Sanoma accelerates its transformation in Finland


Sanoma Corporation, Stock Exchange Release, 25 August 2015 at 9:45 CET+1

Sanoma today announces the acceleration of its transformation in Sanoma Media Finland.

As stated in its Q2 financial announcement on 23 July 2015, two out of three of Sanoma’s strategic business units – Sanoma Media BeNe (Belgium and the Netherlands) and Sanoma Learning – are performing on track. However, in order to position the company for long term and sustained success, the transformation of its media operations in Finland will be stepped up.

Harri-Pekka Kaukonen, President and CEO, Sanoma Group, said: “Building on our leading position in the Finnish media market, our strong brands and success in digital, we need to take additional measures to improve profitability and respond to the challenges posted by the changing media environment and a weak economy.”

As part of this, an adjustment of the company’s cost base is planned, with a EUR 50 million cost savings target. A significant portion of these measures is expected to be implemented by the end of 2015, with the vast majority of savings projected to be realised by the end of 2016. Savings are anticipated across the areas of distribution and printing, as well as efficiency improvements in content creation, marketing and sales. In addition, Sanoma’s Group-wide support functions are planned to be streamlined in order to simplify structures and increase agility.

The cost savings are likely to result in redundancies across multiple parts of Sanoma Media Finland as well as Sanoma’s Group-wide support functions, with a maximum of 280 employees potentially affected. Sanoma will initiate co-operation negotiations in accordance with local laws and regulations, and make the final decisions based on the outcome of these negotiations.

Pia Kalsta, CEO, Sanoma Media Finland added: “These are tough times for the media industry in Finland and unfortunately they have an impact on our people. I am confident that the plans announced today will improve our financial performance and competitiveness in the market.”

Additional information

Sanoma’s Communications in Finland,
Hanna Johde
tel. +358 40 673 8977
hanna.johde@sanoma.com

Sanoma’s Communications in the Netherlands,
Robin Janszen
tel. +31 6 2293 2643
robin.janszen@sanoma.com

Sanoma’s Investor Relations
Olli Turunen
tel. +358 40 552 8907
olli.turunen@sanoma.com

Sanoma.com

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Sanoma is a front running consumer media and learning company in Europe. In Finland and the Netherlands we are the market leading media company with a broad presence across multiple platforms. Our main markets in learning are Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden. In 2014, Sanoma’s net sales totalled EUR 1.9 billion. Sanoma is listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki stock exchange.