About:
As one of Latin America’s major communication groups, Grupo Abril integrates with various media to provide information, education and entertainment to the public.
Abril was founded in 1950 and employs a staff of 7,000. The company includes Editora Abril (publications); Abril Digital (Abril.com and Abril on cell phones); MTV (Segmented TV); and the publishing houses Abril Educação, Ática, and Scipione. Education services include: Anglo and SER Learning System; Anglo preparatory course for University entrance examination; pH course and school; ETB schools and technical Learning System; and Siga preparatory course for public service entrance examinations. Abril has the largest printing facility in Latin America and an efficient database system for marketing, subscriptions and distribution.
Abril published more than 300 titles in 2008 and is a leader in 22 of the 25 segments in which it operates. Over the year, Abril's circulation reached 179.2 million copies, with 28 million readers and 4 million subscribers. Seven of the ten most read magazines in the country are Abril's. Veja is the largest weekly news magazine in the world, and the largest outside the United States.
In the domestic market, Grupo Abril is also a leader in the textbook publishing field. Abril Educação has published over 3,000 titles and holds a 29% market share. In 2008, Abril Educação produced 37 million books.
Fundação Victor Civita, which was created in 1985 and is committed to improving basic education in the country, was the beginning of Grupo Abril's social responsibility projects. With Nova Escola magazine, every month the Foundation reaches 3.3 million teachers, schoolmasters and
school coordinators in most schools in the country.
The Civita family, founder of Grupo Abril, has shown their commitment to the education sector since 1960 when they produced the first educational materials for use in the so-called Movimento Brasileiro de Alfabetização, a government literacy program for young people and adults.
Key company developments in 2011 & 1st half year 2012
Financial:
Consolidated net revenues in 2011 were up 51% against 2011, and Ebitda was up 113%, showing a margin of 28% in 2011. Publishing imprints Ática and Scipione contributed 506.3 million BRL to the overall result, while 163.9 million BRL came from Anglo Group (Learning System and Preparatory Courses).
The strong development was continued in the first quarter of 2012, with revenues up 13% year-over-year, and income up 26%.
The diversification of Abril Educação’s revenue base, with the incorporation of the Anglo companies (in 2010), and the pH and ETB Groups (in 2011), contributed to reduce the revenue seasonality of the Publishing houses (Ática and Scipione), whose results are concentrated in the first and fourth quarter due to the sale of textbooks to private and public schools, respectively.
Ownership, mergers & acquisition, internal organization:
In July, Abril Educação went public on the BM&FBOVESPA, raising 371.1 million BRL.
In February 2012, the Company acquired 51% of Escola Satélite for 6.2 million BRL. As a result, Abril Educação is preparing to offer its more than 1,600 client schools the possibility of distributing distance learning services with Abril Educação’s content for college test preparation, public examination, and language courses, among other subjects.
International:
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Digital:
See the development of Learning Systems.
Bestselling authors & titles:
Publishing houses Ática and Scipione established a record in the delivery of 50.4 million textbooks to the federal government’s National Textbook Program (PNLD), which buys and distributes books to all of Brazil’s public primary and secondary schools. Their textbooks reached roughly 126,000 schools and 30 million students.
Key points for analysis & conclusions:
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Earlier developments:
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Note: Figures are based on sales generated in calendar 2011 or—for corporations with a fiscal year—from fiscal 2011. Data are from publicly available sources and include sales of books, journals, and digital products. Because publishing data were unavailable, Pannini and Disney/Hyperion are excluded from the rankings. The listing and publisher profiles were compiled by international publishing consultant Rudiger Wischenbart under the aegis of Livres Hebdo.
