Schibsted Flourishes Online

Norwegian media giant Schibsted has reported that classifieds and directories are its fastest growing channel and have great international online growth opportunities.

Schibsted released its 2008 Annual Report last week.

The company has also reported strong revenue growth from online activities, and continued investment in establishing footholds in new markets.

The director’s report focused on key highlights, including the overwhelming success of the company’s online holdings:

“The Group’s online activities are becoming increasingly important to the financial results of the Group. For 2008, online activities were responsible for 81 percent of the Group’s operating profit. These activities have become responsible for a greater proportion of profit due to falling profitability for print products.”

Despite the good news for Schibsted’s online businesses, the general news is not all rosy. President and CEO Kjell Aamot introduced the results by saying:

“We are in the worst downturn that our company has ever experienced. 2008 was the year when everything suddenly took a turn for the worse. Nevertheless, our diverse portfolio and well-established new media businesses mean that we are in a better position than many other companies. I think that the recovery will be great for Schibsted.”

For 2008 the company had operating revenues of NOK 13,740 million, and EBITDA of NOK 1,442 million. Norway accounted for 43 percent of the operating revenues, followed by Sweden with 38 percent, and the company’s international businesses made up 19 percent.

Classifieds and directories accounted for the largest percentage of operating profit (EBITA), followed by printed newspapers, then online newspapers, and live pictures.

Schibsted currently has 8,100 employees and companies in 22 countries. The company’s online classifieds businesses include:

• finn.no – Norway’s sixth-largest website measured by the number of unique visitors
• blocket.se – general Swedish marketplace
• jobb24.se – Swedish job website ranked number four
• fotocasa.es – one of the leading real estate portals in Spain
• infojobs.net – one of the top Spanish and Italian job search websites

1. Cutbacks Pay Off for Schibsted in Q3

   Schibsted, the Norwegian media company behind leading Spanish real estate portal fotocasa.es as well as a number of other jobs and classifieds websites, has released its financial results for the third quarter of 2009. The company’s operating profit jumped 52 percent to NOK 303 million, which was due to what Schibsted calls “a significant contribution” from its profitability program as well as “continued growth in online activities”....

2. Spanish Classifieds Axe Print Version

   Iconic Spanish classifieds newspaper, Segundamano, is set to shut down its print versions and go solely online. Segundamano has been going for around 30 years, and is a leader in the Spanish online real estate market with fotocasa.es. ...

3. New CEO for finn.no

   Norwegian media giant Schibsted has appointed Christian Printzell Halvorsen as the new CEO of its classifeds website, finn.no....

4. Trading Post Goes Online Only

   Telstra, which is the owner of Australia's iconic classifieds newspaper The Trading Post, has announced that the paper will soon cease to have a print version, and become online only....

5. fotocasa.es App Alerts Property Hunters

   Spanish portal fotocasa.es has released an iPhone application it says offers a unique service to property hunters: as well as allowing users to search for property, the application also sends them alerts when a property matching their search criteria comes on the market. ...