8 April 2016
Company announcement no 03-16
The Annual General Meeting was held in accordance with the agenda issued.
The management commentary was presented, and the Annual Report for 2015 was adopted.
Kåre Stausø Wigh, Group Executive Director & CFO, noted that FK Distribution in 2015 had extended the success of the NoAds+ arrangement. More than 550,000 households were registered at year-end, meaning that another 250,000 households have signed up in 2015. This huge addition of new households substantiates that NoAds+ is the consumers’ choice.
Group revenue reached DKK 1,012 million in 2015. Group loss from ordinary operating activities (EBIT) before special items for 2015 was DKK 0.7 million compared to a profit of DKK 55.2 million in 2014.
In his report, Kåre Stausø Wigh stated that the financial performance for 2015 matched expectations at the beginning of the year and totalled a loss of DKK 11.9 million after tax. Seen in isolation, results for the year are not satisfactory, however, they reflect heavy development and marketing costs regarding new long-term growth initiatives.
For 2016, Group EBIT before special items is expected to range from a negative DKK 50 million to a negative DKK 20 million.
At 31 December 2015, the Group’s net interest-bearing cash position was DKK 113.8 million. This is DKK 46.2 million over the balance at year-end 2014 when the net interest-bearing cash position stood at DKK 67.6 million.
The Board of Directors and the Executive Board believe that the Group has a solid balance sheet and strong financial resources ensuring and supporting the long-term development of the business. Strong financial resources are considered a key competitive parameter.
Kåre Stausø Wigh stated that this is the reason why the Board of Directors recommends that no dividend be paid for the financial year 2015. He also stated that the Board of Directors maintains its objective and expectation of achieving a profit performance that can enable distribution of dividend as an annually recurring event. With the new group structure and strong financial resources, the Board of Directors believes that the Group is well positioned to meet challenges and improve earnings again from the financial year 2017.
The Annual General Meeting granted discharge to the Board of Directors and the Executive Board and approved the proposed distribution of loss for the year as disclosed in the Annual Report, including the Board of Directors’ recommendation not to distribute dividend.
Richard Bunck, Peter Rasztar, Steen Gede and Ulrik Holsted-Sandgreen were re-elected to the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors is now made up of Richard Bunck, Peter Rasztar, Steen Gede and Ulrik Holsted-Sandgreen.
Immediately after the Annual General Meeting, the Board of Directors elected Richard Bunck as Chairman and Peter Rasztar as Vice-Chairman.
As proposed by the Board of Directors, Deloitte Statsautoriseret Revisionspartnerselskab was re-appointed as company auditor.
For further details, please contact Kåre Stausø Wigh, Group Executive Director & CFO, at +45 25 65 21 45.
Yours faithfully
North Media A/S
Richard Bunck
Chairman of the Board