From the Interim Report January – September 2025
“We have delivered record high profitability, solid customer intake, and robust cash flow generation. As a result, we raise our 2025 adjusted EBITDA margin guidance, and remain confident in achieving our mid-term targets.”
Our team delivered a strong third quarter, driven by an intense focus on our offering and customer experience. This commitment generated solid subscriber and revenue growth, while continued operational efficiencies enabled record high profitability. The performance translated into strong cash flow generation and an improved financial position. We therefore raise our 2025 adjusted EBITDA margin guidance to 18.0–19.5 percent, from previous 17.5–19.0 percent.
Rising profitability with strong subscriber growth
In the third quarter, we delivered a 22.1 percent adjusted EBITDA margin, while growing our topline by 9 percent CER, with Streaming up 7 percent CER and Publishing up 16 percent CER. At the end of Q3 our trailing 12 months adjusted EBITDA amounted to 729 MSEK, for a margin of 18.4 (13.7) percent. Our strong cash flow generation has essentially eliminated our net debt.
Our Streaming business delivered 10 percent subscriber growth year-over-year, reaching 2.60 million (from 2.37 million). In the Nordic region, we added 36,000 new subscribers in the quarter and 58,000 over the past 12 months, bringing the total subscriber base to 1.32 million. Outside the Nordics, we added 20,000 new subscribers during the quarter and 178,000 over the past 12 months. Growth has been particularly strong in our Dutch and Polish markets. Our total subscriber base outside the Nordics amounted to 1.28 million at the end of the quarter.
Commercial and literary success in our Publishing segment
Our Publishing segment demonstrated strong performance, achieving 16 percent revenue growth (CER). This positive development was accompanied by an enhanced EBITDA margin, which increased to 33.4 percent from 30.5 percent. Revenue growth was principally driven by successful new titles and the strategic integration of Bokfabriken, with strong momentum across both print and digital formats.
Norstedts Publishing Group successfully launched several of Sweden’s most highly anticipated titles. Key releases included Björn Borg’s autobiography and Välkommen till vårt äktenskap by Dufvenius & Wolter. Both books generated widespread media coverage and contributed to the success in the Publishing segment. The strong releases this quarter were followed by Norstedts proudly serving as the Swedish publisher of the 2025 Nobel Laureate in Literature, László Krasznahorkai. This is a profound testament to Norstedts’ more than 200-year legacy of publishing authors of the highest caliber.
On the streaming platform, our content lineup was strengthened by the addition of compelling new titles, such as Lotte Petri’s crime drama The Beast, and Jesper Ersgård’s Graal. Furthermore, Bokfabriken secured the intellectual property rights for the highly successful Johan Falk universe. This established book series, with sales already approaching 400,000 copies, offers considerable potential for future expansion.
Executing on our Group-wide strategy
With a core focus on our customers, we are continuously developing our offering. Our strategic focus on innovation has resulted in significant upgrades to the user experience, elevating both accessibility and immersion. During the quarter, key features were launched, including Synced Listening, which integrates reading and listening, and Story Scan, which seamlessly connects physical books to our digital catalogue. The listening experience was further enhanced through our partnership with Dolby Atmos, providing richer spatial audio. Moreover, high-impact refinements, such as the gentle fade-out function on our sleep timer, have directly improved the experience for the more than 270,000 daily users who rely on our service as a sleep aid.
In line with our growth strategy, we expanded our streaming service into Estonia in October. To build a strong local offering, we secured a strategic partnership with Digiread, an established Estonian audiobook and e-book platform. We continue to leverage strategic partnerships to pursue our growth ambitions while maintaining a balanced investment risk. This approach is further exemplified by a new long-term agreement with RDF Media to develop the Chilean market. Additionally, we have completed an integration with Klarna’s new global membership program. This initiative strategically secures a channel to new customer segments across 14 markets.
Furthermore, we have made significant progress in strengthening our operational efficiency, launching a new organization and operating model, alongside advancing our capabilities in product, technology as well as data and analytics. Storytel Group is uniquely positioned through our integrated streaming and publishing model. This structure enables us to secure exclusive, locally relevant content and offer a differentiated value proposition.
I am immensely proud of our team’s outstanding execution this quarter. Our dedicated commitment to all our stakeholders is the true foundation of our strong commercial momentum. Combined with our solid financial foundation, this positions us exceptionally well to capitalize on the opportunities ahead and reinforces our confidence in achieving our full-year 2025 guidance.
October 28, 2025
Bodil Eriksson Torp, CEO