Financial statements bulletin 1 July 2022 – 31 December 2023
Letter from the CEO: Eventful and financially strong period
Reporting period 1 July 2022–31 December 2023 continued Edita Group’s journey of transformation. In June 2023, we announced the sale of Edita Prima to PostNord Strålfors, subject to the approval of the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (FCCA). In December 2023, FCCA informed the parties to the sale that, in the light of the investigation so far, it would be unlikely for the sale to be unconditionally carried out. At the start of January 2024, we announced that Edita Group and PostNord Strålfors had mutually decided to abandon the acquisition. Therefore, Edita Prima will continue as before to operate as a printed and digital customer communication service provider as part of Edita Group. The cancellation of the transaction will not stop Edita Prima’s development or the successful work performed by the company’s management and employees.
The partial demerger of Edita Group Plc’s subsidiary Edita Publishing Oy was implemented as planned at the end of 2023. From the start of the current year, on 1 January 2024, Edita Oppiminen Oy, established in April 2023, began to operate as a new company, and Edita Publishing Oy’s learning business was transferred to it at the turn of the year. Edita’s legal information business will continue to operate under Edita Publishing Oy. The company’s name has changed to Edita Lakitieto Oy. Following the change, Edita Group has three subsidiaries: Edita Prima Oy, Edita Oppiminen Oy, and Edita Lakitieto Oy, corresponding with the Group’s business areas. The demerger to form independent companies strengthens the businesses’ opportunities to grow in their respective markets and to focus on serving their respective customers. The demerger also clarifies the companies’ different value creation profiles, and it will be easier to increase their value when operating as independent companies.
In June 2023, we announced the sale of our property in Kuninkaantammi, Helsinki, to EAB Value Added Fund III Ky, a real estate development fund managed by Evli. Real estate ownership is not part of Edita Group’s core business, which is why we decided to relinquish the ownership of the Kuninkaantammi property altogether. Edita Prima’s production plant will continue to operate in the property as before, and a professional property developer will continue to lease out other premises in the property to tenants. The real estate deal made our use of capital more effective and freed up resources for the development of our businesses.
During our reporting period, the world around us has also changed. Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine continues, and military conflicts or the threat of military conflicts in the world at large further increase uncertainty. A boost to the global economy has still proven to be elusive in a risky environment, and the Finnish economy in the early days of 2024 has taken a moderate downturn. The economic downturn continues, even though a potential decrease in interest rates and a slowdown in inflation give reason for optimism. Edita Group’s customers are Finnish companies operating in the public and private sectors, and a majority of our customers are long-term customers of our businesses. During the reporting period, we were financially highly successful. Even in challenging times, the key factors of our success are knowing our customers, customer satisfaction, and ongoing dialogue with our customers.
Our largest business area, Edita Prima, continued to grow and showed excellent profitability during the reporting period. The investments in digital services were reflected in significant new customer agreements in customer communications technology services, digital asset management services, and election services. In addition to digital services, the volume and net sales of transactional printing also increased. Edita Prima also has satisfied customers – the NPS meter has trended positively for several years now, rising to a new record high of 77 in the fall 2023 survey.
The Group-wide sustainability strategy was updated during the reporting period. The new strategy is based on the widely used ESG model, where the areas of responsibility include environmental responsibility, social responsibility, and good governance. The international EcoVadis organization carried out Edita Prima’s sustainability assessment for the first time in the summer of 2023 and awarded Edita Prima’s sustainability efforts the Gold rating, reached by only 5% of the more than 75,000 companies assessed globally by EcoVadis.
Primarily, Edita Legal information’s net sales comprise digital services. The business area’s reporting period was positive as the essential legal information online service, Edilex, increased its net revenue from the previous period. Other digital legal information services also developed in line with expectations. Edita Lakitieto produces the Ministry of Justice’s free legal information service, Finlex. The development of a new version of the service has continued following a competitive tendering won in the fall of 2022. The production release of the new version of the service is expected to take place at the end of 2024. Edita Legal information’s legal training services conducted more than 100 open webinar and hybrid trainings on topical legal topics during the reporting period. The digitalization of legal Information books is progressing, and the share of net sales from the digital library of the total net sales has increased.
In the operations of Edita Oppiminen, the net sales for the reporting period increased from the previous period. Our range of learning materials is expanding, and our goal is to increase our market share of the learning materials market. During the reporting period, the publication of new upper secondary school learning materials, scheduled for three academic years, was mostly completed. The most significant achievement for Edita Oppiminen was the publication of the first new preschool and primary education learning materials for the primary school market. A completely new kind of a learning material package that enables flexible preschool and primary education was created for the primary school market as the first in Finland. The differentiation of teaching has been taken into account in our learning materials in an unconventional way, as the same textbook is suitable for teaching all groups.
At Edita Group, we are committed to building a culture of growth. In a culture of growth, the learning organization plays a key role. Our four guiding principles, created together in late 2022 – We trust and respect, Together we succeed, We learn and grow, We care for our customers – form the core of our cultural work. During the fall of 2023, we started the implementation of our We learn and grow guiding principle, aiming to make learning a visible part of the day-to-day life of each Edita employee. We also want to improve customer orientation and to invest in its development in all our business operations. In addition, we measure the success of development on a regular basis, and it has been great to see that the development measures have had an impact. In the midst of the changes included in the reporting period, employee satisfaction at Edita Group at large has remained at a healthy level. The result can be considered a sign of our ability to adjust, and we want to further reinforce this ability.
A warm thank you to all of Edita Group’s employees for the past season. It has demonstrated our strong team spirit and our will to succeed even in challenging times. We have all learned and grown on this journey, and the journey continues.
Kristiina Kujala
Interim CEO of Edita Group Plc