reading and social emotional content, among others. The overlap between systems is around 50%, which provides us with avenues for growth through cross selling in future campaigns. In fact, thanks to this strategy, supplemental in English systems have enjoyed 9% growth compared to 2022. This growth in subscription models, as foreseen in our plan, has been favored by an acceleration in the rate of transformation of our clients away from the traditional didactic model and the strong performance of our sales networks with a retention rate of 82%. In terms of revenue, subscription models delivered 10% growth compared to 2022. In addition, the didactic or traditional textbooks sales grew by 4%, partly due to the extraordinary institutional sales in Argentina. Public sales have continued to grow. There was a 35% increase in sales compared to 2022. mainly due to the outstanding results obtained in Brazil, but also the good performance in Dominican Republic and Chile, which offset the lower Conaliteg sales in Mexico. So turning now to the main financial indicators. Santillana's total revenues have grown by 15% with respect to 2022, reaching EUR 515 million. As we have already mentioned, this growth comes, on the one hand, from the private market, where sales of learning systems now account for 64% of sales to the private business. In addition, the traditional or didactic sales also grew thanks to the extraordinary sales in Argentina and the good performance of campaigns. The improvement is also due to growth in the public market, especially in Brazil where PNLD orders have performed very positively. This growth in sales, together with an exhaustive control of cost, both in industrial, distribution and non-sales related to external services, has resulted in a significant improvement in EBITDA, which has grown from EUR 96 million in 2022 to EUR 135 million in 2023. That's an extraordinary growth of 40%. EBITDA margin in 2023 grew by 5 points from 21.5% in the previous year to 26.2%. It should be noted that Argentina's contribution via extraordinary public sales has declined compared to previous quarters due to the sharp devaluation of the Argentine peso in the fourth quarter of 2023. Excluding Santillana, Argentina, Santillana's EBITDA reached EUR 180 million, an increase of 39% compared to 2022. In the last quarter of 2023, Santillana's EBITDA, excluding Argentina, also grew compared to 2022. Thanks chiefly to the good private sales performance in the beginning of Southern campaigns and the excellent results coming from the PNLD novelties during last quarter of 2023. To sum up, in terms of EBITDA, Santillana saw growth of EUR 38 million in 2023. The private business accounted for 46% of this growth, while the public business accounted for the remaining 54%. Following this remarkable year in which, first, the private market shows significant headroom for growth on the back of learning systems; and second, the public market has confirmed its robustness in Brazil, together with the strength of its [ FVR ] in the other countries with only marginal sales to be expected. Santillana will refocus on a more strategic value-based approach going forward. Specifically, the company will prioritize focus on 2 strategic areas. On the one hand, the private business and on the other hand, the public business in Brazil. At the same time, Argentina and Venezuela will be considered separately, given the unique nature of these markets. The private business under this new approach is to be composed of the entire private market, excluding Argentina and Venezuela. It includes the residual public market of all countries except Brazil, which will be addressed independently. If we analyze the year 2023 under this new approach, we see that in terms of EBITDA, the private business has grown by 22%, the public business in Brazil by 102% and that other markets, which include the extraordinary public sales in Argentina, has grown by 60%. The public sale in Mexico, Conaliteg, was now EUR 5 million compared to 2022. With this new strategic approach, we seek to ensure that Santillana is entirely focused on maximizing value in all those countries and businesses in which we operate. I'd now like to hand it back over to Pilar to comment on the group's latest progress in terms of ESG.

Thank you, Carmen. I'd now like to tell you about our performance in the area of sustainability in 2023. It has been a key year for PRISA as the company has given a major boost to its ESG strategy in accordance with the sustainability master plan approved in 2022, which, as we have already reported in previous results, focused on generating social impact through its responsible management of our operations and transparent value-based governance. In the environmental area, our progress is reflected in the design of PRISA's first environmental management plan, which will enable the group to accelerate its net zero roadmap. In addition, we have committed ourselves to the SBTi initiatives, which, as you know, is the international reference body for science-based reduction of greenhouse gas emission. Furthermore, for the first time, we have obtained from The Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, the seal for the registration of our Scope 1 and 2 carbon footprint. And these advance go hand-in-hand with the specific measures aimed at reducing our emissions, such as the increase in renewal energy consumption, which, in Spain, is practically 100%. In the social aspect, PRISA Media has created the inclusive advertising guide, a pioneering initiative in Spain that promotes measures to integrate diversity in campaigns within our brands. And in the divisional field, Santillana reinforced the teaching of sustainability in the classroom, incorporating content on the SDGs in 98%, and the new educational projects developed this year, gaining nearly 5,000 teachers in this field. We also made progress in responsible management with our professionals, launching a corporate volunteering project and the first management developing program aimed at fostering women's leadership. In the area of governance, we have extended our compliance models to all the countries in which the company operates and have implemented a data protection policy that is also applicable globally. Finally, PRISA has strength, is present in some of the major ESG index and ratings. Now to sum up, let me briefly run through the key takeaways from 2023, which what we have been analyzing here with you today. First of all, I would like to recognize the real merit of our teams over the course of the year 2023. The enormous effort and commitment has enabled us to go above and beyond the guidance objectives said a year ago. The group continues to progress in meeting its objectives and this is no doubt thanks to the excellent human beings that make up the company. Secondly, I would like to highlight the success of the convertible note issuance. Thanks to which, the group's financial situation has improved. This demonstrates the commitment and support of our shareholders as well as the credibility of our project. This operation, together with the constant management of cash generation and the focus on debt reduction has allowed us to strengthen our balance sheet and reduce leverage, all while maintaining a strong liquidity position. Meanwhile, as I said before, we remain fully committed to sustainability and we'll remain fully focused on compliance with the sustainability master plan presented last year. The macroeconomic outlook in 2024 remains uncertain, but we are convinced that the group is better equipped than ever to forge ahead on its path to growth. We have therefore submitted once again yet another ambitious guidance. We believe in the strength of our business, and we will remain committed to them. We are then fully on track with regard our strategic road map. And we shall continue working towards the goals that we have set for 2025. Thank you very much. And now let's -- we can move to the Q&A session.

[Operator Instructions]. There are no questions on the phone lines at the moment. So I will hand over to you to check for any questions via the web.

Okay. Thank you. Carlos, we have 1 question via web in relation with EL PAÍS digital subscription model. The question is considering the slight decrease of ARPU in 2023, which could be a trend to expect for 2024 and 2025 in terms of ARPU. And also this impact is the integration of Cinco Días within the premium offering of EL PAÍS are we seeing or can be seen looking forward?