Viaplay loses 20% of subscribers

Turnover rose 4.8 percent to SEK 4,757 million (4,537). The organic sales growth was 5.6 percent for the core business. The turnover for the core business was SEK 4,459 million (4,279).

Operating profit was SEK -473 million (-325). Items affecting comparability amounted to -188 million kroner (-44) and mainly consisted of unrealized currency effects not affecting cash, attributable to previous provisions for content.

Adjusted operating profit was SEK -317 million (-291).

The profit after tax was SEK 605 million (-288). Earnings per share amounted to SEK 0.23 (-3.68). The period’s results included a one-off effect of SEK 1,190 million attributable to the recapitalization’s debt write-down.

The number of paying Viaplay subscribers, the core business, decreased by 19.5 percent from the previous year, to 4.85 million (6.02).

Revenue from streaming was down 3.7 percent, linear channel subscriptions up 3 percent, advertising down 4.4 percent and sublicensing and other up 118.8 percent.

The operating margin for the core business, adjusted, was -6.1 percent (2.4).

Viaplay Group reiterates its financial targets for the full year.

Net sales for the core operations Nordics, the Netherlands and Viaplay Select are predicted to amount to SEK 17.2-17.8 billion. Operating results before items affecting comparability and results from associated companies in the core operations Nordics, the Netherlands and Viaplay Select are predicted to fall within the range of loss of SEK -250 million to profitability of SEK 50 million.