Record-breaking year for Egmont in 2021

Revenue climbed 34% to EUR 2.1bn. Half of the revenue growth of more than EUR 500m was organic, while the rest was a result of Egmont becoming the sole owner of Norway’s largest book publisher, Cappelen Damm, and Norwegian TV distributor RiksTV, acquiring e-commerce company Royal Design Group and increasing its holdings in a number of growth businesses.

Earnings before tax (EBT) came to EUR 246m, or EUR 168m before non-recurring gains, which is twice the figure for 2020. This reflects a highly successful year in terms of films, TV, computer games, magazines, books, digital agencies and e-commerce alike. The non-recurring gains were due to value adjustments following the acquisition of part-owned businesses under IFRS accounting rules.

“I’m delighted with 2021 in terms of revenue, earnings and strategic development,” says Egmont’s President and CEO, Steffen Kragh. “We’re reaping the rewards of Egmont’s strategy of focusing on strong content and building growth businesses based on people streaming more, gaming more and shopping online more. This record year gives us a strong platform from which to deliver even more stories, journalism and unique content in the coming years.”

Egmont recently unveiled its 2025 strategy: ”Grow with the Modern Consumer – Scale Up & Stand Out”. This entails investing EUR 6.7bn in content over a five-year period to take revenue to EUR 2.7bn in 2025, EUR 600m more than in 2021. As part of this, five business areas – digital books, TV streaming, computer games, agencies and e-commerce – are to double their revenue during the strategy period.

Egmont is a commercial foundation with a dual purpose: to develop modern media and to help children and young people at risk. The Egmont Foundation had charitable activities of EUR 13m in Denmark, Norway and Sweden during the year. Most recent, Egmont has established a refugee programme and will grant EUR 4m to help Ukrainian refugee children, young people and their families upon arrival in Scandinavia.