CEO’s Review

CEO’s review 25 April 2025: Marketplaces accelerating growth

Alma Media’s business developed favourably in the first quarter. Supported by acquisitions, revenue increased by 4.0% to MEUR 79.2. Adjusted operating profit increased by 6.6% to MEUR 17.2, representing 21.7% of revenue. The share of digital business was 83.9% of revenue. The Group’s advertising sales decreased by 5.5%.

Our financial position strengthened: our gearing at the end of Q1 stood at 54.4% (59.8%) and our equity ratio was 50.5% (46.3%).

The demand for durable consumer goods picked up in the first quarter in the Finnish market, which supported revenue growth. Interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank have contributed to improving consumers’ opportunities to make purchases of durable consumer goods. Global economic volatility, import tariffs and resulting potential difficulties in international trade may influence market development going forward.

We accelerated our investments in the development of our services particularly in the Career and Marketplaces segments

In the Alma Career segment, revenue remained on a par with the comparison period at MEUR 26.7. Adjusted operating profit decreased by 5.9% to MEUR 9.8, representing 36.6% of revenue. In local currencies, revenue decreased by 1.2% and adjusted operating profit decreased by 6.3%. In the first quarter, invoicing in local currencies increased by 1.9% (Q1/2024: -4.9%). The segment’s profitability was reduced by costs related to the development of the common job platform, as well as increased labour costs in the primary countries of operation.

Among the segment’s operating countries, the employment situation continued to be good in the Czech Republic and Slovakia and, as a result, the demand for labour remained stable. As in the previous quarter, recruitment increased in the small and medium-sized customer segments, but the segment consisting of larger customers also showed the first signs of growth in spite of the prevailing uncertainty. Activity in the job market also remained good in Croatia, and the number of unemployed people again decreased year-on-year. In the Baltic countries and Finland, the market situation remained difficult. The revenue of the Career North area decreased by 12.2%, while other areas remained on a par with the comparison period.

The revenue of the Alma Marketplaces segment grew by 17.5% to MEUR 26.9, driven by the Edilex and Netwheels acquisitions. Organic revenue growth was 8.9%. Adjusted operating profit increased by 26.4% to MEUR 7.4 and was 27.5% of revenue. Expenses increased by 14.5% due to acquisitions. In spite of the subdued market conditions, we continued to implement our development projects, particularly in digital services related to the automotive and housing verticals, focusing on the development of transactional business and AI-assisted technology. Revenue from the Mobility business area increased by 14.3% to MEUR 8.8. Excluding the effect of acquisitions and divestments, revenue increased by 3.4%. Revenue from the Real Estate business area increased by 20.3% to MEUR 10.1. There were positive signals of a recovery in the housing market, especially with regard to the number of transactions for old dwellings.

The Alma News Media segment’s revenue decreased by 2.7% to MEUR 25.8. Active cost control measures led to adjusted expenses decreasing by 4.8% and adjusted operating profit increasing by 17.3% to MEUR 3, representing 11.6% of revenue. The segment’s advertising revenue decreased by 4.3%. Interest in the news remained at a high level as the global tariff war escalated, and digital content revenue grew by 12.0%. In addition, the IPO market of the Helsinki Stock Exchange finally began to show signs of life. The number of digital subscriptions currently stands at just over 213,000. The share of digital business increased to 60.5% of revenue. The amount of video content was increased for Kauppalehti, and video solutions were developed further.

AI is developing quickly – we utilise its potential as a pioneer

We make purposeful investments in competence and technology in order to respond to the changing needs of our customers and partners. Our strategy focuses on the continuous development, growth and scaling of business operations by taking advantage of the latest AI technology.

Alma has dozens of AI-based projects under way with the aim of improving the efficiency of processes, complementing existing services with intelligent features, and introducing completely new AI-based business concepts to the market.

The adoption of generative AI is progressing rapidly across all of our businesses. Good examples of this include the “Ask Iltalehti” feature and the “Search with your own words” feature of the Etuovi.com application, which are already available as beta services.

Kai Telanne
President and CEO

“Our strategy focuses on the continuous development, growth and scaling of business operations by taking advantage of the latest AI technology.“