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Regulatory press release

Interim Report January – September 2019 Storytel AB (publ)

Click here to watch the quarterly video with CEO Jonas Tellander and CFO Sofie Zettergren. 

  • Streaming sales up 43% from Q3 2018, to 399 (280) MSEK
  • Subscriber base up 41% from Q3 2018 to 1,014,400 (720,900) on average
  • Net turnover increased to 491 from Q3 2018, (373) MSEK
  • Earnings per share, after taxes amounted to -1.37 (-1.19) SEK
  • Launched in Brazil and entered Colombia from the Mexico hub
  • Entered into a new long term agreement with Bonnierförlagen in Sweden
  • Acquired Finland’s third largest Publishing house, Gummerus and made a share issue in conjunction with Closing

Table 1: Key performance indicators for Streaming and Print Publishing 

Currency: SEK 000’s        Q3 2018        Q4 2018         Q1 2019         Q2 2019        Q3 2019        Q4 2019
Streaming Total          Actual Forecast1
Revenue 279,979 291,315 295,994 320,034 399,178 417,000
Contribution Profit2 22,063 30,444 31,372 29,407 53,043
Contribution Margin 7.9% 10.5% 10.6% 9.2% 13.3%
Avg. Paying Subscribers3 720,900 768,700 834,300 887,500 1,014,400 1,079,000
ARPU4 (SEK/Month) 129 126 118 120 131 129
Streaming Nordics5
Revenue 253,081 259,256 258,288 276,347 340,315 349,000
Contribution Profit2 62,327 82,645 75,329 70,443 109,563
Contribution Margin 24.6% 31.9% 29.2% 25.5% 32.2%
Avg. Paying Subscribers3 595,400 616,300 645,500 669,200 736,000 756,000
ARPU4 (SEK/Month) 142 140 133 138 154 154
Streaming Non-Nordics
Revenue 26,898 32,059 37,706 43,687 58,863 68,000
Contribution Profit2 -40,264 -52,200 -43,957 -41,036 -56,521
Contribution Margin -149.7% -162.8% -116.6% -93.9% -96.0%
Avg. Paying Subscribers3 125,500 152,400 188,800 218,300 278,400 323,000
ARPU4 (SEK/Month) 71 70 67 67 70 70
Print Publishing6
Revenue 116,252 170,435 107,316 109,053 116,371
Contribution Profit7 40,140 54,681 32,775 28,830 33,327
Contribution Margin 34.5% 32.1% 30.5% 26.4% 28.6%

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1 “Forecast” means an approximation based on information available at the time the report was prepared.

2 Contribution Profit is defined as streaming revenue minus royalties to third-party publishers and rights holders, in-house production costs, transaction/payment costs and marketing costs. Storytel Reader and Ztory are not included in Streaming. 

3 Avg. Paying subscribers means the average number of paying Storytel subscribers during the quarter. Stand-alone customers from Ztory are not included. For Family subscriptions, each standard stream (not so-called Kids Mode) is considered one paying customer. 

4 ARPU = Average Revenue Per User (Subscriber) per month. 

5 Storytel Norway is included in the figures @ 100%. In the consolidated group accounts, Norway is reported in accordance with the principle of proportional consolidation.

6 Print Publishing refers to physical books and digital sales through channels other than Storytel. Internal revenue from Storytel has been eliminated. All publishing houses in Sweden and outside of Sweden are included. 

7 Contribution Profit is defined as revenue minus cost per unit sold, royalties to rights holders, distribution, sales and marketing costs.

Forthcoming reports

Year-End Report 2019 – 20 Feb 2020
Annual Report 2019 – 2 April 2020
Interim Report Jan – Mar 2020 – 12 May 2020
Interim Report Jan – June 2020  – 11 Aug 2020
Interim Report Jan – Sept 2020-  10 Nov 2020

Annual General Meeting with Shareholders

The Annual General Meeting with shareholders will be held in Stockholm on 6 May 2020. More details about the time and location will be published on Storytel’s website closer to the event.

Capital Markets Day

Storytel will hold a Capital Markets Day on 14 January 2020. The event will be held at Biograf Sture at 9.00 -12.30. Pre-registration is needed.

FNCA Sweden AB is the company’s certified adviser. FNCA can be reached at info@fnca.se or +46 8 528 00 399.
Stockholm, 12 Nov 2019
Board of Directors, Storytel AB (publ)

For more information, please contact:

Jonas Tellander, CEO: +46 70 261 61 36
Sofie Zettergren, CFO: +46 70 509 98 08
Dan Panas, Head of Communications: +46 70 186 52 90

This information constitutes inside information in accordance with the EU Market Abuse Regulation 596/2014 and is such information that Storytel AB (publ) is required to disclose. The information was provided by the above contact person at the time stated in this press release by the Company’s news distributor Cision.

About Storytel

Storytel is one of the world’s leading audiobook and e-book streaming services and offers unlimited listening and reading of more than 300 000 titles on a global scale. Our vision is to make the world a more empathetic place with great stories to be shared and enjoyed by anyone, anywhere and anytime. Storytel is a digital platform provider as well as a comprehensive publishing group. The streaming business area offers subscriptions for audiobooks and e-books under the Storytel and Mofibo brands. Storytel’s publishing business area is carried out through the publishing houses Norstedts, Massolit, StorySide, Printz Publishing, People’s Press, Rabén & Sjögren, B.Wahlströms, Gummerus Kustannus and Norstedts Kartor. Ztory – a subscribed digital read-all-you-can streaming service for newspapers and magazines is part of Storytel since January 2019. Storytel operates in 18 markets around the globe and is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden.