Il Sole 24 ORE S.p.A.: BoD approves Interim Management Statement at 31 March 2021

Press Release

Pursuant to CONSOB Resolution 11971/99 as subsequently amended and supplemented

Il Sole 24 ORE S.p.A.:

BoD approves Interim Management Statement

at 31 March 2021

First quarter 2021 results improve versus same period of 2020, driven by stronger revenue performance combined with the cost containment actions, despite the persisting impacts from the Covid-19 health emergency

Consolidated highlights of the 24 ORE Group:

• Negative EBITDA of € 0.5 million (negative € 1.6 million at 31 March 2020)
• Negative EBIT of € 4.5 million (negative € 5.6 million at 31 March 2020)
• Loss of € 5.7 million (negative € 5.9 million at 31 March 2020)

Consolidated highlights of the 24 ORE Group net of non-recurring expense and income:

• Negative EBITDA of € 0.5 million (negative € 1.6 million at 31 March 2020)
• Negative EBIT of € 4.2 million (negative € 5.6 million at 31 March 2020)
• Loss of € 5.3 million (negative € 6.0 million at 31 March 2020)

Negative net financial position of € 55.0 million versus a negative € 50.9 million at 31 December 2020, due mainly to cash flows from investing activities

Consolidated equity of € 29.8 million versus € 35.3 million at 31 December 2020

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Milan, 14 May 2021 - Today, the meeting of the Board of Directors of Il Sole 24 ORE S.p.A., chaired by Edoardo Garrone, approved the Interim Management Statement at 31 March 2021 of the 24 ORE Group.

Financial highlights of the 24 ORE Group

The 24 ORE Group closed first quarter 2021 with a negative EBITDA of € 0.5 million, a negative EBIT of € 4.5 million and a net loss of € 5.7 million. Consolidated equity amounted to € 29.8 million, € 5.6 million lower than consolidated equity of € 35.3 million at 31 December 2020.

The key financial figures of the Group at 31 March 2021, drawn from the consolidated financial statements are as follows:

MAIN CONSOLIDATED FIGURES OF THE 24 ORE GROUP

Amounts in € millions	1Q 2021	1Q 2020
Revenue	44.1	43.3
Gross operating profit (EBITDA)	(0.5)	(1.6)
Operating profit (loss) (EBIT)	(4.5)	(5.6)
Pre-tax profit (loss)	(5.3)	(6.0)
Profit (loss) of the period	(5.7)	(5.9)
	31.03.2021	31.12.2020
Non-current assets	145.5	146.7
Current assets	126.7	127.7
Total assets	272.2	274.4
Equity attributable to owners of the parent	29.8	35.3
Equity attributable to non-controlling interests	-	-
Total equity	29.8	35.3
Non-current liabilities	111.6	112.9
Current liabilities	130.8	126.1
Total liabilities	242.4	239.1
Total equity and liabilities	272.2	274.4

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Market environment

Since the second half of February 2020, the market has been affected by the Covid-19 health emergency and the extraordinary measures adopted by the authorities involved to contain the virus. The impacts on the publishing market have regarded in particular advertising across all media, physical events and cultural activities. As a result, publishers have had to rapidly reshuffle their publishing plans, even rescheduling the initiatives where possible. Radio too has greatly suffered the health emergency.

ADS figures of the main national newspapers show a -4.1% drop in total circulation of print+digital copies for the period January-March 2021 versus the same period of 2020. The trend is attributable to the -11.3% decline in circulation of the print version, partly offset by the +19.8% increase in digital circulation (ADS January-March2021).

The latest radio audience figures available for the second half of 2020 indicate a total of 33,689,000 listeners on average day, down versus 2019 (-3.4% versus the second half, RadioTER 2019-2020).Full-year 2020 figures are unavailable due to the momentary interruption of surveys by research institutes as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The relevant market for the Group's advertising sales closed the first three months of 2021 down by -10.1% (net of local newspaper advertising), caused by the ongoing Covid-19 health emergency: newspapers ended at -5.5% (net of local), magazines at -32.2%, radio at -17.0% and the Internet at +6.4% (Nielsen - January-March2021). Starting from March 2020, the health emergency has caused a significant slowdown in communication plans by businesses, which have had to adapt their strategies to the new needs and expectations of consumers, and has affected the professional publishing market too.

2021 is gearing up to be a challenging year for professional publishing players, owing to the long wave triggered by the ongoing Covid-19 health emergency, which will affect the areas in which the clients of professionals, the main target market (accountants and lawyers in particular), operate. According to Confcommercio, which processed Movimprese Unioncamere data, more than 300 thousand businesses were forced to close in 2020 due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Additionally, forecasts on the self-employed population, whether registered in associations or not, indicate the shutdown of business for approximately 200 thousand professionals from professional, scientific, technical, administrative, services and other areas.

Estimates show a drop for tax publishing (-2.4%) and for the legal area (-2.1%), affected by the lower earnings of professionals, who will suffer the long wave of the crisis triggered in 2020, due to the Covid-19 related effects of the restrictive measures on business activities, therefore on their client base.

In terms of media, 2021 seems not to show any change in the current trends: overall, electronic publishing will continue to grow (+1.8%), driven by online and digital content (+3.2%), while offline will continue along its strong downward path (-60%). Management software is expected to slow down growth (+3.7%), which will see digital editorial content increasingly integrate with management software (Source: "Databank Rapporto Editoria Professionale"- Cerved S.p.A., December 2020).

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Consolidated results at 31 March 2021

Financial highlights of the 24 ORE Group net of non-recurring expense and income

The key financial figures (net of non-recurring expense and income) of the Group at 31 March

2021 are shown below:

MAIN CONSOLIDATED FIGURES OF THE 24 ORE GROUP NET OF NON RECURRING CHARGES

Amounts in € millions	1Q 2021	1Q 2020
Revenue	44.1	43.3
EBITDA net of non recurring income	(0.5)	(1.6)
EBIT net of non recurring income	(4.2)	(5.6)
Pre-tax profit (loss) net of non recurring income	(5.0)	(6.0)
Net profit (loss) net of non recurring income	(5.3)	(6.0)
	31.03.2021	31.12.2020
Equity	29.8	35.3
Net financial position	(55.0)	(50.9)

Revenue trend

In first quarter 2021, the 24 ORE Group, while still negatively affected by the Covid-19 health emergency that had started in March 2020, achieved consolidated revenue of € 44.1 million versus € 43.3 million in first quarter 2020, up by € 0.8 million (+1.8%). Specifically, publishing revenue grew by € 0.7 million (+2.8% from € 24.4 to € 25.1 million), driven by the growth of revenue from digital subscriptions to the Daily, the website www.ilsole24ore.com, Tax & Legal products, from add-ons to books, which offset the decline in revenue from subscriptions to the print newspaper and the sale of magazines. Advertising revenue was in line with the first quarter of the prior year and amounted to € 16.5 million, while other revenue was up by € 0.1 million (+3.3% from € 2.4 to € 2.5 million), despite the drop in revenue from the Culture area, offset by the development of new initiatives in the Tax & Legal area. Revenue from the Tax & Legal area was on the rise versus first quarter 2020.

The Covid-19 health emergency impacted negatively on sales made on an ongoing basis to the business sectors that have suffered the effects of the lockdown and the restrictive measures still in progress (such as for trains and airplanes) and of block sales specifically for events. On the other hand, the digital version of the Daily saw a sharp rise in the number of new subscriptions, with an increase in circulation versus the pre-Covid-19 period.

In first quarter 2021, the ilsole24ore.com portal recorded a daily average of 1.6 million unique browsers, down by 21.5% versus the average for the same period of 2020 (Webtrekk).

The result is a combination of an overall positive trend: 1.6, 1.5 and 1.8 million browsers in the first three months of 2021, respectively +46.0%; +12.5% and -53.2% versus the same month of the prior year; with regard to March however, the data are not directly comparable since March 2020 witnessed an all-time high of 3.77 million average daily unique browsers, +281.4% versus the same period of the prior year, due to the explosion of the Covid-19

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emergency and its impact on traffic to the site. The same trend was also experienced by videos, with average monthly views in first quarter down by 14.2% versus the 2020 figure, although with an overall positive trend versus the record figures of March 2020. Growing indicators on social media.

Main trends in consolidated revenue:

• circulation revenue from the Daily (print+digital) amounted to € 11.1 million, down by € 0.4 million (-3.3%) versus first quarter 2020. Circulation revenue from the print
  Daily amounted to € 6.3 million, down by € 1.1 million (14.6%) versus first quarter
  2020. Circulation revenue from the digital Daily amounted to € 4.8 million, up by € 0.7 million (+17.4%) versus the same period of the prior year;
• Group advertising revenue amounted to € 16.5 million, in line with first quarter 2020.
  The result was achieved thanks to the authority and high quality of the content, which allowed Il Sole 24 ORE to contain the negative effects of the pandemic better than the market, thanks also to the launch of the Daily's new format on 16 March 2021. Group advertising revenue outperformed the relevant market, down by -10.1%(Nielsen - January-March2021). From March 2020 onwards, the spread of Covid-19 inevitably affected the performance of the advertising market and, as a result, System's sales.
  The spread of Covid-19 led to the imposed suspension of the physical events of the subsidiary Il Sole 24 ORE Eventi S.r.l.. In order to alleviate the impact on business performance, Management focused promptly on converting the initiatives to digital by revamping the offering and launching new event formats. These activities produced a 60.2% increase versus the same period of the prior year;
• revenue from e-publishing in the Tax & Legal area amounted to € 9.2 million, up by €
  0.6 million (+6.9%) versus first quarter 2020, leveraging on the renewed product portfolio in prior years and despite the impact of the Covid-19 health emergency;
• revenue from the Culture area amounted to € 0.3 million, down by € 0.7 million (- 66.7%) versus first quarter 2020, hit heavily by the Covid-19 emergency and the closure of all museums and exhibition venues during the lockdown period.

The circulation (print+digital) of Il Sole 24 Ore for the period January-March 2021 totaled 146,488 average daily copies (+3.0% versus the same period of 2020). Specifically, the average daily print circulation declared to ADS for the period January-March 2021 was 58,974 copies (-11.9% versus the same period of 2020). Digital circulation declared to ADS was 87,514 average daily copies (+16.3% versus January-March 2020). Newsstand sales in the months from January to March 2021 fell by 6.4% versus the same period of the prior year, with the market down in the same channel by 9.8% (ADS, newsstand sales).

The Group asked an independent third party to render an opinion on the effective application of the appropriate procedures adopted in the calculation of the Total Paid For Circulation ("TPFC", i.e. total number of Il Sole 24 ORE daily fee-based sales on all markets through print and digital channels) at 31 March 2021; following the audit, the independent third party issued an unqualified Report of Assurance (ISAE 3000 - Limited assurance) on 3 May 2021.

Based on these procedures, the average Total Paid For Circulation for the period January- March 2021 was 168,691 thousand copies (+5.5% versus the same period of 2020), including all multiple digital copies sold, but not declarable as circulated for ADS purposes, therefore not included in the relating declaration.

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