“The strong fourth quarter concludes Storytel Group’s impressive financial performance in 2024 as the company successfully continued executing its profitable growth strategy”, says Bodil Eriksson Torp, CEO Storytel Group
Highlights
Unless otherwise specified, numbers are for Q4 2024 and are compared to Q4 2023
- Group revenue up 9% to 1,028 (946) MSEK, and 8% at constant exchange rates (CER).
- Streaming revenue up 7%, and 6% at constant exchange rates (CER).
- Publishing revenue up 15% with an increase in external sales of 17% and internal sales of 13%.
- Adjusted Gross profit up 29% to 477 (370) MSEK, equaling a margin of 46.4% (39.2%).
- Adjusted EBITDA increased by 96% to 192 (98) MSEK, equaling a margin of 18.6% (10.3%).
- Items Affecting Comparability (IACs) of 31 MSEK include a one-off compensation of 34 MSEK received from Copyswede relating to private copying levies in Sweden for historic periods.
- For the full year 2024, Storytel Group exceeds its guidance on organic revenue growth (actual: 9%, guidance: “around 8%”), on adjusted EBITDA margin (actual: 15.8%, guidance: “around 15%”), and on operational cash flow (actual: 12.1%, guidance: “at least 10%”).
- After the period, Storytel Group acquired a majority stake in the Swedish publisher Bokfabriken. Following discussions with the Swedish Competition Authority (SCA) in February, Storytel has decided to voluntarily give the SCA an opportunity to review the transaction, even though there was no obligation to do so.
Financial summary
| MSEK | Q4 2024 | Q4 2023 | Change | Jan-Dec 2024 | Jan-Dec 2023 | Change |
| Group Revenue¹ | 1,028 | 946 | 9% | 3,798 | 3,489 | 9% |
| Streaming Revenue² | 879 | 823 | 7% | 3,377 | 3,122 | 8% |
| Publishing Revenue³ | 332 | 288 | 15% | 1,125 | 1,003 | 12% |
| Adjusted Gross profit | 477 | 370 | 29% | 1,706 | 1,389 | 23% |
| Gross profit | 477 | 228 | 109% | 1,700 | 1,247 | 36% |
| Adjusted Gross margin % | 46.4 | 39.2 | 7.2p | 44.9 | 39.8 | 5.1p |
| Adjusted Operating profit | 105 | -2 | n.a | 304 | -50 | n.a |
| Operating profit | 136 | -680 | n.a | 246 | -742 | n.a |
| Adjusted EBITDA | 192 | 98 | 96% | 602 | 283 | 112% |
| Adjusted EBITDA margin % | 18.6 | 10.3 | 8.3p | 15.8 | 8.1 | 7.7p |
| EBITDA | 223 | -7 | -3137% | 544 | 165 | 231% |
| Earnings per share, basic (SEK) | 1.83 | -9.34 | n.a | 2.55 | -10.63 | n.a |
| Earnings per share, diluted (SEK) | 1.82 | -9.34 | n.a | 2.54 | -10.63 | n.a |
| Cash flow from operations before changes in working capital | 228 | -19 | -1298% | 510 | 102 | 401% |
| Net cash flow | 164 | -88 | -286% | 175 | -339 | -152% |
| Operational cash flow | 153 | 58 | n.a | 459 | 125 | n.a |
| Net Interest-Bearing Debt (NIBD) | 27 | 313 | -91% | 27 | 313 | -91% |
| NIBD/adjusted EBITDA ratio | 0.05 | 1.11 | -96% | 0.05 | 1.11 | -96% |
| ¹ The adjustments from segment level to group level are 1) Removing Storytel Norway at 50%, 2) Removing internal publishing revenue from Net Sales and adding internal publishing revenue as cost reduction within Cost of Sales, 3) Costs related to central group overhead functions 4) Adding result from Norway in accordance with the equity method. See Note 5 to the financial statements for additional details. | ||||||
| ² Streaming revenue includes 50% of Storytel Norway’s revenue in line with Storytels ownership. | ||||||
| ³ Publishing revenue includes both external and group-internal revenue. | ||||||