Milan, 21 January 2011 – At its meeting today, the Board of Directors of Sole 24 ORE spa, chaired by Cav. Lav. Dott. Giancarlo Cerutti, unanimously approved the 2011-2013 Business Plan.
The strategic lines of the Business Plan, in the current sluggish market context, envisage a stronger leadership of the 24 ORE Group, implemented through a series of actions and a balanced approach, which enables the Group, on the one hand, to start a series of effective initiatives for company growth and, on the other, to implement strong cost-curbing measures.
The main lines of action are:
• Group’s presence confirmed in its core businesses, specifically newspaper, radio, press agency and professional area.
• Further development of Il Sole 24 ORE, thanks also to the start of new initiatives, from its leadership position in business-financial information.
• Launch of an integrated system of products, also in a multimedia perspective, which enhances every Group component and promotes a wide-ranging and unified offer for its core customer base.
• Strong emphasis on developing online business in every form across all Group areas.
• Further strong process and organisation rationalisation, the main guidelines of which, thanks also to a reorganisation of the product portfolio across the business areas and to the start of substantial technological investments, should enable the Group to slash operating costs.
The plan (presented to analysts on Monday) aims to align the EBITDA at the end of the period to the figure of 2008, which marked the start of the publishing sector's crisis and the first full financial year after the Stock Exchange listing, and envisages a sharp rise in revenues, thanks also to the upsurge in digital revenues, estimated to account for 30% of the Group’s overall revenues at the end of the period.
Positive cash flow in the three-year period, despite the approximately €50 million of estimated investments (mostly in technological innovation).
For further information:
24 ORE Group Press Office:
Ginevra Cozzi - Tel. 02/3022.4945 – Cell. 335/1350144
PMS: Fabio Marando – Tel. 02/48000250 - Cell. 329/4605000